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How do you become a professor?

How do you become a college or university professor?

  • I wish to become a professor of either kind in the Fine Arts. I know it probably takes some kind of Masters or Doctorate, but at the moment, I'm only in secondary school, and I've chosen Art and Design for a 2 year GCSE and Psychology for my one year (obviously along with the Core Subjects, although I'm taking triple sciences). I was just wondering how you get to that stage.

  • Answer:

    I'm gonna help you save countless years of your life: forget about it. Forget about it. If you like self inflicting pain (masochism), then do go for it. It is an obnoxiously long road, and is getting even longer nowadays with the **** economy we have and the dilution of the education system with cheap labor and foreigners. Those who are full professors will attest to this--they are at the end of their lives and are rather honest. In the simplest of terms, professorship is something you do if you have a mental problem or issue with ego or self-esteem. With all the hurdles you have to jump through, that well defines a professor. So here you go. For the liberal arts/social sciences: 4 years college, grad school for a PhD (which for this area of study takes anywhere from 5 years to 10+ years to get through). Natural sciences average is steady at 5 years (4-7). After one to two decades in education to get your doctorate, you then pursue post-doctoral research/fellowship. This is a holding pattern period in which you study/research some topic entirely on your own terms, funded by your own grants, etc. This is when you boost your credentials, publish, win awards, etc. This can last anywhere from 2 to 6 years. During the end of this period, when you have lots of publications in scholarly peer-review journals, you will then apply to colleges (non-community). You will start out as an assistant professor (if you go for tenure track). The word "professor" is used very liberally today...technically it should only be use for those faculty who are at the level of tenure or able to be voted for tenure. They are residents of the university and contribute research. You could also be hired as a Lecturer or Adjunct professor. These are part-time, or non resident teachers who are paid less and have more mundane lower level work. Colleges (4 year) get many hundreds of applications for a handful of positions. Your chances are around zero of getting the position. Especially if it is for a traditional professor track. So, if you happen to get the Assistant Professor gig (you are about 32-38 years old) you will teach, be worked to death, publish or perish, and constantly have the doom gloom of 'tenure' held over you. You are not 'safe' until you get it. A bunch of stuffy old people will decide if you have worked your *** off enough to get it. At this point you may be promoted to Associate Professor (either tenure track or not...some enter the gig as an Assistant Prof). At this point (mid 40 years old to 50s) you are semi-safe and can consider yourself a resident of the university.You must still publish and put up with crap, but you have much more room. Then the last level up is the Full Professor. They are usually mid 50+ years old. They are the waste of life slugs who live at the university. I can think of a thousand other jobs that make more money than them (you need only a masters degree....or a bachelors degree if you are in engineering/computers). however, they are there for life, will never get fired, and can do what they want. So...you've spent 2-3 decades doing nothing but earning your degrees and performing research and publishing, making next to no money in the process. Then, when the moon turns blue and you get a tenure position, you will make liveable salary and put up with more bull ****. Rather, more and more jobs will be offered to non-tenure part-time positions like Lecturer. They wont pay much, and you will need another job to supplement them. But for these, a Master's degree will do (especially at community colleges). Source(s): work in academic research

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OK. If you're in secondary school now, you have 4 years of university ahead, and then graduate school. By the time you get out, many of the baby boomer generation will be retiring. So this is actually a good thing to plan ahead for. But you have to be outstanding in your university work and your graduate work to be a university professor. Now, what the other responders might not have known is that in the British system, "college" is actually the equivalent of the last two years of U.S. high school. That's very different from a university position. You'll have to ask some teachers what it take to teach in a college where you are. It may just be a university degree. Or it might mean a master's degree. In any case, those jobs are more plentiful and easier to get than university positions.

harwarda

Jesus...kids nowadays. My advice, get older before you think of something that stupid. Trying to become a college professor in the Arts/Humanities nowadays is impossible...meaning, not possible. In fact, even in disciplines where there is still a flow of funding and grants, trying for a professorship or tenure track job is almost impossible. Too few slots, too many applicants, and too many old profs who don't want to retire. The whole process is probably the longest and most time wasting thing you could do with your life. It's useless, will get you nowhere, and will cause you to have to struggle financially even when you are middle aged. It's pointless. Again, get older. You are too young and honestly are naive and too ignorant to know what you want to do. Trust me on this one. I could explain the laborious process to 'attempting' to become a professor, but it's not worth my time.

Chris

You need a PhD in your field to apply for jobs as a professor. Faculty jobs are hard to get; they get many hundreds of qualified applicants for each position, and only about 10% of people getting a PhD who want to teach college will get a full-time position somewhere. Have a backup plan for what else you can do with your degree.

eri

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