Starting to realize what “professor” means
Regular readers will know that I enjoy talking to strangers, notably in airplanes, shoe stores, and taxis. This week I made a trip to my new university (we’ll call it AU) to take care of some business (attend a workshop, meet the university’s representatives in DC to talk about grant funding, look at lab space, see a research facility I need, etc.). On the way from the airport to the university, I discovered that my taxi driver lives in a pretty tough neighborhood not far from campus. He ended up telling me about his kids, and how he spends a lot of time driving them to after-school activities and tutoring so that they don’t end up with any time to get in trouble. His older son is a junior in high school and wants to be an astronomer.
"What I really want," said the taxi driver, "is for him to go to AU. But AU isn’t for everyone."
I asked him about his grades, which were good, and said some sort of abstract things about how it was possible to get financial aid, and that I think the university would really like to encourage more kids from his neighborhood to attend, and then I thought…. hey, wait a minute. I am the university. I mean, my name’s on the faculty page and all. I’m a professor. If this guy’s kid is a good student, I can probably help him get admitted. I gave him my email and told him to have his son contact me.
Good work! I hope he contats you.
Comment by hypoglycemiagirl — March 23, 2008 @ 8:51 am
It is actions like this that can make all the difference in the world in someone’s life. I hope he contacts your for advice!
Comment by sciencegirl — March 24, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
Awesome!
Comment by Lab Lemming — March 25, 2008 @ 10:36 am
“If this guy’s kid is a good student, I can probably help him get admitted.”
I’m not saying this to be mean, but the fact that you think this suggests that you have even more to learn about what it means to be a professor than you think.
Comment by PhysioProf — March 27, 2008 @ 10:28 am
I disagree. In this case, the kid is a pretty good student at a high school where not many kids are going on to college. I have a lot more information about the admissions process than he does, and that can help a lot. So what I mean by “help him get admitted” is some/all of the following: finding information on our on-campus pre-college programs that he could attend (students in these programs get admitted at a much higher rate, and also get a lot of help with applications), see if his GPA is in the range of GPA’s we admit for the major he’s interested in, or if not, which schools would be a better bet, encourage him to do an on-campus interview with the admissions office (I know that helped me, back when I applied for college), encourage him to improve his GPA in his final year, maybe give some tips on the admissions essay and how to pick teachers to give you recommendations.
My main point is that as a professor, you represent the university in a way you do not as a postdoc or grad student. I think you would have to agree with that.
Comment by drshellie — March 27, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
I agree with you completely. I misunderstood “I can probably help him get admitted” as “I can influence the admissions process in his favor”.
Comment by PhysioProf — March 27, 2008 @ 7:30 pm
Dr. Shellie,
Is there any chance you can take him as an intern this summer?
Comment by Lab Lemming — March 29, 2008 @ 7:41 am
I won’t start until fall, so I won’t be able to take summer interns. There is a great summer program at my university, though, specifically for kids from schools with a low percentage of kids going on to college.
Comment by drshellie — March 30, 2008 @ 3:21 pm