So, You Want to be a Professor?
Six ways that will help you decide if you really want to get that PhD and stay in academia
Whenever the ‘I took my younger self for coffee’ videos come across my feed, I think about what my 21-year-old self would say if I told her we are not a tenured professor. She would assume I was nothing more than a cautionary tale from the timeline where things went terribly wrong. She’d heard all the warnings… too many PhDs, not enough jobs, constant relocation, living in a series of one-year contracts. But none of that was going to be an issue for her. She was the exception.
(I’m not special—everyone thinks they’ll be the exception.)
What 21-year-old me didn’t know is that none of those obstacles would even factor in. Not because they weren’t real, but because, at some point, I just… stopped wanting the job.
I didn’t fail to get the role. I never tried to get it.
I don’t regret doing a PhD. After all, what would I have to write about on Substack if I hadn’t wasted… I mean… spent several valuable years in academia learning how things work? However, there are many aspects of being a professor that I wish I had known before I started trying to become one, and none of them are the things I was actively warned about. They’re the subtle aspects of academia that made it not quite the right fit for me.
So, if you’re out here browsing PhD programs with dreams of becoming a professor, here’s a list for you. This is not a ‘you shouldn’t go into academia’ post. It’s simply a list of actions you could take to help you make an informed decision.
Talk with former academics
Thanks to social media, you can now find numerous former academics out in the wild. Reach out to them. Many (myself included!) will be more than happy to chat about why they left, what they’re doing now, and whether the PhD was useful outside of academia. Some will say it was. Some will laugh bitterly. All of it is data. The goal isn’t to be swayed by someone else’s decision but to see whether the reasons they left would be deal-breakers for you.
Get a campus job (that isn’t an internship/student role)
Work on campus in a role where you aren’t a student. Consider this undercover work. Being behind the scenes in a position where you’re not playing the student role (and others aren’t seeing you as a student) gives you a new angle on the power dynamics, the bureaucracy, and the day-to-day absurdities. You’ll start to notice who does what, how people are treated, who holds the real power… maybe even how many people have to be cc’d on a single email before anything gets done, depending on your role. You can get creative with this, and it can be a very short-term thing. One of my old campuses used a specific catering company for all their internal events—if yours or one nearby does this, you could work for that catering company as a server for these campus events. This isn’t to gain experience that will help you get into grad school. It’s to give you a broader perspective on academia from a non-student angle.
Build connections with non-faculty in support roles
Want the real tea? Talk to the people who keep the place running but aren’t invited to research retreats. Security guards, receptionists, cleaning staff, IT techs, admin assistants… these people have seen things. Make friends with them, and you’ll hear stories. Who cried in the stairwell. Who rage-quit a committee. Who passive-aggressively hoards the communal coffee pouches. I once found out someone was literally living in their office thanks to my security guard friend. Sure, these things tend toward mindless gossip, but these little pieces of information help you build a broader perspective of the working conditions and where the unspoken frustrations lie.
Get involved in activities with faculty
Apply to be a student rep. Volunteer to help with department events (find out who is involved in these whenever they come up and ask if they need help with anything—they almost always will). Say yes to any opportunity that puts you in a room full of faculty while not being graded by them. You’ll start to see the inner workings: the infighting, endless committee meetings, and wildly different ideas about running a department. You’ll get an idea of the different personalities that influence decisions and the types of conversations that can turn 1-hour meetings into 3-hour ones. You’ll get insight into what that service component of a faculty role actually is. Watch how easy it is to end up on a bunch of committees by simply stating an opinion. Ask yourself, “Do I want to be in this meeting for the next 30 years?”
Pay attention to who seems happy… and why
This one sounds simple, but requires some introspection. Which faculty members seem content with their work? Which ones have carved out decent boundaries and a manageable workload? Are they tenured? Are they single? Do they have kids? Are they working 70-hour weeks and quietly burning out? Notice who looks fulfilled and then see if their career and life circumstances align with what you want. Some people sacrifice a lot for academic success; others sacrifice academic progression for fulfilment in other areas. Very few people have it all. Where you choose to make sacrifices is your choice, and none of the options are bad. But you need to decide what makes it worth it for you and whether the career you’re aiming for will require sacrifices you’ll regret.
Teach something (anything!)
Some people go through entire grad school programs without getting any teaching opportunities and later find out that they don’t like it at all. Before you dedicate a decade of your life to obtaining a position that requires teaching… try actually teaching. It doesn’t have to be at a university. Run a short workshop online, join a tutoring program, get involved in coaching a sport you play or teaching a craft you enjoy. Whatever you can find. Pay close attention to how you feel before, during, and after. Are you energized or drained? If you hate it, maybe a career built around doing it constantly while also publishing five articles a year isn’t for you.
Becoming a professor is a lifestyle choice as well as a career goal, and that lifestyle is complex.
It might be exactly what you want. It might also feel like trying to date someone who’s emotionally unavailable and constantly moving to a new country.
So collect your data. Ask better questions.
Don’t ask, “Am I enough for academia?”
Ask, “Is academia enough for me?”