Networking or Sucking up to the professors?

"It is actually a smart thing to do," I said when the vet students told me that they don't bother to "suck up"to the professors compared to one classmate. I presume "suck up" means getting closer to them to talk to them during lectures and practicals.

"But this type of networking is not easy for everybody to do. Professors are influential people and if you get to know them better, they think well of you and remember you when you ask for a testimonial. If you distance away from them, you are just an unknown."

To suck up to the professors is not an easy thing to do if you don't have common interests. Common interests will be academic subjects and maybe sports. I don't know as I did not suck up to my Glasgow professors during my undergraduate days. It is an innate abiility - a part of your personality. Such vets will be most successful in getting clientele too and will be in great demand since they bring in the business.

As to how important this public relations nature is, I did get an answer from a top vet student during one dinner after the Royal Perth Show a few days ago. I was talking to her about a young Singapore vet who has excellent public relations according to my feedback. She agreed with my observation and said: "70%" I don't know where she got this statistic but I tend to agree with her that excellent PR is very important. So, sucking up to the professors is part of personal public relations and a training for the real world after graduation. Bedside manners is what public relations mean in medicine.