Colorado Technical University

To Become a Biology Professor?

My Question To Become a Biology Professor.? Hi, Im a freshman in high school but i want to get my future straight. ive been doing my "homework" on being a biology professor but no website just gives me the steps in degrees, exactly how long time it would take me, pay, etc. im only interested in Cellular Biology/Human Anatomy. i know i want to start as an assistant professor, for a few years until i get published and experienced.. i know 4yr college is better, but how much is the difference in pay and everything between the two? (4yr vs. 2yr) & could anyone please just list the degrees iwould need and would i major in postsecondary/adult education or biology? or do i do both? which one would be my major & minor, if not? i live in GA, so i know the average mean salary is less that the average US one. i love biology (as if you couldnt tell by my little nickname thing), i do very well in school, all subjects, and i take all gifted/advanced classes. i understand i need to take more biology classes, chemistry, math, and technology classes and i have already planned those with my counselor. What colleges cover what i want to do? (if you could just give me a website, thatd be great.) i understand the pays low until you're at the tail end, the work is demanding, and school just to get there is going to cost alot and be very time-consuming. pleaseee help.

Public Comments

1. 4 year universities pay more than community colleges. As I noticed you mentioned, you are looking at probably a few years as an assistant professor before you are granted professorship. Since you live in GA, you might want to go to UF in gainesville, FL. Their website is ufl.edu. They are one of the best universities in the country. It sounds like you're on the right track. However, do not get ahead of yourself. Since you are a freshman in high school, relax, and take some time to enjoy your life before you are hit with the never ending reality of life beyond HS. My advice to you would be to enjoy your family and friends while you can and to stay out of any trouble. Best of luck.
2. First of all, you need to learn how to spell and use grammar...
3. You have to obtain a PhD before you can even entertain the idea of being a Professor. That requires 8 to 10 years of college. You will be required to publish a thesis for your masters degree and then a dissertation for you PhD. The least of your worries will be salary. You just hope you can get a starting job at a university. Then there are 4 to 5 years as an assistant before you get tenure. Any of the large state colleges have majors in biology. Not all of the offer advanced degrees. You will have to have a high GPA to get in to grad school. To enter a doctoral program you need a great GPA and some really good original thinking. You will also need to find a source of funding. Edit: And I agree with Asst Prof. You better start looking and acting intelligent right now.
4. first you have to get your bachelors of science or arts in some kind of biology. since you are interested in cell biology i would go for that. while you are in college, you should try and join a lab as an undergraduate helper to try and get a sense of whether you would even like research or decide to be a teaching professor or do something else. some schools even allow you to do research for credit as an undergrad. this will take at least 4 years. some people before going to grad school work as a technician in lab to see if they like research. you should only go to grad school if you plan on using the degree. this will probably take 2 years. then you have to go to grad school and get a PhD. if you wanted to teach community college and not do research, you might be able to get away with a masters. going to grad school requires the GRE (which is like the SAT).post-secondary what this post-secondary education thing is but i doubt you need it. this will take 4-8 years depending on whether you do good work on your project and some schools require you publish your work in journals. then you might be able to get a job at a community college just fresh from getting your PhD. but if you want to do research at a university, you have to do postgraduate work (postdoc). this means you do research in someone's lab for another 3-7 years, depending how good your project went. mostly you are trying to publish as best you can and try and develop your project into something you can run your lab with. then you can apply for faculty positions at a university. i heard that you can also do teaching postdocs to get experience before becoming a teaching professor but i'm not really too sure about that career path. it's kind of a long road. especially because you are still in high school. my best advice is to keep your options open. do your best in school because your high school grades will count for getting into a good college. they are super important. then do your best in college. learn as much biology as you can and try to get into doing research. if you are still interested after college, then you can decide if you want to go to grad school and beyond.