Sean Marks, Office Hours at SCU
One of the most undervalued resources that we have on campus are our professors. They teach us, they help us, but there’s an essential part to the professors on Santa Clara’s campus that many students don’t often utilize – office hours. What’s so important about office hours? Some of the classes that you take in the business school might have a decent number of students (30+). It’s sometimes hard to connect with your professor during class time which is why I have found it exponentially more helpful to meet with them during office hours. What’s the point in doing this though? The majority of business professors at Santa Clara have been in the professional work force, and because of this, they can give lots of insight on career paths, internship opportunities, further classes to take at SCU, etc. During fall quarter of my first-year, I was in progress of working on an app with 2 other students. However, we ran into some issues regarding legality, the implementation of the app, and a few other problems. In search of desperately needed help, I went to my BUSN 70 professor. During my very first visit, he had given me insight on how to contact the legal department of SCU, how to draft a formal email to the board of directors with help for implementation, and how to progress forward with the app. On top of this, he offered me suggestions of future problems/concerns that might arise. This is simply one of the many different instances that I have had with my professors. Because of their past experience, because of their expertise, there is a vast amount of knowledge to be gained from simply having a conversation with your professors.