Essay On Day-To-Day Experience Of Being A Professor

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The goal of this interview was to learn more about the day-to-day experience of being a professor. In order to achieve this goal, we asked professor Helwig about the responsibilities that he has, what a day in his life looks like, and the advice he would give to prospective students.
Firstly, professor Helwig pointed out that he has three main responsibilities as a professor: teaching, research, and administrative responsibilities. He pointed out that a big misconception about teaching is that not much time goes into its preparation, and he was happy to let us know that contrary to what students think, this is not the case. For instance, he explained, “teaching preparation…is a lot longer than you think. Behind a three-hour lecture can be …show more content…

He stressed that being interested in research and teaching does not mean that you do not find challenges, but that you have the passion to work through them. For instance, he said that some students enjoy the idea of research but not the process, but that being a good researcher requires a patient personality. He explained how research is a slow process and the results are seen much later; therefore, it is important to be motivated, and explained that what motivates him is “the passion to find out new things…and the thrill of discovery”. Moreover, we asked professor Helwig about the type of student that should not become a professor. He laughed at the idea and said that he would probably tell them to work on it; however, he said that people who are interested should take criticism well and explained, “be intellectually honest…you are going to be criticized continuously, don’t take it

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