Being a professor?

[Greekopedia]

History professors are RARE. I am sure you will be doing well. Some professors at UF make upwards of $200,000 a year!

[LightBulb]

Wow, thanks for all the replies so far!

Carnation, what is your original field?

Dancer, did you study library science? My lil sis is considering that (she's an English major)!

Greeko, I'm not sure which way you meant with the RARE. Did you mean that history professors are a dime a dozen and so professor position openings are rare, or that a lot of schools really need history professors? Thanks for your help!

[carnation]

My 3 degrees are in horticulture but I also had heavy coursework in Spanish and I'm teaching that now. I would say to definitely ask your professors and others away from your schools in which fields professors are needed. You can always get grad degrees in other fields to strengthen your employability; you don't want to get in a situation where there are hardly any jobs in your specialty and you end up being one of those Ph.D.'s who has to drive a truck! Or the only jobs you can find are in srange, far-flung places.

I don't know about the rarity of history professors but there's an oversupply of history teachers around here. A lot of the coaches get history degrees and guess who's always going to get the job first if you and a coach are competing for it.

[kddani]

Originally Posted by Greekopedia

History professors are RARE. I am sure you will be doing well. Some professors at UF make upwards of $200,000 a year!

I would be surprised if history professors were rare by any standards. History is a popular subject area.

Some professors may make that much, but then went a long time getting paid peanuts. Associate professors and adjunct professors make crap for pay. Full professors can do okay, but it takes along time to get there.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by Greekopedia

History professors are RARE. I am sure you will be doing well. Some professors at UF make upwards of $200,000 a year!

History professors are not rare.

Making up to and over 100K as a professor is usually a result of being a tenured professor with many years of experience and/or being in an endowed position with the department/university.

[KSigkid]

Originally Posted by Greekopedia

History professors are RARE. I am sure you will be doing well. Some professors at UF make upwards of $200,000 a year!

Really? Boston U. had quite a few history professors, and schools like UCLA have big departments. I'd guess that it's one of the more common subjects, with larger departments (especially since it is a pre-req at many places).

From what I've heard, being a professor can be a long and not so lucrative profession, especially when you first start. You basically have to wait until you get tenure, and even then it can heavily depend on your outside work (writing, research, etc.).

Definitely make sure it is the right career path, though. Good professors can make quite a difference on campus, and bad professors can make just as much of one.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by KSigkid

Really? Boston U. had quite a few history professors, and schools like UCLA have big departments. I'd guess that it's one of the more common subjects, with larger departments (especially since it is a pre-req at many places).

From what I've heard, being a professor can be a long and not so lucrative profession, especially when you first start. You basically have to wait until you get tenure, and even then it can heavily depend on your outside work (writing, research, etc.).

If you want to do it though, be sure you want to do it. Good professors can make quite a difference on campus.

Correct. People generally don't go into academia because they are money-hungry.

If academics are money-hungry, they tend to go to private research organizations, government entities, and so forth. Not teaching.

[tinydancer]

I have a MLS and a Ph.D. in Library Science. I spent my whole career as a school librarian, with several semesters as an adjunct prof. at Texas Woman's Univ. and Univ. of North Texas.

Public schools don't pay squat for a doctorate, though. I got a whopping $600 a year extra for it.

[Scandia]

Tinydancer- did you find your PhD worth it for non-teaching library positions?

I am applying for the Specialist Degree, and have pondered getting a doctorate in the future.

[tinydancer]

Originally Posted by Scandia

Tinydancer- did you find your PhD worth it for non-teaching library positions?

I am applying for the Specialist Degree, and have pondered getting a doctorate in the future.

Personally, it was worth a lot because it gave me insight into other parts of the library world. Also, I wanted to teach at the college level some.

I probably was not clear about the pay and public schools. I worked for the city public school district, not a public university. However, the school district payed more than the 2 closest public universities that have a library school.

[gamma_girl52]

I'm glad I found this thread, because I am about to start making steps in this direction.

I'd like to know more about being an English professor (and it's probably a lot of those). I already have a B.A. in English, with a literature concentration. I've had an interest in teaching, but not high school or anything. I think I might do better teaching in a university setting.

[DSTCHAOS]

Originally Posted by tinydancer

Public schools don't pay squat for a doctorate, though.

That depends on 1) the doctorate, 2) whether the public institution is research 1 or liberal arts, and 3) how in demand the candidate is which determines the recruitment package.