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Visiting assistant professor education requirements

Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read

There are several educational requirements to become a visiting assistant professor. Visiting assistant professors usually study mathematics, chemistry, or english. 47% of visiting assistant professors hold a bachelor's degree, and 31% hold an doctoral degree. We analyzed 2,376 real visiting assistant professor resumes to see exactly what visiting assistant professor education sections show.

The most common colleges for visiting assistant professors are the University of Iowa and the University of Iowa.

There are also many online visiting assistant professor courses to help get the education required to be a visiting assistant professor.

What education do you need to become a visiting assistant professor?

What degree do you need to be a visiting assistant professor?

The most common degree for visiting assistant professors is bachelor's degree, with 47% of visiting assistant professors earning that degree. The second and third most common degree levels are doctoral degree degree at 31% and doctoral degree degree at 20%.
  • Bachelor's, 47%
  • Doctorate, 31%
  • Master's, 20%
  • Associate, 2%
  • Other Degrees, 0%

What should I major in to become a visiting assistant professor?

You should major in mathematics to become a visiting assistant professor. 12% of visiting assistant professors major in mathematics. Other common majors for a visiting assistant professor include chemistry and english.

Most common colleges for visiting assistant professors

Visiting assistant professors often get their degrees at University of Iowa, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and Ohio State University. Here are the most common colleges for visiting assistant professors in the US based on their resumes.
Visiting assistant professor common collegePercentages
University of Iowa8.04%
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill6.78%
Ohio State University6.03%
New York University5.78%
University of Florida5.53%

Best majors for visiting assistant professors

RankMajorPercentages
1Mathematics12.4%
2Chemistry10.3%
3English8.6%
4Psychology8.0%
5History6.7%

Best colleges for visiting assistant professors

The best colleges for visiting assistant professors are Columbia University in the City of New York, Harvard University, and University of Pennsylvania.

A visiting assistant professor with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for visiting assistant professors. 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 visiting assistant professors.

1. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Chapel Hill, NC • Private

In-state tuition

$8,987

Enrollment

18,946

2. University of Minnesota - Twin Cities

Minneapolis, MN • Private

In-state tuition

$14,760

Enrollment

31,451

3. Ohio State University

Columbus, OH • Private

In-state tuition

$10,726

Enrollment

45,769

4. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

Ann Arbor, MI • Private

In-state tuition

$15,262

Enrollment

30,079

5. University of Southern California

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$56,225

Enrollment

19,548

6. University of Washington

Seattle, WA • Private

In-state tuition

$11,207

Enrollment

30,905

7. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$59,430

Enrollment

8,216

8. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

In-state tuition

$55,584

Enrollment

10,764

9. New York University

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$51,828

Enrollment

26,339

10. University of Maryland - College Park

College Park, MD • Private

In-state tuition

$10,595

Enrollment

30,184

20 best online courses for visiting assistant professors

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1. Chemical Biology

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Chemical biology is a burgeoning field that has rapidly risen to prominence. This surge of interest has been fuelled by chemical biology’s applicability to understanding critical processes in live cells or model organisms in real time. This success has arisen because chemical biology straddles a nexus between chemistry, biology, and physics. Thus, chemical biology can harness rapid chemistry to observe or perturb biological processes, that are in turn reported using physical assays, all in an...

2. Philosophy and the Sciences: Introduction to the Philosophy of Physical Sciences

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What is the origin of our universe? What are dark matter and dark energy? This is the first part of the course 'Philosophy and the Sciences', dedicated to Philosophy of the Physical Sciences. Scientific research across the physical sciences has raised pressing questions for philosophers. The goal of this course is to introduce you to some of the main areas and topics at the key juncture between philosophy and the physical sciences. Each week we will introduce you to some of these important...

3. Dr. K's Complete First Semester General Chemistry I Course

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4.8
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A Course to Prepare You for College Level General Chemistry...

4. Complete General Chemistry 20+ hours of lectures & examples

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4.1
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Master General Chemistry in 4 weeks by solving examples & problems! Rahsoft Chemical Engineering Department RAHCH101...

