Questions to Ask Your Professor About Themselves
For students going to office hours with nothing specific to ask, or hoping to work with a professor later. Twenty questions about their research, their own training, what they read, and how they decide what to work on.
The questions
Open any question for the note
What were you working on before you started teaching this course?
Why ask it
A gentle opener that gets past the syllabus. Most professors are teaching some distance from their actual specialty, and hearing where their real interest sits tells you which parts of the course they will most enjoy discussing.
How did you end up in this field? Was it the plan?
Why ask it
Almost never the plan, and the detour is the useful part. Students who assume academic careers are linear are surprised by how many were decided by one course, one supervisor or one job that fell through.
What are you researching at the moment, and where is it stuck?
Why ask it
The stuck part is what makes this different from reading their faculty page. It shows what the work actually consists of, and it is the question most likely to turn office hours into a real conversation.
Which class did you find hardest when you were a student?
Why ask it
Hearing that the person setting your exam once struggled with the same material does more for a shaky student than any amount of encouragement. Ask what eventually made it click.
Who supervised you, and what did they do that you copied?
Why ask it
Teaching habits are inherited, so the answer often explains how this course is structured. It also shows what they think good supervision looks like, which matters if you ever want them to supervise you.
What do students usually misunderstand about what you do outside of class?
Why ask it
Expect grant applications, peer review, committee work and administration. It reframes why replies to email are slow, and it is a more honest picture of the job than any careers talk.
How much of your week is teaching, and how much is everything else?
Why ask it
Asking for the split gets you a concrete answer rather than a general complaint about being busy. The proportions vary enormously between institutions and are worth knowing if you are considering this path.
What is the argument in your field that people outside it never hear about?
Why ask it
Every discipline has a live dispute that textbooks flatten into consensus. Getting a professor to describe one, and say which side they are on, teaches you more about how knowledge is made than a term of lectures.
What has changed in this subject since you were trained?
Why ask it
Reveals which parts of the standard account they consider settled and which they think are due to be overturned. It also flags where a textbook may be out of date.
Which of your own papers should I read first, and which can I skip?
Why ask it
Direct, flattering and genuinely useful. Most academics know which of their papers is the one worth reading, and being told which to skip saves you a weekend.
What did you get wrong early on that cost you time?
Why ask it
The answers tend to be practical rather than intellectual: the wrong methods training, a project that was too large, a lab that was a poor fit. That is exactly the kind of mistake a student can still avoid.
How do you decide what to say no to?
Why ask it
A question about judgment rather than achievement, and one few students think to ask. The criteria they name apply just as well to choosing a dissertation topic as to choosing a research program.
Have you ever come close to leaving academia? What kept you here?
Why ask it
Ask it plainly and most will answer honestly, often about the year the funding ran out or the job market. It is the most useful thing you can hear before committing yourself to the same track.
What do you read that has nothing to do with your field?
Why ask it
The reading list you get here is usually better than the one on the syllabus, and it tells you how they think outside their own specialty. It also makes the conversation two sided.
What is a skill you picked up that has nothing to do with your subject but keeps paying off?
Why ask it
Answers cluster around writing, statistics, coding and speaking to non specialists. Since these are the transferable parts of a degree, hearing which one they leaned on is worth acting on.
How do you know when you are out of your depth on something?
Why ask it
Asks about intellectual honesty rather than expertise. Someone who can describe noticing the limits of their own knowledge is showing you a habit worth learning, and how they answer signals how they will handle your ignorance.
What kind of student do you most enjoy working with?
Why ask it
If you are hoping for a supervisor or a research assistant post, this is the question that matters. Note whether they describe qualities you can develop, like persistence or clear writing, or ones you cannot.
If you were starting a doctorate now, what would you do differently?
Why ask it
Gets you their retrospective view of a system they now know from the inside, including choices about subfield, funding and institution. Far more candid than any advice offered unprompted.
What would you like to be working on in ten years that you are not working on now?
Why ask it
Reveals whether they are still curious or coasting, and sometimes surfaces a project they would take help with. That is how student collaborations tend to begin.
Is there a question you wish students asked you?
Why ask it
A good closer because it hands them the floor. The answer is often about the subject rather than the person, and it tells you what they have been waiting all term to explain.
Making Office Hours Worth It for Both of You
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Before You Knock
Read one thing first
Find their most recent paper or their faculty page and read the abstract. Arriving with one specific observation about their work changes the conversation completely, and it takes ten minutes.
Go early in the term
Office hours are empty in weeks two and three and packed before deadlines. An early visit gets you an unhurried conversation and means your name is already familiar if you need something later.
Say why you came
Opening with an honest line, that you found the topic interesting and wanted to hear more about their work, is better than pretending to have a question about the reading. Professors can tell the difference.
During the Conversation
- Ask one question and let the answer run. Rapid questioning turns a conversation into an interview.
- Follow the enthusiasm. When their pace picks up, ask a second question about that rather than moving to your list.
- Admit what you do not know. Feigned familiarity is obvious and closes down the discussion.
- Watch the clock and offer to stop at twenty minutes. Being easy to end a meeting with is how you get invited back.
- Take one note afterwards, not during, so it does not feel like an interrogation.
Following Up
- If they recommended a paper or a book, read it and send one line about what you thought. This is the single most effective thing a student can do.
- Do not ask for a reference at the end of a first conversation. Ask after they have seen you work.
- If you want research experience, come back with a specific proposal rather than a general offer to help.
- Keep it in office hours or email rather than social media, and keep the register professional even when the conversation is warm.