College Professor

Dylan2011Jim · 06-25-2009, 05:41 PM

Curious about how one goes about becoming a college professor. Do they start in research with the school, teaching introductory courses and then work their way up?

Also, what type of lifestyle do they lead? Comfortable? Fast-paced? I would love a very social job, yet one which also allows me to conduct research while getting that great feeling of really affecting those around you in a positive way. Guess that is what we all want!
Thanks!

bdmet2491 · 06-26-2009, 12:31 AM

It's a very long road to become a professor, you must have a PhD in your field. You will go to graduate school and teach and take classes simultaneously, which leaves room for sleeping, and studying. Sometimes eating.

Then you need to take a bunch of examinations, which can be extremely difficult. After that you need to publish a dissertation, which is a paper with original research about something in your field, and it takes people YEARS to write these papers, they're typically hundreds of pages in length. Once that is published, you need to build up solid credentials if you haven't already, if you want to get hired at a good university.

Lately universities have been getting rid of long term professors and have been hiring short term ones. Professors can have "tenure" at universities, which guarantees their job after working for 7 years. Many people have difficulty lasting this long without being let go, and if you want the best money you need to go to the best colleges, so you need to be really unique and intelligent.

If you are lucky enough to land a tenured job, the lifestyle can be pretty good, you will teach class 15 hours a week, do research, and have office hours a couple hours a week. The pay is mostly above average, but depending on your subject and university it can vary. The road is long and hard, and once you have your PhD there are no guarantees, but it can be a good life if you're determined! Less than 1% of Americans hold PhD's, so don't kid yourself about the difficulty!

Hope this helped!

Student35 · 06-26-2009, 01:54 AM

You also have to be willing to relocate - even if it's to a place you've never heard of or a state that you dislike - for graduate school and even more so for positions in academia.

GrumFrum · 06-27-2009, 07:51 PM

Also, for most fields, after you get a Ph.D. you'll probably have to take 1-2 postdoctoral positions before you have the credentials to be hired as an assistant professor. Postdoctoral positions are temporary 1-2 year long positions where you do research full time.

Professor positions are also incredibly competitive. There are usually hundreds of applications for a single spot.

Yeah, becoming a professor is definitely one of the more difficult to get jobs.

swim2daend · 07-01-2009, 12:58 AM

wow. i wanted to be a math professor, but after reading this, idk...

is it really that hard?? I always was in a belief that professors were in decline. oh well...

Student35 · 07-01-2009, 08:00 PM

I certainly wouldn't give up your goal based on a few message board posts. While the market for professors is tough, and probably won't change anytime soon, it isn't impossible. If you are a great student, get research experience, and are admitted to a good graduate program, your chances are as good as anyone. The current market is just as tough in numerous fields. I think a point we were trying to make was that you have to be flexible and be able to adapt to new environments. Also, a Ph.D in math would likely prepare you for careers outside academia.

starbright · 07-19-2009, 02:28 PM

It is a very long road (having done it and then watched my spouse do it too). But if you are passionate about research in a particular area, and you like teaching, there is no better career.

Career prospects depend very much on the specific field. If you are fortunate enough to love disciplines such as those in business, engineering, medicine, or nursing, there are jobs (it's been tighter recently with the economic downturn but I mean in cimparison to other fields). In such areas, there are still more jobs than PhDs, and for that reason most do not require a post-doc before a permanent position. One can start on the tenure-track straight out of grad school and salaries are at a premium. There are exceptions of course and keep in mind I'm being fairly general here. But the take home point is there isn't one answer as it depends so much on ones' field (and you must - absolutely must- chose your field based on what excites you most, not based on far away job prospects). Those taking this path because it looks like a fun job in the end, but are not passionate about one's field, will be so disappointed and likely not very good at it either.

GrumFrum · 07-22-2009, 12:21 AM

It's not all doom and gloom. SOMEONE has to get those jobs. There are many ways to weigh things in your favor - one of the biggest factors is who your advisor is. You can look up advisors at potential graduate schools and they will often list where their previous students are now. You will see that some advisors have virtually all of their graduate students in academic positions, and others will have almost none, even though they are at the same school.