Is teaching the right choice for you?

Career information and general admission requirements

Employment and career information

Teaching is a great choice if you are creative, confident, and enjoy problem solving. The best teachers enjoy watching students learn and develop their skills and abilities.

Before investing your time and money into a licensure program, you want to be sure you have a good idea of what it takes to be a teacher. That's why we require our students to have prior classroom experience in a public school setting. And it's why we're providing the career-related links below.

Career information from ISEEK (includes Minnesota wage and employment data)

“When looking at teacher candidates, I always look at the institutions they attended. Educators from the University of Minnesota, in my opinion, are the best prepared for teaching.”
-2008 employer survey response

• Adult and vocational education teachers
• Elementary school teachers
• High school teachers
• Instructional coordinators
• Preschool and kindergarten teachers
• Special education teachers

National information

• Survey & Analysis of Salary Trends, American Federation of Teachers
• Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Outlook Handbook: Teachers, Teachers—special education

Exploratory, Transition, and Career Services

Exploratory, Transition, and Career Services is here to assist you whether you're looking for help with exploring classroom experience opportunities before applying or with résumé help and career fair alerts once you're close to obtaining your license.

Admission requirements

Teaching requires a strong content knowledge, which is why most of our programs require an undergraduate degree. (If you're an undergraduate, you will want to consider DirecTrack to Teaching. This programs offers early admission to the College’s initial licensure program and gives undergraduates early exposure to the culture of teaching and of schools. Contact Student Services for more information.) Preadmission requirements in relevant content areas are listed for each program (see Majors/Fields of study in teacher education). Typically you'll need to meet with an adviser to determine if you need to take additional classes to meet this requirement.

A GPA between 3.00 and 3.50 is typical of students accepted into our program. About two-thirds of those who apply are accepted.

Incoming students must have a minimum of 100 hours of work experience in an educational setting with an age group that corresponds to their planned professional field. They also must have work or volunteer experience with students from backgrounds different than their own. Learn more about classroom experience requirements.

After being accepted into a program, but before beginning classes, you will need to take the Praxis I: Pre-Professional Skills Tests. The Graduate Record Examination (GRE) is not required.

We strongly recommend signing up for an information session where you'll find out about admission, program, and course requirements. Sessions last about one hour.

Have additional questions?

Read the program information for the area in which you're interested and/or contact Student Services at cehdgrad@umn.edu or 612-625-6501.

August 2007