by Olha Romaniuk

Created on: July 31, 2009

If you want a ready formula to help you become best buddies with a college professor, contrary to a popular belief, Butt Kissing 101 will not always get you the desired results. Getting "in" with a professor does not necessarily mean that you need to become a slave to every word and a faithful subscriber to every philosophy that your professor declares allegiance for, so to speak. Getting "in" at an academic level, the way this academia is meant to exist, does not require anything but an eager mind and an ability to learn and communicate.

A thirst for knowledge and a hunger to know and understand more outside of the mundane restrictions of a typical college classroom is, ideally, what you strive for when you seek out a mentor-ship from a professor. Your primary goal, in other words, should not necessarily be a desire to raise your grade as a means to an end. On the other hand, raising a grade should be viewed as byproduct of becoming more knowledgeable about a subject and, not only accomplishing your personal academic goals, but also letting a professor know that you are genuine in the showing of your interest, and not just another butt-kisser.

1. The first, and the easiest, step of getting in with a professor is to keep him or her in the loop on things at all times. That means that if you are ever running late for a class, have a medical emergency or a conflicting deadline and can't hand in a paper on time, you need to keep the lines of communication with a professor ready and open at all times. Sending a professor a quick email, letting him or her know your situation is always better than making up excuses after you miss a midterm or forget to hand in your paper.

2. Be proactive about knowledge. That means acknowledging that not even a wise professor knows everything about the subject he or she is teaching. You do not necessarily need to become a smart ass college punk and correct your professor on every little thing he or she says erroneously. Rather, you need to engage in information-sharing communication techniques. This might mean something as simple as sending your professor a link to a web site that has in-depth information about a topic he or she spoke about in a recent lecture. Most professors welcome opportunities to learn something new, especially when this information is coming directly from the students. Aside from learning new things, professors can begin assessing how interested the students are in the subject matter. Not to mention, it

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