The Complete Guide to Becoming A Communications Teacher, Postsecondary
Know exactly what a Communications Teacher does daily, what it pays at every level, how to break in, and whether you truly fit the job before you invest a decade.
by Alumigogo Books
non-fiction
A no-fluff guide to what Communications Teachers really do, earn, and face — before you spend years and tuition on the path.
About this book
Thinking about teaching communications at a college or university? Before you commit five to seven years and tens of thousands of dollars to a PhD, you deserve to know what the job actually looks like on a Tuesday. This guide walks you through the real daily work — the lectures, the grading marathons, the committee meetings, the office hours that become therapy sessions — and the honest pay at every level, from adjunct (sometimes $2,500 per course) to tenured full professor (often $90,000+).
You'll get a self-assessment checklist to help you decide if your temperament and habits fit this work, a side-by-side comparison of every entry path (from an adjunct-slash-MA route to the research-heavy PhD route), and a step-by-step job search plan grounded in how universities actually hire. There are no platitudes about 'following your passion' here. Just specific, realistic guidance to help you decide — and if you decide yes, to get your first job offer.
Reader Reviews
Michelle Anderson
★★★★★I was romanticizing the idea of being a professor ever since I took a great public speaking class. This guide hit me with the real numbers — like adjunct pay around $2,500 per course — and the chapter on a typical workday honestly made me reconsider. I'm not out yet, but I'm going in with my eyes open. Worth it for anyone on the fence.
Andrew Martin
★★★★★It's solid and well-written, but a bit heavier on the downsides than I expected. I get it, the adjunct market is rough and grading is brutal, but I would have liked more practical examples of teaching techniques or what makes a good lecturer. Still, the self-assessment checklist in chapter two is genuinely useful.
Brenda Carter
★★★★★The chapter on landing a first job was the most useful part for me. I didn't know you could find adjunct gigs through specific boards and that a teaching philosophy statement matters more than a PhD from a fancy school. Chapter one felt a little long, but the details on office hours and grading volume are things no one else talks about.
Robert Hill
★★★★★As someone with a master's in communications considering teaching at a community college, the chapter on education paths was worth the price. It laid out the MA route vs. the PhD route with actual timelines and costs, which I'd never seen spelled out clearly. I skipped some of the chapter one detail though — the hourly breakdown of grading was a bit much.
Nancy Roberts
★★★★★This doesn't sugarcoat anything, which I appreciate. The salary table in chapter four gave me real anchoring — I was surprised how big the gap is between a community college professor and a research university professor. The sample of a typical day in chapter six felt painfully accurate based on what my own comm professors have told me. Good reality check.
Joseph Lewis
★★★★★The book does a fine job, but I thought it would be more of a guide if you're already teaching, not just deciding. It's clearly aimed at beginners — which is fine, that's the title. The guide to networking with actual examples of emails to send to department chairs was the highlight. I'd recommend it to my grad school classmates, but not to someone already in the field.