So you want to be a professor?
Reflections on the advantages and disadvantages of an academic career as a college professor.
So you want to be a professor, huh? Are you sure? Really sure? Read on for some advice about the advantages and disadvantages of an academic career.
So, you think you might want to be a professor, huh? Check out these articles about the advantages and disadvantages of an academic career.
As you may know, I'm currently an assistant professor of media studies at Colorado State University, and I've resigned as of the end of this semester to pursue a writing career. In many ways, I feel like I fell into this career without enough thought. I loved being a student, I loved my communication classes, and hey, my father's a professor. Plus like everyone else, I was scared about trying to figure out what to do with my life, and grad school seemed like an easy path to follow. Terribly idealistic, I was drawn to media studies because of the critical lens it cast on society, and I wanted to share this subversive way of thinking with young minds in my classroom. As you can imagine, I've become disillusioned with my quasi-revolutionary efforts, which I'll talk about in a future blog.
I really hope my two articles about advantages and disadvantages can be of help to someone. There are many fabulous benefits of being in academia, and it just might be the right place for you. But please think it through carefully.
Here's my main bit of advice to you: don't become a professor unless you know you're going to love it. If you're going to be a professor, your career needs to be a rewarding end in and of itself. Otherwise the pay and the long hours and the politics and everything else will not be worth it. And here's a similar bit of advice from Robert L. Scott, a brilliant and inspirational professor I had the honor of studying with at the University of Minnesota. Dr. Scott told us graduate students that if we did not like the things we were doing as graduate students, we wouldn't like being professors. You need to love to read, teach, write academic prose, and immerse yourself in the academic lifestyle. If you don't, you may be making a mistake.
Now don't get me wrong. I do not regret becoming a professor. What an adventure it's been, and I've learned so much! It's just time for me to move on. And hey, if you're in the midst of making a big decision about your career, best of luck to you!
