The Path Is Long, but the Difficulty Depends on Your Field

Becoming a professor is harder than most jobs because it requires a doctoral degree, years of unpaid or low-paid work after that degree, and competition for permanent positions. The timeline alone — typically six to ten years of graduate school plus three to seven years as a postdoctoral researcher or adjunct instructor — means you are committing your twenties and thirties to training. The financial cost is real: you may pay tuition, live on a stipend, or work multiple jobs while studying.

The difficulty is not uniform across fields. In STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics), you can often find funding through research grants and teaching assistantships that cover tuition and provide a modest salary. In humanities and social sciences, funding is scarcer, competition is fiercer, and the job market is tighter. In business and law, you may need a doctorate plus industry experience, which extends the timeline further.

The hardest part is not the coursework or the dissertation — it is securing a tenure-track position, which is a permanent job with job security. Most people who earn a doctorate do not land one. Universities have shifted toward hiring adjuncts and lecturers on short-term contracts instead of tenure-track professors, so the positions that exist are fewer than the number of people trained to fill them.

Key Takeaways

  • A doctorate is the minimum requirement, and it typically takes six to ten years of full-time study and research after your bachelor's degree.
  • Most doctoral programs in STEM fund students through teaching or research assistantships, but humanities programs often do not, forcing you to pay tuition or work outside jobs.
  • After your doctorate, you usually spend three to seven years in postdoctoral positions or adjunct teaching roles before a tenure-track job opens.
  • Tenure-track positions are scarce — most doctorate holders end up in non-permanent teaching roles or leave academia entirely.
  • Your field matters enormously: STEM professors have better job prospects and higher salaries, while humanities professors face a crowded market and lower pay.

The Doctoral Degree: Time and Money

You cannot become a professor without a doctorate. In most fields, that means a PhD (Doctor of Philosophy), though some fields use other titles like MD for medicine or DMA for music. The degree itself takes four to seven years in STEM fields and six to ten years in humanities, where dissertations tend to be longer and more solitary.

The cost varies sharply by field and institution. In STEM, most doctoral programs offer full funding: tuition is covered, and you receive a stipend (usually $15,000 to $30,000 per year) in exchange for teaching or research work. In humanities and social sciences, many programs offer partial funding or none at all. You may pay tuition out of pocket, take out loans, or work a job outside the program. Some students fund themselves through teaching high school, freelance writing, or service industry work while completing their dissertation.

During your doctorate, you are expected to teach, conduct original research, and write a dissertation that makes a new contribution to your field. The work is demanding and often isolating. You are competing with your cohort for the same limited funding, the same advisor attention, and the same job prospects after graduation. Burnout and mental health struggles are common.

The Postdoctoral Years: More Training, Still Low Pay

After you earn your doctorate, you do not when ready become a professor. Most fields require you to spend two to seven years in a postdoctoral position — a temporary research role, usually at a university or research institute, where you continue to publish and build your record. Some fields, particularly in the humanities, skip the postdoc and move straight to adjunct teaching, which is even lower-paid and less stable.

Postdoctoral salaries range from $30,000 to $60,000 per year, depending on field and location. The position is temporary, usually lasting two to three years, and you must find funding or a new position when it ends. Many people do multiple postdocs, moving between institutions and cities, before landing a permanent job — or before deciding the instability is not worth it and leaving academia.

During this time, you are expected to publish research, find your own funding through grants, teach courses, and mentor students. You have little job security and no benefits in many cases. The work is real and valuable, but the pay and stability do not reflect that.

The Tenure-Track Job Market: Scarcity and Competition

A tenure-track position is a permanent job with job security and a salary that rises over time. It is what most people mean when they say "becoming a professor." These jobs are scarce. Universities have reduced the number of tenure-track lines they create, instead hiring adjuncts and lecturers on one- or two-year contracts.

The competition is intense. A single tenure-track opening in a popular field may attract 200 to 500 applications from people with doctorates, publications, and teaching experience. Search committees narrow the pool to 10 to 20 candidates for interviews, then to three to five for campus visits, then to one hire. Your chances depend on your publication record, your teaching evaluations, your network, and luck.

The job search itself takes a year or more. Positions are advertised in the fall, interviews happen in winter, and offers come in spring. You may explore to 50 positions and receive two interviews. You may interview and not receive an offer. Many people spend five to ten years searching before landing a tenure-track job, if they land one at all.

