If I become a high school teacher with my bachelor’s degree, teach for some years, go get my masters degree, Will I be able to become a college professor? Also, would it be easier than just working, getting my masters then trying to become a professor?
p.s I live in georgia
Why do you want to be a college professor?
What academic field are you interested in working in?
I think that we need more information to give you sensible advice.
In general there are a lot of very strong candidates with PhD’s trying to compete for a small number of places as college professors. Many can only get part time adjunct positions that don’t pay at all well. This might depend upon your major.
The people that I know who are university professors were never high school teachers. They pretty much went straight through to PhD’s. Some got their tenure-track professor jobs before completing their PhD thesis. I am not sure that teaching high school is a useful step on the path to becoming a university professor.
Depends on the subject taught, but most colleges want a PhD completed for professors/tenure track instructors.
Some colleges will hire adjunct instructors who have a masters degree in the field.
Typically K-12 education majors spend time student teaching and learning about teaching. Students in a PhD program typically spend time as a TA, but spend more time doing research than learning about teaching.
Job prospects for college professors has been not so great lately. You will need to move to where the job is - no guarantee you’ll be hired where you want to live. Universities are also hiring more adjuncts instead of tenure track, and salaries are very low.
Doubtful that a masters degree will be sufficient to enable one to become a college professor.
PhD is what you’ll need to get a position at college level.
Teaching high school you can do a BS or Master’s probably depending on the subject…
Masters if you want a private school position.
I think it’s really important though to learn if you’re really cut out for teaching–so speaking in public and teaching in different environments will tell you if you really want to follow this track.
I have heard stories of even PhD’s being paid embarrassingly low wages in non-tenure track positions.
NOPE. You need to get a PhD in a particular subject to be on the track for a professorship.
My brother-in-law got his first undergraduate degree in engineering, worked as an engineer for several years, went back to school after his entire department was laid off, got a teaching certificate and taught in a middle school, went back to school again for a Ph.D., and now is a tenure-track professor at a university. I think a Ph.D. is crucial for the university and college tenure-track positions.
If you want to be a professor of education (teaching future teachers & administrators) , then having actual classroom experience as a school teacher would be valuable, but you would still generally need a PhD or EdD to land a fulltime job.
However, if you want to do something like teach high school history, physics, or English, then eventually be a college history /physics/English professor, having been a school teacher probably won’t hurt you, but it won’t be terrible helpful, either…you will still need the PhD in the subject field (e.g., history, physics, English).
Broadly, in sciences, humanities and social sciences, a Ph.D. is the required degree in order to teach at the college level. Science Ph.D.s may take 4-5 years, humanities and social sciences often are more like 6-8 years. Many many new Ph.D.s cannot get a tenure track job – because the supply exceeds the demands for faculty – and patch together a series of part time, adjunct positions to try to pay the bills.
College professors engage in independent research – they are measured primarily based on their contribution to the field. Getting a Ph.D. requires 1-2 years of graduate student class work, and then 2-5 years of independent research culminating in the dissertation which is then orally “defended” before the dissertation committee of faculty who are learned in the field.
I’m married to one – being a college professor is a calling, like being an actor or a musician. I would only encourage someone to go into it if they are truly driven to it and cannot imagine doing anything else. Professors are often independent, even iconoclastic personality types who could not imagine an office job which requires reporting to a hierarchy of bosses. And you don’t get summers off. Summer is when you get your own research done in order to publish in order to get tenure.
But being a law professor or a business school professor is, in my opinion, much different than what @Midwestmomofboys describes. Plus these type of positions at the graduate level can pay very, very, very, very well.
Even community colleges require a Ph.D. for full time professors.
Ph.D is a must (and a long slog, so you better be passionate). Even with a PhD, there’s no guarantee you’ll land a tenure track job.
Many will end up being adjuncts, and the struggles of adjuncts are well known.
@Publisher Yes, I described undergrad teaching, not professional school teaching. The terminal degree for law professor is a JD, plus typically an appellate and Supreme Court clerkship (which require superb grades, law review etc). B school I’m less familiar with. They both pay much better than most undergrad teaching (thought some STEM undergrad faculty positions also pay more) because the faculty could make a lot more money in the private sector. Tenure track Law school and B school faculty still have research demands as faculty.
I didn’t think the OP was contemplating professional school faculty role.
@Midwestmomofboys :Technically, the terminal degree in law is an SJD. But many law profs. get a JD & PhD combination, while many just have JD & publish. Appellate & supreme court clerks sometimes teach, but many go with biglaw or stay in judiciary.
Business school profs may or may not have research demands. My understanding is that many of the highest paid do not. They tend to make bucket loads of money consulting in addition to making megabucks for teaching in bigtime MBA programs.
And, yes, I understood OP’s career goal.