Is it possible to be close with your professors?

angelbcdef
Mon, 25 Jul 2011 02:33:31 +0000

I’m going into my second year of university, but when I was in high school, I was best friends with one of my teachers (who was also the director for the school plays, which I was involved in every year). She was my absolute mentor - gave me advice about everything, set me up with my then-boyfriend, drove me home on occasion, wrote me countless reference letters and knew instantly if something wasn’t right. On the other side, she told me about her problems, asked my advice often, even cried in front of me when she was having a bad day. She and I are still in touch and visit whenever I’m home over the school break.
Now that I’m in university, I find that I really miss having that closeness. I was used to having close relationships with my teachers and suddenly, I find myself in a place where the professors are completely distant. Obviously there’s a difference between being in a small-town high school and a big-city university, and I don’t expect the tightness that I had with my teacher. It’s just always been important to me to have some sort of personal connection with the people I’m learning from. Is this at all possible? Do any of you have any sort of relationship with your professors?
I also ask because I’m hoping to go to grad school and as such will need references, etc. How do I go about developing these relationships?