Assistant Professor

[Anonymous]

I'm a professor at an R1 University. It is a good job. But aiming for a professor job is not a realistic dream. It is like wanting to be a ballerina or an astronaut. Yes, some people (like me) get lucky. But for every job, there are thousands of extremely well qualified applicants.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also if you land a coveted tenure track job, and get tenure, you may have another host of problems.

I work at a mid-tier liberal arts college as an administrator and I can’t tell you how many of these faculty are bitter, depressed individuals. They come to the realization that this “brass ring” is forever. Not all colleges are in idyllic Boston; there are a lot in the sticks of South Carolina or Ohio.

NP. This is really interesting. It seems like most of the challenges posters are talking about involve how hard it is just to land a position and get tenure. But it seems like after that should be smooth sailing - a job for life, can never get fired, the true "ivory tower" bubble *forever* as you mention. Does the pay also go up a lot once you get tenure? If you are making a high salary relative to locals in low cost of living areas like South Carolina, that does not sound too bad at all!

I peed my pants laughing at this post.