Has anyone given gifts to professors?

[tim_lou]

Do students usually give gifts to professors after the professor wrote a recommendations or helped the students out? If so what kind of gifts? for physics professors? and for math professors?

 

[FUNKER]

Beer all the way man

 

[arunma]

Wait...you mean I was supposed to give my professors gifts after getting my letters of recommendation? Shoot, how much is applying to grad school going to cost me?

Well, I'd better head over to the liquor store.

 

[Schrodinger's Dog]

I'm sure the best gift you could give a professor is to learn the subject well and pass with a good grade, anything else is meaningless, do you imagine he/she really cares if you gave him/her an apple in class: pay attention do your best; I'm sure decent professors appreciate results over gold, frankincense and Myrhh.

 

[Dr Transport]

My advisor gets a Christmas card from me every year and I always send him a card and a present for his birthday. After years of working together we are more friends than mentor/mentee.

 

[cristo]

I agree with SD. Of course, you should thank the professors who agreed to be your referees, but IMHO there is no need to give gifts. I reckon the best gift you can give is to get your PhD and become a good scientist; that way they know it was worth the reference, and can say "I taught that kid!"

 

[radou]

If you deserved a recommendation, then you needn't give anyone any gifts.

 

[Math Is Hard]

Wait...you mean I was supposed to give my professors gifts after getting my letters of recommendation? Shoot, how much is applying to grad school going to cost me?

Well, I'd better head over to the liquor store.

just lost a mouthful of dr. pepper

 

[Serbian.matematika]

not me, not in Canada!

In the old country they do it.

 

[mathlete]

I grace them with a new puzzle to decode every week in the form of my homework :D

 

[Manchot]

I agree with SD. Of course, you should thank the professors who agreed to be your referees, but IMHO there is no need to give gifts. I reckon the best gift you can give is to get your PhD and become a good scientist; that way they know it was worth the reference, and can say "I taught that kid!"

Yeah, definitely. I know that my own research advisor likes to brag excessively about his former students.

 

[Ki Man]

i'm still in high school and my classmates are constantly getting new dry-erases pens for my teachers. maybe your professor will want something more elegant like... oh i don't know... a tablet pc?

 

[J77]

I grace them with a new puzzle to decode every week in the form of my homework :D

Handwriting problem?

 

[FUNKER]

Handwriting problem?

hahah crab hands

 

[mattmns]

Beer all the way man

My math adviser would love your idea

 

[turbo]

My professor in first-year German was the department head. He and a few other department heads at my college insisted on teaching the introductory courses. He had a good friend in the import business in NYC, and at the end of the year, well-motivated students were invited to his place for party, with more varieties and brands of German beer than you could shake a stick at, and lots of great German food, cheeses, etc. The trick was if you found a beer that was fabulous, you might have to search through hundreds of bottles to find another bottle of it. And yes, during the Vietnam war the drinking age was lowered to 18 because it was considered that if you were old enough to vote and old enough to get drafted in time of war, you probably were old enough to drink.

He was a nice guy and the only gift I gave him was to try to do my best.

 

[Moonbear]

Writing recommendation letters is something we consider part of our job. Just saying "thank-you" and sharing with us the good news when you get acceptances is all that's necessary. In fact, gifts might be perceived as bribery, so probably aren't such a good idea. Now, if you worked with someone more closely, for example, your senior thesis advisor, then a small gift of thanks at the end would be okay, but still not at all required or expected.