Field-by-Field Differences in Difficulty

STEM fields have better job prospects and higher salaries. A chemistry or biology doctorate holder can often find a postdoc within months, and tenure-track positions, while still competitive, are more numerous than in humanities. Salaries for STEM professors typically start at $60,000 to $80,000 and rise to $100,000 or more. Funding for research is more available, which means you can hire graduate students and build a lab.

Humanities fields — English, history, philosophy, languages — have far fewer tenure-track positions and lower salaries. A history doctorate holder may search for five to ten years before landing a permanent job. Salaries often start at $45,000 to $55,000 and rise more slowly. Funding for research is scarce, so you work alone or with small teams. Many humanities doctorate holders never find tenure-track work and instead piece together adjunct teaching, freelance writing, or work outside academia.

Social sciences fall in the middle. Economics and psychology have better prospects than sociology or anthropology. Business and law schools hire professors, but they often require industry experience or an MBA or JD in addition to a doctorate, extending the training period further.

The Adjunct Alternative: A Common Reality

Many people who earn a doctorate end up as adjuncts — instructors hired on a semester-by-semester basis to teach one or two courses. Adjunct pay is typically $2,500 to $4,000 per course, and you receive no benefits, no job security, and no time for research. You may teach at multiple institutions to cobble together a living. Some adjuncts have doctorates and years of experience but never transition to tenure-track work.

Adjuncting is not a stepping stone to tenure-track work; it is often a dead end. Universities use adjuncts to keep labor costs low, not to develop future professors. If you are hired as an adjunct, you are competing for the same tenure-track positions as people with postdocs and research records, and you have less time to build that record because you are teaching more courses.

Some people choose adjuncting deliberately, valuing flexibility or combining it with other work. But many drift into it because no tenure-track job materialized, and they need income. After five or ten years of adjuncting, moving to a tenure-track position becomes harder, not easier.

What Makes It Harder: Funding, Location, and Luck

Your ability to become a professor depends partly on factors outside your control. If you cannot afford to move for a postdoc or a job interview, or if you have family obligations that tie you to one location, your options narrow. If you attend a prestigious university for your doctorate, you have a network advantage. If you attend a less-known program, you start with a disadvantage that is hard to overcome.

Luck plays a role too. A professor who retires opens a position. A grant you explore for is funded. A paper you publish gets cited widely. A search committee member knows your advisor. These things matter, and they are not entirely in your control. People with identical credentials have vastly different outcomes depending on timing and circumstance.

Discrimination and bias are real barriers. Women, people of color, and people from working-class backgrounds face additional obstacles in academia. They are hired at lower rates, paid less, and promoted more slowly. If you belong to an underrepresented group in your field, the path is harder, even if your credentials are strong.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can you become a professor without a PhD?

In most four-year universities, no — a doctorate is required. Some community colleges hire instructors with a master's degree, and some specialized fields like nursing or engineering may hire people with industry credentials. But the standard path to a tenure-track position at a university is a doctorate.

How much does a doctorate cost?

In STEM, most programs are fully funded, so the cost to you is zero or negative (you earn a stipend). In humanities and social sciences, costs vary widely. Some programs offer full funding, others offer partial funding, and some offer none. If you pay tuition out of pocket, expect $10,000 to $30,000 per year for six to ten years. Many students take out loans.

What is the salary for a professor?

Starting salaries for tenure-track professors range from $45,000 to $80,000 depending on field and institution. STEM professors earn more; humanities professors earn less. After ten years, salaries typically rise to $60,000 to $120,000. Full professors (the highest rank) can earn $100,000 to $200,000 or more, but reaching that rank takes 15 to 20 years.

Is it worth it to become a professor?

That depends on your priorities. If you value job security, intellectual freedom, and the ability to shape your field, and if you can afford the years of low pay and uncertainty, it may be worth it. If you need stable income soon, or if you want to maximize earnings, other careers offer better returns on your time and money. Many people find the work meaningful but wish they had known how long and uncertain the path would be.

What should I do if I cannot find a tenure-track job?

You have options. You can continue adjuncting while searching, though this limits your time for research. You can move into administration, policy work, or industry roles that value your doctorate and research skills. You can teach at a community college or high school. You can freelance or consult. Many people with doctorates build fulfilling careers outside academia. The doctorate is valuable even if you do not become a professor.