Hi everyone, currently I’m studying for a BA in both English and History. History is my passion, and I love it more than any academic discipline, but I also value career stability and money. From what I’ve heard, the title “history professor” is nearly unattainable. It breaks my heart because it’s truly my dream job. Is there any way I could pursue being a history professor? If I had to, I’d leave the US if it provided better opportunities. I really want this career, but basically everything online is screaming at me to not even try. What do I do? Is it worth pursuing or am I wasting my time and my parents money? And if it’s truly a worthless pursuit, where should I go from here?
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law school is an option. try a low cost law school. I only have a master’s degree in US Law though
Becoming an even NTT history faculty is going to be extremely unlikely. Even if you succeed, the pay will very low.
Just being totally blunt, if one of my kids said their career plan was to become a history professor, I’d tell them it was a terrible plan and I would no longer be paying for their college in hopes it would help push them in a different direction. Getting to and through a PhD is a huge time and resource investment, with vastly different outcomes dependent on field. If it’s not a field with good employment outcomes, it will derail your life.
Is it possible? Of course. Should you go after a Master’s or Doctorate in History or an associated discipline, only if it is on fellowship and you don’t have to pay for it.
But there are other pathways. Send me a PM and we can discuss them to find one that is right for you.
I wanted to be a rock and roll musician when I was a kid. I would estimate the chances of that happening to be roughly similar to becoming a history professor.
I’m not really exaggerating. Technically it’s possible. More than likely you will end up in a low-earning position teaching music lessons and playing in a local band (in the history professor’s case, teaching at a small college or being an adjunct).
One in every few thousand history PhDs will become the “rock star” and get a tenure-track position at a national university. Unlike a rock star, however, that person is still stuck in a faculty position, which is actually a pretty rough and under-paid career these days.
Being a professor is not as enjoyable as it used to be, even a generation ago.
If you want money, don’t try to become a history professor. (1) There are not a lot of jobs and (2) Being a professor provides stability with tenure and decent benefits but you will never make as much as in industry.
Professors in Europe make less than in the US so that’s not an alternative. There are many trained people over there without jobs. They have plenty of people in your shoes in Canada and would be unlikely to hire an American.
Someone suggested law school. There are many kinds of jobs in law (it’s not all Perry Mason). I would research that.
I wanted to be a history professor. Dropped out of grad school to become a veterinarian.
Enjoy shoving my arm up a cow’s backside 100x more and the job security is a 1000x more.
Getting a professorship in the humanities is extremely hard, and as I recall, it is the hardest in history (both: it has never been harder, and that the field of history in particular is the hardest, lol). The jobs just ain’t there, and states aren’t excited to expand their faculty in these areas. You absolutely should have a backup plan if you pursue this route — and by ‘have a backup plan’, I do not mean ‘have in mind an alternative career path’. I mean actively develop a parallel set of skills and experience that makes you in-demand in another field. Take coursework in another field, get internships in that field, acquire their hard/technical skills. Don’t just be willing, but be ready, to jump ship.
Also, I have you tell you that studying for a BA in a field, and building an academic career in it, are quite different things. BA students basically get all the fun part of studying a field and none of the bullshit. Professorships are jobs — yes, if you win the lottery, its a job with social status and autonomy and all that, but it also involves a lot of emails, and paperwork, and chasing money, and networking, and begging for jobs, and and and. It is not a haven away from the rat race; it is its own rat race.
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, if you value career stability and money, then academic history ain’t it. Sorry.
Sincerely, a recovering academic philosopher 😉
First of all, what do you think a job as a history academic involves?
Just wanted to weigh in as a lawyer who thought about academia—yes it’s an option, but make sure that you actually want to be a lawyer. It can be miserable if you don’t.
There were professors on my law school faculty who were cross listed with the history department and the law school, who taught legal history. Some of them had PhDs, others just had masters in history. It’s difficult and has its own set of challenges, and you’re more likely to be able to become a law professor if you go to a certain set of schools (T14), but that’s something to think about as well. But again, I’d make sure you’d be happy with the most likely outcome (practicing law).