How to Become a Professor; the Fastest & Easiest Steps

Do you enjoy talking to students and doing research? Do you see yourself working in academics someday? Then being a professor is certainly something you’re interested in learning about. What are the prerequisites for a professorship? What measures specifically should you take to become one?

In this article, we are starting with an overview of professors, and we answered all the questions you may have about becoming a professor.

Let’s get right in!

Introduction

Professors are looked upon with a high level of reverence worldwide because of their contribution to education and humanity at large. A professorship level is the highest academic rank one can obtain. The professorship rank is conferred to people who complete the requirements to become a professor.

This is how Wikipedia defines a Professor – Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an academic rank at universities and other post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, the professor derives from Latin as a “person who professes”. Professors are usually experts in their field and teachers of the highest rank.

If you have found the process of becoming a professor to be hectic and tedious, you will be glad to find an article on ‘How to become a professor; the fastest and easiest steps.

Duties of a Professor

Most commonly, a professor must conduct research in different fields and faculties. In addition, they teach the undergraduate and graduate students in their departments as related to their particular area of expertise. They also supervise research and construction, serving as mentors to undergraduate and graduate students.  Professors also serve as department, faculty, and university leaders.

How to Become a College Professor | Salary, Career Prospects

Is it difficult to become a professor?

Attaining a professorship level can be difficult if you do not know what to do or how to do it.  However, knowing what to do alone cannot shoot you up to becoming a professor. To become one, you must be ready to work hard and climb the mountain with all the irregularities. The steps to becoming a professor will guide you.

This article will outline the fastest and easiest steps to becoming a professor.

How Much Do College Professors Make?

How to Become a Professor

This is the right place to find information if you want to know how to become a professor. Since professorship is the highest academic rank, we start from the first level of universities to count. An undergraduate degree, a master’s degree, a doctorate, an associate professor, and finally, a professor. However, depending on a couple of factors like your field of study, your previous qualifications, your consistency with graduate studies, your commitment, and your speed, you should spend an average of 9 – 12 years on becoming a professor.

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I would love to tell you that if you are a person that loves to read, research, and write, your process of becoming a professor is going to be much faster.

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How to Become a Professor; the Fastest & Easiest Steps.

Since the professorship is for higher education institutions, I will start my advice from the lowest university level. For someone with a high school result, the easiest and quickest steps to becoming a professor are outlined below:

1. Obtain a bachelor’s degree:

This is the first step you take to acquiring a professorship. You should acquire a bachelor’s degree in the field you intend to become a professor of. However, you can always change your decision and still become a professor. But, if you already have your career planned out, why not start properly? Also, the benefits of the foundational preparations provided by the 3 – 5 years of a bachelor’s degree cannot be overlooked. This is when your career has started to build, so take your dissertations seriously.

2. Obtain a master’s degree:

This is the first step of your graduate studies. If you steer too far away from your first degree, you will be required to obtain a PGDE before the Masters. This PGDE serves as the foundational course of the bachelor’s degree. Since we are aiming at a professorship, this is the best time to start the publication of papers, as they are fundamental in checking your academic level for a professorship.

3. Obtain a doctorate degree:

The next level to attain after the master’s degree is the doctoral degree. The Dr is the title you bear before you change to Prof the title. However, there is a wide gap between your doctorate degree and the professorship. While taking your coursework, research, and projects in the doctorate studies, write more dissertations. This will help to shoot you to the professorship level faster.

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Find out how long it takes to get a Ph.D. here.

5. Publication of original research papers:

This is the stage that most people spend the longest time in towards becoming a professor. If at this stage, you have been publishing dissertations relevant to your field before the end of your doctorate, you will realize that you are closer and closer to becoming a professor than if you were not. Getting your paper accepted by publishing bodies can be a very tough task most of the time. To increase your level of acceptance, study the patterns of other journal publications, and work with them. If any of your papers are rejected by a particular journal, do not lose hope; brush up the paper and try another journal. And while you are at it, write, write, and write.

6. Dissertation:

You will need to have a good number of paper publications.  This would be an easier task than for someone without any original work published. This stage would require you to publish a book-length dissertation of your original research. If you have published papers on the research, you can always make your dissertations from them. This dissertation is not only research. It expects you to offer something new to the field that you are working on.

Engaging in post-doctoral activities:

Once you have obtained your Ph.D. degree, you should look towards engaging in post-doctoral activities such as attending seminars, symposiums, conferences, and lectures relevant to your field and taking post-doctoral degrees if possible. The points you get from your publications and these activities would shoot you up quickly towards becoming a professor. You should know if your field is a professional course, and a license is required for practice and professorship to validate your training. If so, you should try to obtain the certification as soon as possible. Such fields are medicine, engineering, nursing, and other medical-related courses like prosthesis and orthopedics, medical rehabilitation, etc.

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Conclusion

So, you see? Becoming a professor is quite easy if you know what to do, as the steps to becoming a professor have been outlined above. However, this does not take away the labor of the highly demanding time, skill, and focus. The difficulty only comes in the intensive nature of the requirements of becoming a professor.

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Also, if you are steering towards becoming a professor, you must start early to prepare for it. In addition, you have to be a reader and a writer to make things easier for you.

I hope that with these, I have helped your process towards becoming a professor via information.

Good Luck!

FAQs

How can someone become a professor?

Before a candidate is considered for the position of Professor, the majority of Colleges and Universities prefer a Ph.D. But other professions also hire applicants with a Master’s degree for a role as a professor.

How long does it take to be a professor?

Becoming a professor normally takes 10 to fifteen years. Getting an associate professorship is the first stage toward becoming a professor. After earning a master’s degree or finishing a doctorate program, it normally takes five to seven years to become an associate professor.

Is professor a good career?

Teaching is still regarded as one of the most elite careers and is known for being a well-respected profession. Being a professor is one of the greatest careers to pursue if you are drawn to the academic world and want to continue your studies in any discipline.

What degree do you need to become a professor?

A doctorate in the subject matter you wish to specialize in is required before you may teach at a university. The second requirement is a strong GPA. Therefore, to become a professor, you must put in a lot of effort and continue to achieve academically.

What’s the difference between a lecturer and a professor?

A lecturer will provide experience from their career outside of the institution, but a professor will discuss papers, articles, research, or books they have authored. Ultimately, it might not matter if your instructor is a professor or a lecturer.

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