The road to becoming a professor...?

Question

When I'm interested in a subject, I'm usually not only interested, but quirkily obsessed. I have always had in these "interests" (which have ranged from rocks to Napoleon and Claude Rains to Russian history) a desire to share my passion with others. I like to write, research and travel. Therefore, I thought that the perfect job for me would be that of a college professor.

If you are a professor, or are soon hoping to become one, I would greatly appreciate any tips or observations about the occupation that might support or even tear down my warm-and-fuzzy goal. Is there any aspect of the job I'm missing? Is there a college I should consider over, say, Duke or Yale, because of a program that would aid me in reaching my destination?

Simply put, the internet provides beaucoup de information on how to become a doctor or the president, but very little (other than eHow) on how to become a professor. I'd love any information from the experts. Thanks!

Answer 1

1) Get admitted to the best university possible, and earn a bachelor's degree in the field in which you want to eventually specialize. Get great grades in every class in that major, get to know your professors, and remain in close contact with them throughout your time in university. At this point, you must absolutely fall in love with and develop a passion for a particular area of study within that major, because if you don't, you'll hate being a professor.

2) Take the GRE, and apply to grad schools. You'd better get stellar scores on the GRE, because otherwise, you will not be a competitive candidate, and will not qualify for assistantships or fellowships. (Those awards are the way grad students pay for their education, since they carry full tuition remission as well as a small living stipend.) The letters of recommendation you'll need from your professors will now be great, since you've done well in their courses, and taken the time and trouble to let them get to know you. Hopefully, you've also written a senior thesis that demonstrates to your professors that you can write a literate, solid, sustained, scholarly research paper.

3) Go to the best grad school you can get into. You will definitely want to shoot for a PhD program. (Aspiring professors who get Master's degrees first are usually doing that because they didn't get into PhD programs.) In a PhD program, you earn your Master's degree (usually an M.Phil.) "along the way." It is important to research graduate programs before applying, because you only want to apply to programs that have faculty with national or international reputations in your specific area of interest, as well as in your specific theoretical/methodological orientation.

4) While in grad school, join the scholarly association related to your field. Go to their annual meetings, present papers, and network. Take coursework for a couple of years, pass language exams and comprehensive exams (also known as qualifying exams), assemble your dissertation committee (which should include the faculty you went there to study with) and begin to research and write your PhD dissertation.

5) Either just before or just after you complete your dissertation, apply for jobs. If you're in a relationship, you'd better have a partner/spouse that is mobile, because you will have NO SAY as to where you'll be working for the next several years of your life. You'll be applying for jobs in universities and colleges anywhere and everywhere in the nation. Your scholarly association will coordinate and host the interviews. If you're religious, pray, because getting that first job will be the hardest thing you've ever done.

6) When you get that first job, if it is tenure-track, you're golden. If it is just a visiting position, keep applying for other jobs. In either case, publish articles in scholarly journals. Write a book, perhaps based on your dissertation. Network some more. Keep attending the annual meetings of your scholarly association, and give presentations. If you're tenure-track, do committee work, administrative work, advise students, and hone your teaching skills. Publish some more. And work to qualify for tenure in your sixth year of employment. If you're visiting, keep applying for jobs until you get one that's tenure track.

7) If, through all of this, you manage to keep your sanity and your passion for your area of study, if you are still able to derive fulfillment from teaching not just the star students, but even the most ungrateful/ unwilling/ uninterested undergrads, then you're a born professor. If you are willing to spend most of your life making sacrifices (geographical, financial, personal) for the privilege of doing what you love, and if you are reconciled to spending the rest of your life paying off your student loans and driving crappier cars than your students, all for the sake of being fulfilled and happy in your work, then again, you're a born professor. Love it. (I do.) :)

Answer 2

A PhD program is a sure fire way to destroy your passion for your subject. In general, these academic academies like fairly smart people, they do not like super smart people who are inner directed. They want conformity, they want you to agree with them.

You spend years discussing what other academics write or think about a subject, Napoleon for example, rather than discussing Napoleon himself. It is how these academies perpetuate themselves.

You will be surrounded by people who do not want to help you -those people will see you as a threat. Professors treat grad students as competition for jobs they hope to get. Its not the same as sharing knowledge with an undergrad who is not a potential competitor.

If your goal is to become a professor go to the highest ranked school you can get into/afford.

If I had it to do over again -no way -but what happens is you invest so much time and money you have to finish or it was all a waste of time.


You sound so filled with passion and desire. It reminds me a me a long time ago before the PhD program crushed my dreams under piles and piles of paper. My hope now is that when I am done, some day I will find that passion again.
I cannot be sure whether it is gone forever, or just gone temporarily.

Answer 3

You don't have Aspergers Syndrome like me do you? Just that quote "quickly obsessed" sounds Aspergers-ish

Anyway, one thing you have to keep in mind. Typically you have to get a PhD to teach at even a state university, and to get a PhD you typically have to have about 200,000 bucks ready to spend. Be sure to pick an interesting topic too, because you may get bored teaching the War of 1812 90 days a quarter, 4 quarters a year, for 20 years. If you can deal with that, then good luck.

