For college students and their parents

Useful stuff from Lisa Belkin at the New York Times’ Motherlode Blog: Checklists for Parents of College Students.

I’m inordinately happy to see that in a comment on this Times piece, a fellow prof — Kara, no last name — has mentioned my post How to e-mail a professor. Kara also offers some good advice:

I would encourage all students to communicate with their professors in person as much as possible, and to ask for help when they need it. This sounds like it should be obvious, but I’m amazed that many students don’t realize that their professors are more than glad to meet with them. I think many of us turn to email to communicate because of the convenience, but I’ve found that even a short 5 minute conversation with a student can make an enormous difference in their experience in a class.

What Kara says — “This sounds like it should be obvious” — is true of so much of the advice that college students can benefit from hearing. It’s not obvious, that is, until someone says it.

A related post
How to talk to a professor