Prospects for future science professor?

puplefi
Tue, 19 Oct 2010 09:40:11 +0000

i would like to teach at the college level someday, so i skimmed a couple issues of academia magazine to find out where the jobs are. Here is what I gleaned:


STEM majors definitely have the advantage over humanities majors when it comes to finding tenure-track jobs.
Tenure-track jobs at major research universities are highly competitive.
It helps to have published/done research before getting into a PhD program.
There are colleges that focus more on teaching than research, and are less competitive. If teaching is your goal, this might be something to think about.
Overall, many people in the STEM fields abandon academia for better-paying jobs in industries like biotech, high tech, engineering, energy companies, etc.
The overall trend in academia is to save money by offering less tenure-track positions and rely on adjunct faculty, who are often treated as less-than their peers, even though they have the same education!
That said, any STEM field has the potential to be very financially and intellectually rewarding!!


Hope this helps and good luck!!