The Assumptions College Professors Can Make About Graduate Students

Although it is usually connected with some negative or short-sighted attitude, making assumptions about a person you are meeting for the first time can have distinct benefits.

Consider the advantages that college professors are given in making certain assumptions about the graduate students that walk in to begin a new academic journey with them.

For example, the assumptions college professors make about graduate students minimizes the effort that is needed to know every detail of the student's motivation so that more time can be spent on the complexities of academic content.

A professor's assumptions give him or her a head start in building an academic relationship with the student because assumptions don't require time-consuming details of the student's personality.

The Assumption of a College Degree

When a student first begins a graduate school program, it is with the understanding that this person has already finished a college degree.

With the assumption of a college degree in mind, then, a college professor realizes that this person is motivated toward academic things.

There is no need to guess.

The Assumption of Specialized Interests

A basic college degree provides the student with knowledge in a wide variety of areas, and a college professor can assume that the student has general information at their disposal.

Because a college major in graduate school is more specialized, however, a college professor can know the student better by making assumptions about the student's unique interests.

Everyone might become proficient in grammar skills in college, for example, but not everyone has the specialized interest in math and science.

The Assumption of a Similar Focus

Lastly, and seen as yet another example of the head start which professors are given in building an academic relationship with students, there is the assumption of a similar focus.

This means that, even as the student is seen to have a specialized academic interest, this interest is also shared by the professor who is teaching the course.

What better way for a professor to build a positive relationship with a student than by making the assumption that the professor and student are similar kinds of people?

In conclusion, while some might argue that making assumptions about others is linked with prejudice or other negatives, the assumptions college professors make about graduate students offer benefits to everyone concerned.

This is because these assumptions detract from the time needed to know the student on a personal level so that more energy can be given to the academic task at hand.

Source: Personal Experience