How To-33: How to Become a College Professor

from wikiHow - The How to Manual That You Can Edit

Teaching at a college or university is a rewarding career path. But hard work and sacrifice are required if you wish to follow this path. However, your hard work will be rewarded with great benefits!

Steps

1. Complete your compulsory education. In the United States, this is grade 12, high school diploma, or General Equivalency Diploma (GED).
   
2. Enroll at a two year or four year college or university. If you go to a two year school, junior college, or community college make sure that your degree path is intended to transfer to a four year college or university. Some degrees at the two year institution are not intended for transfer, but rather to prepare the student for the job market.
   
3. Select a major. This is not necessarily the discipline you will later teach, but should be something in which you are interested.
   
4. Complete the baccalaureate degree with a particular degree program and major. Make really good grades (3.5 or higher GPA) to be competitive for the next step.
   
5. Go to graduate school. This is where you really have to begin to specialize. When you choose an institution for your graduate study, look carefully what program have the highest enrollment. These programs probably have a good reputation and a lot of students for a reason.
   
6. If you don't know what you want to study in graduate school, don't go.
   
7. Make really good grades (most graduate schools require grades of A and B.)
   
8. Decide if you want a more research oriented career or teaching oriented career.
   
9. If you want to teach in a two year college, you need a master's degree in the subject you want to teach.
   
10. If you want to teach in a university (four year institution) you need a terminal degree in that discipline, usually the doctorate.
    
11. If you want a faculty position at a research oriented or Ph. D. granting university, typically you will need to do at least one postdoctoral fellowship after completing your Ph.D. During this time, typically 2-3 yrs, you need to publish as many papers as you can in the top ranked journals of your discipline. You will also need to develop an independent research plan that is first and foremost at the leading edge of your discipline, one that is fundable by federal agencies such as the NIH, NSF, DOE, etc, and will attract graduate students as postdocs to your group.
    
12. Most colleges and universities allow professors to work full time and earn tenure. Tenure provides those in the academic profession with some benefits, including protection from termination without due process or without cause.
    
13. While tenure is a tremendous benefit, it comes with a great responsibility. Be a good and honest scholar, but don't abuse it and don't hide behind it.
    
14. Typically tenure at a top-ranked research institution requires some degree of demonstrable funding (especially in sciences and engineering disciplines) and a strong record of publications. Being a good teacher with a so-so research record will typically not get you tenure.
    
15. In sciences and engineering, typically starting Assistant Professors are given funds to build a lab, buy specialized equipment and supplies, and get their projects off the ground. This would usually be thought of by the junior faculty members as an investment that their university has made in them. They should try VERY hard to make good on this investment through securing their own funding, typically 2-3x their startup, before coming up for tenure.
    
16. Remain humble. Don't succumb to "professor's disease". Just because you spend your days in front of students who, by definition, have a lot to learn, doesn't mean you are omniscient or have an exalted place in the universe.

Tips

• Your grades make a difference.
  
• Do research and learn statistics.
  
• Go to conferences offered by the national organization for the discipline that interests you.
  
• Take elective courses (while earning the baccalaureate degree) in collateral areas.
  
• Never stop trying to learn; academics are life long learners.
  
• Be prepared to work as a TA or adjunct professor to get your foot in the door. Most universities require experience before a hiring.
  
• If possible, apply *everywhere*. The more places you apply, the better your chances of getting a job. This only works if you are willing to move anywhere (possibly cross country) with short notice.
  
• Learn how to write scholarly papers. Academia does not put up with "fluff" or BS. This is especially important because most tenure positions require you to publish something on a regular basis (publish or perish, as the saying goes).
  
• Check job postings *often* , several times a week.

Warnings

• The pay is not great, and the work is isolating. When you seek the tenure track, the first 6 years on the job are intense. This would not be the time to have a baby, get married, or make any other big life changes. Many institutions and systems now offer a flexible tenure track. If you feel like life may intervene, you might want to look for that kind of program.

Related wikiHows

• How to Teach
  
• How to Be a Popular Teacher
  
• How to Be a Teacher
  
• How to Succeed in College
  
• How to Choose a College

Article provided by wikiHow, a collaborative writing project to build the world's largest, highest quality how-to manual. Please edit this article and find author credits at the original wikiHow article on How to Become a College Professor. All content on wikiHow can be shared under a Creative Commons license.