5. Biology Everywhere Foundations

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In this course, we will explore the nature of science and biology. We will discuss what the “biology everywhere” philosophy means and the history of the “biology everywhere” project. We will also discuss what science (and biology) are as a discipline of inquiry and how chemistry is foundational to understanding biology...

6. Global Warming I: The Science and Modeling of Climate Change

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This class describes the science of global warming and the forecast for humans’ impact on Earth’s climate. Intended for an audience without much scientific background but a healthy sense of curiosity, the class brings together insights and perspectives from physics, chemistry, biology, earth and atmospheric sciences, and even some economics—all based on a foundation of simple mathematics (algebra)...

7. Chemistry 101 - Part 1 Principles of Chemistry

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4.3
(414)

An introductory course for anybody who wants to study chemistry - either towards future pathways or just for fun!...

8. Introduction to Cheminformatics and medicinal chemistry

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4.5
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Understand the underlying chemistry of drug development and use free softwares to analyze molecules...

9. Introduction to Chemistry: Structures and Solutions

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This is an introductory course for students with limited background in chemistry; basic concepts such as atomic and molecular structure, solutions, phases of matter, and quantitative problem solving will be emphasized with the goal of preparing students for further study in chemistry...

10. The Science of the Solar System

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Learn about the science behind the current exploration of the solar system in this free class. Use principles from physics, chemistry, biology, and geology to understand the latest from Mars, comprehend the outer solar system, ponder planets outside our solar system, and search for habitability in our neighborhood and beyond. This course is generally taught at an advanced level assuming a prior knowledge of undergraduate math and physics, but the majority of the concepts and lectures can be...

11. The Data Science Course: Complete Data Science Bootcamp 2023

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4.6
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Complete Data Science Training: Mathematics, Statistics, Python, Advanced Statistics in Python, Machine & Deep Learning...

12. Data Science:Data Mining & Natural Language Processing in R

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Harness the Power of Machine Learning in R for Data/Text Mining, & Natural Language Processing with Practical Examples...

13. Introduction to Economic Theories

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Wondering why economists have not predicted serious financial crises? Shocked by economic assumptions of human behavior as self-centered and focusing only on what can be measured? Asking yourself if there are no sensible economic alternatives to free markets? Then you are at the right place to learn economics! This is the first online course that teaches economics from a pluralist perspective. Economic pluralism means that a plurality of theoretical and methodological viewpoints is regarded as...

14. Welcome to Game Theory

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This course provides a brief introduction to game theory. Our main goal is to understand the basic ideas behind the key concepts in game theory, such as equilibrium, rationality, and cooperation. The course uses very little mathematics, and it is ideal for those who are looking for a conceptual introduction to game theory. Business competition, political campaigns, the struggle for existence by animals and plants, and so on, can all be regarded as a kind of “game,” in which individuals try to...

15. Data Science Bootcamp 2022: 5 Data Science Projects

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Data Science and Machine Learning Masterclass with Python with 5 Data Science Real World Projects...

16. Complete Mathematics Masterclass: College & University Level

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All the Applied Mathematics Needed in Science, Programming, Engineering, IT & Business - Theory, Examples & Exercises...

17. Data Science with Python Complete Course

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Data Science 2021 : Complete Data Science...

18. Machine Learning, Data Science and Generative AI with Python

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4.6
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Complete hands-on machine learning and AI tutorial with data science, Tensorflow, GPT, Open AI, and neural networks...

19. R Programming: Advanced Analytics In R For Data Science

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Take Your R & R Studio Skills To The Next Level. Data Analytics, Data Science, Statistical Analysis in Business, GGPlot2...

20. Statistics & Mathematics for Data Science & Data Analytics

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Learn the statistics & probability for data science and business analysis...

Top 10 most affordable universities for visiting assistant professors

The most affordable schools for visiting assistant professors are University of Florida, baruch college of the city university of new york, and hunter college of the city university of new york.

If the best universities for visiting assistant professors 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 visiting assistant professors.

