# Steps For Becoming a Psychology Professor ## What you should do in Undergrad Find something you are passionate about. Explore different classes. Your PhD program doesn't necessarily have to do exactly with what you studied in undergrad. You can go into an adjacent field. ### Get Research Experience This is the most important part of your PhD application. Work as a research assistant in a lab. Do independent research under an advisor. Doing an honors thesis is like a mini dissertation. It will give you a great idea about if research is something you enjoy doing. ### Get to know faculty Go to office hours, take smaller classes with professors you love, go to faculty conferences or talks. **The absolute best way to get to know a professor, however, is to get involved in research with them.** Not only will this give you research experience but they will also get direct insight into what your writing is like. Getting good grades just simply isn't always good enough. Lots of classes have assignments graded primarily by TAs and your professor might no nothing about your academics aside from your grade at the end of the semester. ### Take the GRE if you have to Not all PhD programs require it anymore but if you are doing something like a math program, they might really care about your quantitative GRE scores. ### Do relevant Extracurriculars Extracurriculars that are relevant to the program you are applying to are great. For example, a philosophy club if you are applying for a program in philosophical linguistics. Writing for a newsboard is also great. I feel that my extracurriculars in podcasting, YouTube, blogging, and newslettering will show up very well and uniquely on applications. ### Contact faculty Ask faculty in calls or office hours what their recommendations are for getting into programs for your specific discipline. ## What you should do in Grad School ### Complete a Doctorate Degree You can get a PhD or a PsyD. PhDs are much more coming because they are more research focused which is where lots of universities get their big names from. Professors are paid in large part or fully through grant money. PsyDs are much more focused on teaching. If you want to teach at a big name university you will almost certainly need a PhD. ### Establish a Publication Record Impact factor of a journal is a rating of how much that journal is cited by other researchers. The higher the impact factor the better. What impact factor is good to aim for depends on your field but in Psychology it is probably best to aim for 3 or 4. Quantity is important for publications but so is quantity. If you haven't published a lot but the things you have published have tons of firings you will have a high personal impact factor rating. ##### What type of publishing is best? Publishing in a journal or getting in a chapter for an academic book is the best. Self-publishing or writing a Malcom Gladwel psychology book isn't looked upon as well. ##### Establish a teaching record TA for classes. Teach in any way you can. Develop your own style of teaching. ##### Establish a grant funding record More important if applying to a research position. ##### Establish a personal reputation Make others in your field like you. Academia is very cliquey. Develop a humble and driven reputation.