Career Overview: College Professor

Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics shows that the middle 50% of all post-secondary teachers earn between $36,590 and $72,490. The average annual salary of only full-time faculty is $68,505 per year. However, the average salary for full professors is over $90,000 per year.

Last year, Money Magazine from CNN.com rated college professor as the second best job in America-after software engineer.

Being a professor is the one job that can pay out huge salaries, but gets less stressful as you move up through the ranks. According to Money Magazine top-earning professors make as much as $550,000 annually.

An accounting professor at University of Georgia says that a new hire, straight out of grad school, will easily earn over $100,000 per year teaching Accounting.

Additionally, college professors have fairly flexible schedules. They must teach classes a few hours a week, and hold office hours for their students.

However, the professor can usually choose their own office hours, and then choose when and where they will complete the rest of their duties and paperwork.

Professors at universities that value research above all get paid the most. However, they must also produce a certain amount of research and get that research published to secure a permanent position.

Required Education

The most difficult part of being a professor is getting the required education to be one.

To become a tenured professor, you must have a PhD in your field. This is time consuming, expensive, and difficult.

You do not need to have an undergraduate degree related to the field in order to get a PhD and teach in the area. For example, if you majored in English as an undergraduate student, it is possible to get a PhD in Finance and then teach Finance.

However, to get admitted to a top graduate program, you must prove you can do the work. A high GPA in your undergraduate major may be all it takes, but if your undergraduate major is radically different than your intended PhD, you may wish to try a Masters degree in the subject first to get some groundwork in the topic.

Tenure Track

The path to the high salary is tenure track for professors. Tenure is a permanent position as a faculty member. “Tenure track” professors are working to prove themselves during probation period that lasts for several years.

Tenure track professors face high competition during this time. They must produce and publish research to prove themselves. In addition, universities hire far more tenure-track professors than they can ultimately hire as tenured professors, elevating the competition even more.

Finding a tenure-track position in the first place can also be difficult. A graduate student should keep their grades up, and work on researching and writing their dissertation.

According to this article from the Stanford Daily Online, tenure track begins with a position as an assistant professor, which is a three-year position. During these three years, the professor is constantly evaluated. If this goes well, they may then make it to associate professor, and finally to full, tenured professor.

Other Options for College Professors

If you genuinely like to teach college students and are not interesting in the stress of tenure-track, there are many other options out there.

Universities also hire lecturers to teach without the pressure of research. These faculty members do not have the opportunity to get the highest salary or tenure.

Additionally, if you want to teach but don’t want to get a PhD, many two-year colleges hire teachers with Masters Degrees. Some four-year universities hire professors with Masters Degrees to teach Arts or Literature topics.

If you like learning and teaching, and want a flexible job, working as a college professor may be the ideal job for you.