OK, there are several different types of professor, so here’s the options and the plan.

Community colleges employ English and anthropology professors; they wind up teaching a lot of students in intro. and 2nd-level courses and doing almost no original research. If you want to aim for that environment, find a graduate program that will enable you to become a generalist (and if anthropology, a strong cognate in sociology or psychology could also be helpful) and that will have some strength in teaching methods. At this level, a PhD is preferred but a Master’s degree might be sufficient.

Liberal-arts colleges employ professors to teach all levels of the baccalaureate program; they do a little original research but teaching and advising is their main responsibility. To get there, find a graduate program that will give you a broad grounding in your subject but that supports one mainstream specialization (like, medieval English lit or urban anthro).

Then there are the big research universities, where you would want to be employed primarily to conduct and publish original research, and you would teach a rather small load of primarily upper-division and graduate courses. To make it there, you should find a graduate program where you can study and work with one of the top scholars in the field (you can find out who’s publishing a lot by checking citations indexes at your library–ask a reference librarian to help). You should already have had some work accepted for publication by the time you finish the dissertation, and you’ll be expected to publish more and more before you’re awarded tenure.

In all of these occupations, you should get involved either late in your undergraduate years or immediately upon entering graduate school in your professional association. For English, that would be the MLA for researchers and the NCTE for community or liberal arts profs (both would not be a bad idea in those cases). You also want to involve yourself in regional associations. These memberships get you the professional journals so you can keep up with the more respected research publications, but more importantly you can attend conferences where you can network with other professionals.

I can attest to this information by the way I planned my own career. Early in my MA program, I decided I wanted to teach at a community college. I entered a PhD program that advertised “education” as one of its areas of concentration (alas, the program was being gutted by a simpleton administration and I got abused in the process). Anyway, I did manage to cobble together a generalist’s curriculum with some good education-related course work. Meanwhile I got involved heavily in the community-college interest groups at my national and regional associations, and by the time I was ready to start job-shopping in earnest, I had been elected chair of the community college section of my regional association, and I had letters of reference from two department head and the president of the national assocation.

Even tho’ I was up against about 100 other applicants for each position (as you will be, in those disciplines), I got three job offers from my first four interviews, accepted one of those and sent off letters withdrawing my application for over a dozen other openings, and I have spent over 20 years in that position at this time. It wasn’t a bad plan, I think.

To be a professor, you will choose a Ph.D. interior the sector you prefer to teach, which must additionally be your undergraduate significant. In inventive writing, an MFA in inventive writing could suffice, even nevertheless a Ph.D. (in inventive writing or English lit) might additionally help until you’re publishing acclaimed literature via the time you end the MFA. in the different 2, in case you would be content fabric to teach instructions at an area college and not do study and not get tenure, you will be able to get via with a Masters, yet you’re competing with Ph.D.s for those jobs too, so it somewhat is right to get one besides. do no longer difficulty approximately an preparation significant. you should double significant on your field and preparation in the experience that your backup plan is to teach severe college, in any different case do no longer waste some time. you will get coaching journey in grad college. A backup plan is a sturdy ingredient to have, via the way; professor jobs are particularly competetive. In a pair years once you have chosen your significant, do point out on your academic consultant and/or prominent profs on your dept. which you have an interest in grad college and a profession in academia. they are going to be satisfied to lead you alongside. final little bit of suggestion for college: do no longer blow off distant places languages–you will choose one or possibly 2 on your Ph.D. in any of those fields. they are able to even attempt you on them. A minor in a distant places language must be effectual, no longer basically in terms of the language requirement yet in exposing you to non-Anglophone literature and subculture. If anthropology, %. some thing possibly to be spoken on your section(s) of learn (or default to Spanish); if English, circulate with French or German.

It takes a strong commitment to abuse drugs, shirk responsibiltiy, and hide from the real world as long as possible.

It’s like the complete opposite of the Army, but just as demanding. Most people quit because they need the money a real job provides.