<p>I know getting a job as a professor at a research oriented institution is very difficult. But I am curious. What is it like trying to get a job at a teaching oriented institution? </p>
<p>Maybe there is not difference, but I am assuming there are universities where the professors are focused on teaching, and instead of having grad students maybe they work on projects getting undergraduates some hands on experience.</p>
<p>Not nearly as competitive in the sciences. Check out the CVs of faculty at liberal arts colleges. They run the gamut from the highly published, successful scientists to people whose grad school careers and postdocs didn’t go that well. Compare that to faculty’s CVs at research universities and you will find with few expecptions that the competition of faculty spots at research universities is incredibly stiff.</p>
<p>Thanks for the reply. </p>
<p>Is the same true for engineering programs at liberal arts universities. I can think of at least a few liberal arts universities where they have engineering programs and the professors do research. Maybe they dont do as much as other research oriented universities, and the ones I am thinking the highest degree offered is a masters. Are those generally as competitive? I feel like even those institutions the focus is still primarily teaching.</p>
<p>I am just wondering because I would like to work at a university eventually. I am a mechanical engineer, and my goal is do research for NASA or similar after I get my PhD, but as a I get older I may want to teach. But without the pressure of having to write a million grants and publish a million papers. Although I obviously hope I would publish as a researcher at NASA or where ever I end up.</p>
<p>Hi Sickid,</p>
<p>I went to a small lac, but I am not very knowlegeable about engineering. </p>
<p>To get a position at a LAC, you should probably aim for the top perception schools (Harvard, Berkeley, etc). The school’s name seems more important than the advisor. You also need tons of teaching experience, since these places are looking for excellent teachers. Research is becoming more and more important at these places, so they are starting to also look more at people that can publish and get grants too.</p>
<p>While in grad school and working at NASA or wherever you need to be teaching classes regularly since they will not even look at you without this.</p>
<p>In regards to engineering, I dont think many lacs have engineering programs so the competion for these programs may be extreme.</p>
<p>Many LACs do not have engineering programs but quite a few will have 3-2 programs with an university.</p>
<p>But you might want to look to market yourself as one of the other science fields like physics or chemistry (whichever your engineering field is closest to). Your advisor will STILL matter, not names of the university although LACs are always looking to boost their faculty. Don’t neglect this. But while you’re in a PhD program, do what your advisor tells you to do but be proactive in getting TA duties so you can have practice in teaching. One of my friends is at a R1 and was required to TA only one semester but she wants to teach in a LAC. So she’s always looking out for void in TA jobs so she can fill them to bolster her resume. She’s also trying to stay in touch with our LAC in hopes of getting a post-doc fellowship from them so she can have more opportunities to teach.</p>
<p>Also, you can always make excellent money as a tutor for undergrads :)</p>
<p>Note that my source on LACs wanting top school names is based on my own mid-level LAC. I was on a faculty hiring committee there and the candidate’s school name was a very big factor. They would take a well qualified candidate from Harvard over one from Wisconsin-Madison, even if Madision is clearly the better school in that field. These schools want to say that their faculty are from Harvard, Yale, Berkeley, etc. Some how they felt this would benefit the schools reputation amongst prospective students/funding sources. I speculate that this occurs elsewhere.</p>
<p>I know quite a few faculty members went into academia after spending decent amount of years in the industry. So don’t worry about it</p>
<p>If you want to focus on teaching it’s even better, wont need to live with unlimited proposal writing.</p>
<p>[Preparing</a> Future Faculty](<a href=“http://www.preparing-faculty.org/]Preparing”>http://www.preparing-faculty.org/) Thought this might help-</p>