how hard is it to get a teaching job at community college?

[mrfox1]

hey all,

Since it is extremely difficult to get a full-time teaching gig at a research university, I was wondering if anybody pursued the community college route instead. I imagine Psychology is an excellent field to be in at that level since their are tons of different classes offered at CC's (at least in my state). So, I was wondering a few things:

1) how competitive is it to get a full-time teaching job at a CC?
2) do you need to specialize in order to teach a class? (ex. only clinical psychologists can teach abnormal psych, only cognitive psychologists teach cognition etc. etc.)
3) is it a satisfying job? (interpret that however you like)
4) can you do it full-time and live a decent lifestyle?

thanks for all of your responses.

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[deleted462159]

Regarding Q2, I'm sure you don't need that level of specialization, especially at the community college (lower-division undergraduate) level. You will probably be teaching several types of psychology courses--perhaps only what you're comfortable with, but maybe not if you want to maintain your full-time position. It depends on the needs of the school and the current budget. The other option is they hire part-time lecturers (which is common), but most organizations don't want to manage more people than they must to handle the same work. In my opinion, a community college teaching gig wouldn't be that satisfying unless you are doing it because you simply love teaching. Maybe one day I'd teach a class in addition to my main work, as many part-time lecturers do, but otherwise it seems limiting. It might be a useful experience if you have a master's degree, before entering your doctorate program. But what's the point of getting a PhD only to teach at a community college? Just my two cents.

 

[cara susanna]

Honestly, I adjunct at a CC and I think full time would be a sweet gig. I would be cool with full time teaching at a CC and then affiliating with a research lab somewhere else, or else conducting research at the CC (some faculty do that). Not quite sure how you get the job though, I know a lot of people who languish in the adjuncting system hoping for something better to open up.

 

[Pragma]

Honestly, I think it is getting tougher. I didn't apply to any CCs, but I think the surplus of academics out there has gradually been making those positions more competitive. While a lot of them required only MAs before, now they seem to be slowly getting more doctoral faculty, etc. I believe that CC positions are going to become more attractive options than solely adjuncting for many folks.

 

[Pragma]

Honestly, I adjunct at a CC and I think full time would be a sweet gig. I would be cool with full time teaching at a CC and then affiliating with a research lab somewhere else, or else conducting research at the CC (some faculty do that). Not quite sure how you get the job though, I know a lot of people who languish in the adjuncting system hoping for something better to open up.

I know someone that does exactly this. They seem fairly content (like the salary and schedule, etc), but they are clearly frustrated with the lack of prestige. I know another person that did a CC gig for awhile and then moved on after about 8-9 years because they burned out - went back into clinical work. Really, a CC gig is not a bad job to have though if you want to do some PP on the side, either.

 

[JeyRo]

I know someone that does exactly this. They seem fairly content (like the salary and schedule, etc), but they are clearly frustrated with the lack of prestige. I know another person that did a CC gig for awhile and then moved on after about 8-9 years because they burned out - went back into clinical work. Really, a CC gig is not a bad job to have though if you want to do some PP on the side, either.

I'm still thinking of putting an app out for a part time CC gig. I have a full-time VA job, though (although with generally pretty darn flexible hours and generally a pretty acceptable workload). I think it might be nice as a CV booster.