Icebreakers for Office Hours

It is common to feel nervous about using office hours, either for support in a course or when you're trying to get to know faculty or GSIs. Today, we're sharing tips and suggestions for how to get your conversation started!

Tips

• If you introduce yourself by email, don't be discouraged if you don't hear back or if the response is short. Faculty get a lot of email and it can be hard to communicate a warm tone this way. You can always introduce yourself in person for more immediate results. 

• You can go to office hours for faculty even if you are not enrolled in one of their courses.

• Use office hours early if you are struggling in a course or if something comes up in your personal life that might affect your ability to meet deadlines.

• You do not need to stay the whole time! Office hours are a window of time where your faculty or GSI is available.

• If you know you will need a letter of recommendation in the future, try to develop a relationship with a faculty member early so they can get to know you more deeply.

Opening lines to break the ice

For support with a course

• I think I understood the reading, but I am not sure. Could I go over it with you?

• Could you tell me two specific areas where I could improve for next time?

• I’m having difficulty in class right now because of an issue that is impacting my work. Could I talk about it with you?

• This assignment is very hard for me. Could we talk about how to do it together, step by step?

For relationship building

• I'm still trying to figure out my major. How did you know you wanted to study your field?

• Just popping in to say hello. I'm enjoying your class.

• I was really interested in [X] topic, can you recommend any related readings or classes I should look into? 

• I read on the department website that you research [X]. Can you tell me more about your research?

• In the reading, I found X [specific example] interesting because of what it tells us about Y [larger phenomenon]. 

More articles and support

Check out these two great articles on office hours from the Daily Cal:

• Professors advise on how to succeed at office hours
• Your guide to office hours at UC Berkeley

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