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Pre-student teacher education requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a pre-student teacher. Pre-student teachers usually study elementary education, early childhood education, or education. 69% of pre-student teachers hold a bachelor's degree, and 11% hold an master's degree. We analyzed 1,250 real pre-student teacher resumes to see exactly what pre-student teacher education sections show.
The most common colleges for pre-student teachers are the University of Wisconsin Colleges and the University of Wisconsin Colleges.
There are also many online pre-student teacher courses to help get the education required to be a pre-student teacher.
What education do you need to become a pre-student teacher?
What degree do you need to be a pre-student teacher?
- Bachelor's, 69%
- Master's, 11%
- Associate, 10%
- High School Diploma, 6%
- Other Degrees, 4%
What should I major in to become a pre-student teacher?
- Elementary Education, 21%
- Education, 10%
- Other Majors, 46%
Most common colleges for pre-student teachers
| Pre-student teacher common college | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of Wisconsin Colleges | 9.93% |
| Central Michigan University | 9.27% |
| Western Washington University | 7.28% |
| John Carroll University | 6.62% |
| Wayne State University | 5.96% |
Best majors for pre-student teachers
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Elementary Education | 20.5% |
| 2 | Early Childhood Education | 15.1% |
| 3 | Education | 10.1% |
| 4 | Special Education | 7.5% |
| 5 | Biology | 6.1% |
Best colleges for pre-student teachers
The best colleges for pre-student teachers are Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, and Vanderbilt University.
A pre-student teacher with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for pre-student teachers. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become pre-student teachers.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-state tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
2. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
In-state tuition
$50,420
Enrollment
7,582
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
In-state tuition
$54,568
Enrollment
8,451
4. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Chapel Hill, NC • Private
In-state tuition
$8,987
Enrollment
18,946
5. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
6. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
In-state tuition
$53,948
Enrollment
17,238
7. University of Washington
Seattle, WA • Private
In-state tuition
$11,207
Enrollment
30,905
8. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
9. Brown University
Providence, RI • Private
In-state tuition
$55,466
Enrollment
6,752
10. SUNY at Buffalo
Buffalo, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$10,099
Enrollment
21,404
20 best online courses for pre-student teachers
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1. The Teacher and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL)
Social and emotional learning, or SEL, programs have flourished in schools during the last decade. These programs vary widely but most share a concern for five individual, student competencies: self awareness; self-management; social awareness; relationship skills; and finally responsible decision making. It is important for teachers and parents to know about and understand these programs. While lots of SEL programs emphasize K-12 student social and emotional learning, only a very few programs...
2. ELL Success in the Content Classroom: Teacher Toolbox Series
Plan lessons, activities and assessment with the ELL in mind, and create an engaging and welcoming environment for the ELL and their families.\n\nThis Specialization covers lesson planning and assessing with the ELL in mind as well as engaging the ELL student and their families in the school and community. In the final Capstone Project, you’ll apply the skills you learned by creating an annotated lesson plan and assessment with appropriate modifications for the ELL students. You will also...
3. Pre-Algebra Explained
Master Pre-Algebra with 700 Practice Questions! Prepare for High School Math: Algebra, Geometry, Trigonometry...
4. Master Pre Calculus and Trigonometry
Get prepared for Calculus and fully grasp all things Precalculus and Trigonometry with over 9 hours of lectures...
5. Music Education for Teachers
In the Music Education for Teachers specialization, you will explore ways of integrating popular music into your teaching. You'll begin by learning from two highly experienced teachers, Krystal Banfield, the Vice President of Educational Outreach for Berklee College of Music, and David Alexis a Berklee Professor and long-time instructor for the Berklee City Music Program. They will take you through their process of incorporating popular music, improvisation, arranging, and music technology into...
6. Lesson Planning with the ELL in Mind
In this course you will learn how to design lesson plans around the needs of your ELL students and their language level through the analysis of content language and cognitive demands. You will learn how to align language objectives to the adopted standards of your school and content area. You will learn how to modify existing course materials as well as develop graphic organizers and languages frames to support ELLs’ access to content. Analysis of second language acquisition theories will be...
7. College Algebra, Pre-Calculus, & Trigonometry Explained
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8. Mastering the Pre-qualification Process of a Mortgage Loan
CEO and Founder of Finibi Mortgage teaches you how to pre-qualify borrowers from start to finish...
9. Student Self-Assessment with Microsoft Word
By the end of this project, you will have created a self-report card and a behaviour reflection form for student self-reflection. You will also be equipped with suggestions for how to use these documents with students. Encouraging our students to reflect on their learning is one of many goals we have as teachers. One valuable way to do this is by allowing our students to share their perspective on the school year. What areas are going well for them? What areas do they see where they could grow?...
10. Enhance Student Learning through Kahoot
By the end of this project, you will have created a Kahoot collection that will engage your students during virtual learning or as a more engaging way to encourage practice and review at home or in the classroom. Teaching is constantly evolving. As we learn more about our students, we uncover new ways to ensure that they are not just learning - they are thriving. When we can connect our tech-savvy students to tech-connected learning, our students are more likely to enjoy learning. We can also...
11. Educational Psychology & Special Education (Certificate)
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12. Full English Course: Pre-Intermediate Level
Complete English course to master your English grammar, speaking, reading, listening, vocabulary and more...
