Stephanie
What is the process of becoming a college professor?
Curious on how many credits I would need or what kind of degree I will need for a math or art professor. I want to know for any type of college too; community, CSU, UC, private, etc? #professor #california #mathematics #art
3 answers
Allison Yost
Allison’s Answer
This depends on a lot of factors, but in general, different levels of post-secondary education require different levels of education.
To teach at a community college/junior college, you will likely need a Master's degree or a PhD. In the past, a Master's degree was enough, but as college teaching becomes more competitive, more people with PhDs are applying to these positions.
To teach at a four-year institution, you will need a PhD. You will also likely need to have done publications, research and/or teaching in order to become competitive.
Kristen Blake
Kristen’s Answer
Hi Stephanie,
This would all depend on what university you would like to teach at and what their requirements are. Every school is different in the requirements/degrees one must have to instruct there. If you are curious about these requirements, you can either search job openings on the universities website or you can use sites like www.glassdoor.com.
In general, if you want to teach at a private or public university, most Math or Art professors have to have their PhD's. If you wanted to teach at a community college, not all professors have to have their PhD's .. some only need to have a Master's degree or certain certifications that allow them to be qualified to teach that subject.
In regards to the actual degree you would need, it depends on what kind of Math or Art subject you want to teach. For example, if you want to teach Art, what kind of art would you want to teach .. drawing? Animation? Art History? All subjects are very different and typically require you to take specialty classes so you can receive your degree for that particular study. Same thing with Math .. would you want to teach Geometry? Number Theory? Algebraic Topology? I would recommend doing some research to figure out what you would most be interested.
I hope this helps and wish you all the best!
BHUSHAN SHARMA
BHUSHAN’s Answer
Here is the way.. :)
1. Study mathematics as an undergraduate. This can be done at almost any US academic institution. Ideally, you’ll start in Calc I in your first semester (or further), but I’ve seen students start in precalculus and finish in four years
2. Work hard and get good grades, especially in analysis courses
3. If at all possible, get an REU (research experience as an undergraduate); these are outlined elsewhere on Quora, and will give you some basic research experience
4. If possible, work with a professor on research and/or complete a senior thesis
5. Shoot for a GPA > 3.5
6. The summer before your last year of college, prep for the GRE, and take it in the summer or early, early, early fall
7. Also that summer, research graduate schools, although at this point, you should be getting advice from your undergrad faculty advisor
8. In the fall of your last year of college, apply to a few PhD programs (if you aren’t ready for a PhD, you can do an MA/MS first); in CS, I recommend two “reach” schools, two good target schools, and two less competitive programs
9. If you don’t get admitted, don’t sweat it; many people do an MA in mathematics first, or instead of, although you typically can’t be a tenure-track professor (except at a community college) without a PhD
10. Earn your PhD (this is large, complex, covered elsewhere, and out of scope here)
11. Get a faculty job
Faculty jobs in mathematics are competitive, but there are other employment avenues. Most faculty are not in tenure-track positions at research universities, and at some point in your PhD career, you should get a sense of whether or not you are competitive for such a position. I’m not and not disappointed; I teach more than I research and love teaching more than I love research, so I get the right balance. There are tenure-track and non-tenure-track positions at all levels of institution, and non-tenure-track positions at research universities, and people like them.
Good luck!