What are my chances? (I'm a woman)

1. will you be attending the same university she teaches at after you complete the course?

2. why do you say you love someone you haven't been out with yet?

3. is there a gay support group at the university where you can talk to other students about things like this?

point of reference - these two facts tell you nothing about her sexual orientation

1) Yes, but she won't give me classes never again.
2) I didn't say I love, I said I'm in love, which is not the same thing. Let's call it a crush, if you want.
3) Yes.

Regarding your statement below, I know that those facts tell me nothing about her sexual orientation, but it is something that I can take into account, I guess.

Your chances are as good for you as they are for anyone else taking the risk of expressing their interest in someone and asking for a date.

given that you'll still be attending the same university, I'd say she'd be stupid to go out with you. It is still a firing offense for an instructor to date a student at enough universities for that to be a problem for her career - whether or not it is a firing offense at your particular school. Word travels about relationships between instructors and students - the academic world is small and gossipy.

Talk to other students about this - having crushes on people in powerful roles is not unusual - you just have to learn how to manage those crushes.

Love/in love - both are heavily freighted words/phrases.

that's not correct. Professors are hyper-aware of the dangers of students asking them out and are much more likely to say no than the average crushee who doesn't have a career to protect.

for reference, I've got a number of friends who are instructors and professors and have to deal with this sort of crush on a horribly regular basis. They tell me it's one of the more unpleasant parts of their profession -having to put people off/not doing anything that might be seen as encouraging of the people with crushes on them.

I would add that the dynamic of being taught by someone you like can be rather powerful, but once the class ends, you may feel differently. Once that dynamic goes away, it tends to remove a lot of the basis for the crush.

I know that the crush will vanish eventually. But I really like her and I'd like to go out with her, I don't want any kind of relationship! Nothing formal.

Thank you very much!