13. Creating a Student Profile in Google Docs
By the end of this project, you will have created a Student Profile in Google Docs that will allow you identify student needs and differentiate instruction. We will work together to learn how to use Google Docs as we create a Student Profile template and complete it for a particular student you have in mind. You will be provided with additional resources that will help improve your teaching practice through identification of students needs and ensuring that the appropriate accommodations are...
14. Encouraging Student Collaboration with Padlet
By the end of this project, you be able to use Padlet to create a collaborative classroom fostering interactive student engagements, creating virtual lessons, and more. With Padlet, teachers and students can collaborate in real time on lessons, projects, and anything else you can imagine. Together, we will learn how to use Padlet to connect with students during virtual learning, for in class collaboration, and discover ways to improve our ability to differentiate instruction using Padlet. The...
15. R Data Pre-Processing & Data Management - Shape your Data!
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16. Performance Assessment in the Virtual Classroom
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17. Pre MBA Quantitative Skills
This Specialization is designed to equip you with a basic understanding of business finance, accounting, and data analysis. We've put together these three courses with the explicit intent of helping people prepare for the rigors of a prestigious MBA program, as well as introducing and refreshing basic knowledge and skills for aspiring business leaders. Having taught at Rice for nearly a combined 40 years, professors James Weston and Brian Rountree have found that entering students often lack...
18. THINK GLOBAL: TEACHERS TRAINING COURSE (IDP-ICE)
A group of seven European partners from Catalonia, Belgium, and Wales worked together on the Erasmus+ funded ‘Think Global’ project on global competence. The project seeks to address the following research question through development and piloting of practical classroom activities: What is global competence, and how can it be learned effectively? The Think Global project explores, through international collaboration, how global competence is defined, taught, learned, and measured in the...
19. Teaching Impacts of Technology in K-12 Education
2% That’s the estimate of how many high school students in all of California took a Computer Science class in 2015. And yet, computers and data are everywhere. Just consider a typical 24 hours in your life … how many different computer devices do you use? We all live in multiple digital worlds that are changing rapidly with new apps, devices, and data analyses offering a constant stream of innovations and technology integrations for our lives.\n\nAs it's an integral part of our lives, we’re...
20. K-12 Blended & Online Learning
This course introduces teachers and interested adults to K12 blended and online learning. Participants will design a blended or online unit and develop one module to use with K12 students...
Top 10 most affordable universities for pre-student teachers
The most affordable schools for pre-student teachers are Baruch College of the City University of New York, hunter college of the city university of new york, and california state university - long beach.
If the best universities for pre-student teachers are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for pre-student teachers.
1. Baruch College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,262
Cost of attendance
14,046
2. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,182
Cost of attendance
13,998
3. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,798
Cost of attendance
18,306
4. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York
Brooklyn, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,240
Cost of attendance
13,991
5. Lehman College of the City University of New York
Bronx, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,210
Cost of attendance
14,359
6. Queens College of the City University of New York
Queens, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,338
Cost of attendance
14,281
7. California State University - Fullerton
Fullerton, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,886
Cost of attendance
17,645
8. USF Sarasota-Manatee
Sarasota, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$5,587
Cost of attendance
13,043
9. California State University - Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,942
Cost of attendance
14,469
10. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-state tuition
$5,620
Cost of attendance
18,136
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for pre-student teachers
The hardest universities for pre-student teachers to get into are Northwestern University, University of Pennsylvania, and Vanderbilt University.
Some great schools for pre-student teachers are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for pre-student teachers based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,508
2. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,492
3. Vanderbilt University
Nashville, TN • Private
Admissions rate
10%
SAT average
1,514
4. Harvard University
Cambridge, MA • Private
Admissions rate
5%
SAT average
1,520
5. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions rate
11%
SAT average
1,513
6. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
20%
SAT average
1,419
7. Boston University
Boston, MA • Private
Admissions rate
22%
SAT average
1,420
8. Brown University
Providence, RI • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,492
9. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
6%
SAT average
1,512
10. University of Rochester
Rochester, NY • Private
Admissions rate
29%
SAT average
1,422
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for pre-student teachers
The easiest schools for pre-student teachers to get into are Gwynedd Mercy University, barry university, and felician university.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a pre-student teacher without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for pre-student teachers.
1. Gwynedd Mercy University
Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private
Admissions rate
92%
SAT average
1,031
2. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,006
3. Felician University
Lodi, NJ • Private
Admissions rate
81%
SAT average
999
4. Holy Names University
Oakland, CA • Private
Admissions rate
70%
SAT average
849
5. Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Bartlesville, OK • Private
Admissions rate
68%
SAT average
964
6. The University of Texas Permian Basin
Odessa, TX • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,046
7. College of New Rochelle, The
New Rochelle, NY • Private
Admissions rate
83%
SAT average
982
8. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,031
9. Curry College
Milton, MA • Private
Admissions rate
93%
SAT average
1,026
10. Saint Martin's University
Lacey, WA • Private
Admissions rate
96%
SAT average
1,111
Average pre-student teacher salary by education level
| Pre-student teacher education level | Pre-student teacher salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $50,475 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $41,886 |
| Doctorate Degree | $50,094 |
Pre-student teacher education FAQs
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Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025