The first thing you want to do is decide on your major, double-major, and/or minor. After that, find schools which, for what you can afford, are respected in that subject. For instance if you just get a BA in History from Albany Community College, Yale will look at you and say you might not even deserve to be a student there, let alone a professor! But if you have a PhD in History from the University of Pennsylvania, you will make more of an impression.

Teaching is actually a dwindling job. Many colleges are beginning to have temporary staff and thus do not pay benefits. But if you can really find a "in demand" subject, they will crawl to you like... uhhh.... *INSERT COMPARISON HERE*....

For instance, though I know you must not be interested, there is a huge, huge demand for people who know ancient Sumerian cuneiform. There are almost an infinite number of people wanting to fill history roles, so a good idea to establish yourself in that field. Get a good degree, write a book on the topic, etc. That is also a good way to keep your job in colleges, keep writing books, colleges love having professor/authors on their staff.

Answer 4

So you want the realities of professor? Let me start by saying I have been one for 19 years and I love it. I can't think of anything I'd rather do. But all is not sweetness and light and wide-eyed love of learning.

You become a professor because you love your subject and you enjoy sharing it with others and helping them grow. But I do think it is tougher than it used to be. Seems like the "busy work" stuff keeps growing each year. When you feel like you don't have adequate time to prepare for class, or you can't stop to talk to a couple interested students because you have to rush to some meeting about a subject only tangentially related to what you do? It's frustrating.

Someone else already talked about schools hiring temporary adjunct faculty rather than fulltime and that is a huge issue. It's criminal that someone must try to patch together a decent living without benefits or any guarantee of fulltime employment. It is unfair to that person, to the students, and to the fulltime faculty who really need a fulltime colleague but aren't given the okay to hire one.

Depending on your area, the competition can be fierce. In my own department, we've advertised one position and gotten several hundred applicants for the job, but another position only got ten applicants and none of them were really well qualified.

Besides teaching and your own research, the expectations of involvement in advising, recruitment, fund-raising, assessment, etc. all have grown over time. Schools are concerned with retention too, so if you grade critically and a student fails and then drops out of school, it may be counted against your department. Thus grade inflation becomes a problem as marginally capable students may not be held accountable, are passed into the next class, and potentially become a drag on the learning environment because they are really not prepared to be there. Everyone suffers when that happens.

The catch-22 of concerns about relationships makes people edgy in a world too willing to sue. Dare you pat a student on the shoulder or hold a meeting in your office behind a closed door? Could it be misconstrued?

All that said, there is probably no perfect job in the world. Despite the real frustrations in the life of a professor, there is huge satisfaction in working with students, seeing them grow and graduate and succeed. There is excitement in pursuing knowledge that is meaningful to you. There is energy in being on a campus, being surrounded by others who look deeply into the world (or at least their little part of it.) The enriching music, lectures, events and activities of campus life are invigorating.

And you get multiple fresh starts. What other job allows you to begin anew every few months? I think you might be surprised at the number of hours a committed professor actually works, but if it is doing something you love, it is time well spent. You usually have some flexibility to determine your daily schedule and specific tasks--more than the average employee by far.

And when a student says thank you, or former students write excited emails about their new accomplishments and their appreciation for you and what you've taught them, it is absolutely the best feeling you can have.

So this doesn't tell you much about how to get there, but maybe gives you a broader sense of what the picture might be once you've arrived. Good luck!

Answer 5

Ok...first of all you should choose a course you are really interested in. After you finished your first degree make sure you either enrol at a master course that will provide you with the necessary knowledge to move into a PhD subject area you are interested in or pick your area of interest and apply directly for a PhD. In the UK is easy to do that. You should also be looking for funding because is then easier to coop with the stress that a PhD is bringing with. Something else you should know is that is much much easier to get your PhD in the UK than in the US where you are depended on your professor and when he/she thinks your ready to submit your thesis.
When you enrol in a PhD course make sure you are happy with your supervisor/advisor and with the topic you picked. Your goal is during the PhD to produce as many publications as possible so you will become known in the field/community your researching.
After PhD graduation make sure you remain active researcher in the field you have chosen.

If you looking for PhD positions in the UK (funding etc) www.jobs.ac.uk

oh and remember that it is not about the best university/college you are graduating from but it is about your ability to convince someone you worth a chance.

I graduated from a college that in my country is not being recognised enough.......and I am studying now for my PhD at one of the most prestigues Computing schools in the world.....having also secure funding for my PhD reasearch....

Answer 6

A complicated question that requires a whole book to answer. As with any profession, there are positive and negative aspects. As a retired professor, I can tell you that it is a highly rewarding profession, but one that involves hard work and dedication. It requires a great deal of education, typically a Ph.D., degree. Only the most dedicated, intelligent, and hard working students achieve it, and they then must work hard to gain success in their chosen field after they are hired by a university.

Answer 7

Amen to the guy above with the white head band-at least he was honest.