<p>Well you guys all have jobs so maybe you can help me...</p>
<p>Im interested in becoming and academic administrator...</p>
<p>so.... anything from</p>
<p>admissions, to supervision of academic affairs, to evaluation</p>
<p>and hopefully able to move up to higher positions such as... dean or chancellor</p>
<p>But my question is.... what degree (s) should I pursue for this type of career?</p>
<p>comments?/suggestions?/thoughts?</p>
<p>For deans or chancellors, you definitely need a higher degree, but the type of degree in itself matters less than your personal qualities, administrative skills, vision, etc... to take a few examples. Harvard presidents: Bok (law). Rudenstine (English); Summers (economics); Faust (history). deans and provosts have been chemists, computer scientists, mathematicians, economists, historians, anthropologists and so on.
Admissions is very different. You don't need a Ph.D. or M.D. or JD, but, as the Marilee Jones case showed, you do need a college degree.</p>
<p>It also depends a lot on whether you're only interested in the college/university level or if you would be interested in analogous positions at, say, private boarding schools and such. Most successful people in these positions would begin (and excel) as educators.</p>
<p>It is not the type of field where you work up the ranks from a lower administrative position to president.</p>
<p>Im really only interested in the college level</p>
<p>Im probably most interested in admissions. What type of degree would be best for that?</p>
<p>At least a college degree. But you have to have some familiarity with the college admissions process. Many students work in admissions offices, conduct tours, contact students. After college, some are taken on as admission representatives. They can work their way up.</p>
<p>It's not all that uncommon for undergrads who have been involved in admissions as tour guides, student hosts, etc. to work in their college's admissions department after graduation. Most students do that for a couple of years and move on, but I guess if you find you really like it and are good at it, you can stay and try to work your way up.</p>
<p>Ok so if my goal was to be dean of admissions</p>
<p>then should i major in education?</p>
<p>"then should i major in education?"</p>
<p>I suppose you could. But you might want to consider what Admissions administrators actually do on the job, virtually none of which would be advanced by a degree in education. Since you may end up needing an advanced degree to be an Academic Administrator anyway, why don't you choose an undergraduate area you have great interest in?</p>
<p>what i think youre looking for is a masters (and perhaps eventually a phd) in higher education administration. what you major in as an undergrad probably isnt terribly important, but things like psychology, sociology, management and educational theory probably lead to the most natural transition and are likely the most represented majors in these programs for obvious reasons. </p>
<p>also keep in mind that people often do get jobs in higher ed administration with bachelors degrees, but if advancement is a consideration, a graduate degree will probably be necessary. also, as others pointed out, many tip-top non-academic officials are ex-academics, lawyers, et cetera... something you should consider if being a top official is the goal.</p>
<p>If you want to be a dean, a provost, or a chancellor, you must be a very strong scholar, who has earned tenure under strict standards, with good administrative skills and an engaging personality. If you want to be an administrator dealing with admissions or development (fund raising), you need a college degree, and increasing responsibilities and experience. University relations/press officer would need training in communications. Student affairs in another venue of acadmic administration, which should require professional training. Experience as an RA and student leader are good beginnings. Any undergraduate major would be okay, but probably degrees in counseling, communications, psychology, sociology, recreation, etc., would be good foundations. There are advanced degree programs in student affairs. Athletic directors are important administrators, and most come from some kind of athletic background. Good luck.</p>
<p>I have worked in college admissions and other non-academic areas of college administration. As noted by some other posters, the undergraduate degree you get is not important. Most important, if you want to work in admissions after college, is to work (for pay, or as a volunteer) in the admissions office at your undergraduate school. You may not get a job at your undergraduate school, but the work experience would be transferable to a similar type school.</p>
<p>At some schools, moving higher than an entry level position may require an advanced degree. Could be a specific degree in an area of higher education administration or could be an MBA or MPA.</p>
<p>There is a specific MA/EdD in the field of Ed that leads towards this goal. At one U, its a program called Leadership in higher ed.</p>
<p>Below is the bio of the new Associate Provost for Enrollment at my alma mater - William and Mary. He has an advanced degree. The woman he replaced had a doctorate. He had been in admissions at UNC and Tufts before coming back to W&M. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.wm.edu/news/?id=5532%5B/url%5D">http://www.wm.edu/news/?id=5532</a></p>
<p>For the new associate provost at William and Mary you'll also notice: "As an undergraduate, he spent two years as a student guide, introducing visiting high school students to the campus, and he spent another year as an admission office intern."</p>
<p>This is based totally on personal experience and others may have radically different imipressions, but my sense is that the career paths are quite different for different aspects of administration.</p>
<p>Academic Deans/Provosts are usually academics who establish themselves as teachers/scholars, learn the ropes from the inside by serving on committees, task forces, etc., and gradually drift into more administrative things, often first serving as dept. heads, division heads, heads of special initiatives etc.</p>
<p>Presidents and Chancellors often are in this same mold as Academic Deans though Trustees sometimes hire lawyers or CEO types from outside the academy.</p>
<p>Development officers, particularly at the highest levels, can also be academics, but they're just as likely to come from all sorts of backgrounds, often non-academic, and often oriented toward business.</p>
<p>Deans of Admission sometimes come up through the ranks in the admissions office (where neary any degree can get you in the door), but they sometimes make the leap from the teacher/scholar/academic model.</p>
<p>Deans of Student/Student Life type positions have people from all over the map, but are maybe more likely to include administrators who have degrees in educational administration. Backgrounds in psych and even recreation are not uncommon. People who first established themselves as scholars seem rarer in student-life contexts.</p>
<p>GoBlue, you may be an exceptional case. I think it's farily unusual for people to set out with academic administration as a career goal. Lots of academic adminsitrators, I think, would say that their career paths were anything but an intentional straight line.</p>
<p>Good post, MarathonMan. That sounds about right to me.</p>
<p>Go Blue
the advanced degree is in Higher Ed Admin
undergrad major is irrelevant but experience should be in Admissions, student Life or Residence Hall areas
I found my career path (Financial Aid,ultimately) by initially working as an undergrad in the Registrar's Office,then moving on ..after a unsatisfying stop in the real business world... to student service admin for an adult learning program,back to Registrar and then into Financial Aid.
I had a Registrar's Office colleague who segued into Student Life,the area that handles programming,orientation,etc.I know people who started out as RA's and became Resident Hall Director's (the professionals the RA's work under) while attending Grad School who then work in Student Housing or Student Life areas.</p>
<p>Listen to MarathonMan.</p>
<p>I was hired into academic administration because the position the University was looking to fill was exactly what I was doing in the Federal Government.</p>