1. University of Florida

Gainesville, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,381

Cost of attendance

21,034

2. Baruch College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,262

Cost of attendance

14,046

3. Hunter College of the City University of New York

New York, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,182

Cost of attendance

13,998

4. California State University - Long Beach

Long Beach, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,798

Cost of attendance

18,306

5. Brigham Young University

Provo, UT • Private

In-state tuition

$5,620

Cost of attendance

18,136

6. California State University - Los Angeles

Los Angeles, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,749

Cost of attendance

14,823

7. Brooklyn College of the City University of New York

Brooklyn, NY • Private

In-state tuition

$7,240

Cost of attendance

13,991

8. California State University - Fullerton

Fullerton, CA • Private

In-state tuition

$6,886

Cost of attendance

17,645

9. University of South Florida

Tampa, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$6,410

Cost of attendance

20,456

10. Florida State University

Tallahassee, FL • Private

In-state tuition

$5,656

Cost of attendance

21,623

Top 10 hardest universities to get into for visiting assistant professors

The hardest universities for visiting assistant professors to get into are Columbia University in the City of New York, Harvard University, and University of Pennsylvania.

Some great schools for visiting assistant professors 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 visiting assistant professors 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. Columbia University in the City of New York

New York, NY • Private

Admissions rate

6%

SAT average

1,512

2. Harvard University

Cambridge, MA • Private

Admissions rate

5%

SAT average

1,520

3. University of Pennsylvania

Philadelphia, PA • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,492

4. Northwestern University

Evanston, IL • Private

Admissions rate

8%

SAT average

1,508

5. Duke University

Durham, NC • Private

Admissions rate

9%

SAT average

1,516

6. Johns Hopkins University

Baltimore, MD • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,513

7. Vanderbilt University

Nashville, TN • Private

Admissions rate

10%

SAT average

1,514

8. Cornell University

Ithaca, NY • Private

Admissions rate

11%

SAT average

1,471

9. Washington University in St Louis

Saint Louis, MO • Private

Admissions rate

15%

SAT average

1,506

10. Stanford University

Stanford, CA • Private

Admissions rate

4%

SAT average

1,497

Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for visiting assistant professors

The easiest schools for visiting assistant professors to get into are D'Youville College, barry university, and mount saint mary's university.

Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a visiting assistant professor 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 visiting assistant professors.

1. D'Youville College

Buffalo, NY • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,072

2. Barry University

Miami, FL • Private

Admissions rate

91%

SAT average

1,006

3. Mount Saint Mary's University

Los Angeles, CA • Private

Admissions rate

84%

SAT average

1,031

4. University of the Incarnate Word

San Antonio, TX • Private

Admissions rate

88%

SAT average

1,044

5. Gwynedd Mercy University

Gwynedd Valley, PA • Private

Admissions rate

92%

SAT average

1,031

6. Texas Woman's University

Denton, TX • Private

Admissions rate

87%

SAT average

1,059

7. The University of Texas at El Paso

El Paso, TX • Private

Admissions rate

100%

SAT average

1,035

8. Kean University

Union, NJ • Private

Admissions rate

86%

SAT average

991

9. San Francisco State University

San Francisco, CA • Private

Admissions rate

72%

SAT average

1,054

10. California University of Pennsylvania

California, PA • Private

Admissions rate

97%

SAT average

1,007

Average visiting assistant professor salary by education level

According to our data, visiting assistant professors with a Doctorate degree earn the highest average salary, at $86,594 annually. Visiting assistant professors with a Master's degree earn an average annual salary of $67,975.
Visiting assistant professor education levelVisiting assistant professor salary
Master's Degree$67,975
Doctorate Degree$86,594

Visiting assistant professor education FAQs

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Updated January 8, 2025

Zippia Research Team
Zippia Team

Editorial Staff

The Zippia Research Team has spent countless hours reviewing resumes, job postings, and government data to determine what goes into getting a job in each phase of life. Professional writers and data scientists comprise the Zippia Research Team.

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