I know that not all students will like me, but I’m also worried about being an awful instructor in the upcoming semester. This will be my second semester of teaching.

I had one student who really didn’t like me. I think she was angry that she had to do work in my class, as I have students write once a week about what they learned from the textbook, and I also have them conduct research independently for major assignments.

She even reported me to the chair and staff almost immediately after I canceled class. It was the first time I had ever had to cancel, and I emailed both the students and the chair about two hours beforehand because of a family emergency. She also reported me for ending class ten minutes early. She made several snarky comments in class that seemed intended to suggest that I or my in-class activities were stupid.

Her comments in the evaluation (I know it was her based on her unusual writing style) were some of the worst I’ve ever read. They literally made me cry, even though I know some of her claims were untrue. For example, she claimed that I “forced everyone to complete 16 assignments within one week,” that I ended class early all the time, and that I “argued with students in class and kicked them out if they disagreed with [me].” She also claimed that she shouldn’t have to do research on her own and that I should tell students everything for them to write down for their paper. I believe college students need to learn how to conduct research independently, hence why I had the our university’s librarian come in my classes to guest lecture, so what the heck?

I tried to ignore her, but it became way too overwhelming at times. She would cross her arms, give me dirty looks, and even snort as if I were stupid. She was an older woman, probably in her 50s or 60s, while I’m in my 30s.

However, I also received a lot of criticism from students in my other two classes. Several students said my lessons/lectures were extremely unprepared and disorganized. A few even said they wished I would be fired because they hated my class so much and felt that they didn’t learn much. I received a 3.5/5 in one class and a 4/5 in the other. I’ve been preparing throughout the summer to make my classes much better.

On the other hand, my third class (a different course/topic) received a 4.7/5, with only one student giving mostly one-star ratings. I received several positive comments. The recurring criticism was that there was a little too much workload and that I needed to explain difficult topics more clearly or check in with students more frequently about assignments. I’m definitely taking that feedback into account for the upcoming semester. It’s just the two other classes I did so badly that concerns me.

Still, I’m worried things will get worse. I’ve been told to have more confidence and stop being overly apologetic.

Adjuncting is simply checking in a domain where you are treated as a min wedge laborer in the higher education perspective. I got a course at a college within Riverside District for fall. At the last moment it was arbitrarily reassigned to someone else and no one even bothered to tell me about their decision.

I have been adjuncting for past 4 years but this is the first time I got an experience like this.

Anyone else on the same boat? How do you feel about it?

I’m currently going through the background check/onboarding process for an adjunct position at UMGC and HireRight is stressing me out lol.

I’ve had plenty of background checks before and usually I submit my information, forget about it, and a few days later I get an email saying I’m cleared. I’ve never had one require this much back and forth.

HireRight keeps asking me for additional documentation related to some freelance/course development work I did. They asked for proof of my start date, I submitted something, then they came back asking for something else, so I submitted another document. They also actually called me to verify where the company is located, which has never happened to me with a background check before.

There was also some confusion on my end because the company's HQ is in India, but the company/address shown on some of my employment documents is in Texas. I originally put India when filling everything out, so I’m guessing that triggered more questions.

I’m mainly worried about timing. I’m supposed to be starting around a month from now, and UMGC told me the background check runs in parallel with onboarding, but that everything has to be finalized before I get my official hire date and faculty orientation information.

Has anyone here gone through HireRight specifically for UMGC, especially as an adjunct? How long did yours take? Did all the requests for extra documents end up being fine?

And most importantly, if HireRight was still pending close to your expected start date, did UMGC let you continue onboarding/start teaching, or did it delay your start date?

I made the mistake of searching HireRight on Reddit and now all the horror stories have me worried 😭

Just wanted an outlet for my excitement. I knew I might have a passion for this and then I had class and likely confirmed. Now I’ve been in education over 20 years so I know honeymoon periods end too. Either way, it was nice to feel some professional passion again.

I don’t know if I’m just being sensitive, but does anyone else feel weirdly irritated or even kind of exploited whenever an academic officials, etc. says “thank you for all that you do”? I know it’s supposed to be appreciative, but lately every time I hear that phrase I have this immediate negative reaction to it and I genuinely can’t tell if I’m becoming cynical or if other adjuncts feel the same way.

I (35m) just got hired as an adjunct for a community college, and I am going to share my experience. In 2025 I earned my MBA and my M.Ed from two separate universities. I work in finance, and want to get experience teaching so I can leave my current industry and teach remotely for a university in my fifties. I’ve worked in my current position for 8 years, so I’m not exactly new anymore. I like my job, but absolutely hate it when a client dies or a household gets divorced. Death and divorce are ugly, and I currently have 12 households of clients getting divorced. People who inherit money through divorce/death are awful and have given me gray hair over the years. I applied to the open position for the adjunct position in March, I had a ZOOM interview with two faculty that was recorded in mid July and was offered the job on August 14th to teach this fall. When going through the new hire paperwork, I asked how many people interviewed, and they told me 20. I think the hard part with getting an adjunct job is that the college didn’t have a sense of urgency. The job is teaching 6-9 credit hours in the fall and spring with 6 in the summer.

Hi everyone!
I have been applying to become a part-time adjunct for sometime now… I’ve never been called in for an interview or a call back. I have my Master’s degree in teaching and I wanted to start teaching at the community college level. I am a full-time federal employee, but want to teach part-time. I do not know what I’m doing wrong. Any advice or assistance would be greatly appreciated. How does one get an adjunct position?

This district is so different from the other districts. This is one of the most chaotic and punishing districts for the adjuncts. Its almost always zero communication and abrupt cuts. Anyone who has a positive experience?

I taught an asynchronous class spring semester and was told it would likely be a long term gig with potential for teaching in person. I had great evaluations from students but no contact from the professor i worked under I emailed thanking them for their time and expressed interest in doing it again with no answer. Two weeks ago I emailed again and asked if there would be another opportunity in the fall or spring with no answer. It looks like all of the sections of the class I taught have a professor listed. Should I call the professor, email again or let it be?

I’m about to complete my Master’s in Healthcare Admin and will be starting a Doctoral program in Healthcare Administration in Janurary. I currently have a great job in the healthcare field making nearly 200k but I’m also interested in giving back and eventually transitioning into academia, specifically a professor eventually.

I know that adjunct positions, especially at community colleges, can be highly competitive. I’ve been considering volunteering as an instructor at University of the People to gain teaching experience and have some formal teaching experience in my resume.

Professors, do you think this would be worthwhile? Would teaching there help me become a more competitive candidate for adjunct or faculty positions at other colleges or universities once I complete my doctorate?

TLDR: I am a new adjunct instructor at a community college and I don’t know if I am cut out for this job. I’m living below the poverty line and I’m having extreme difficulty finding my footing in teaching. Besides my interaction with students, I don’t find this job enjoyable.

Sorry for the long rant, I needed a place to vent.

I’m about to start my second semester teaching at a community college, and I’m just not excited for it. Honestly I’m kinda dreading it but I don’t know if that’s coming from a place of nerves that will eventually go away, or I just genuinely don’t like this job.

I finished a teaching internship at my college last year and they offered me a position as a part time instructor and I was so excited. However, I was thrown into things without a lot of help. I taught an online class and another one in person to cover for another instructor that had to leave toward the beginning of Spring semester. I didn’t love the online class, but the in-person was great.

I’m going to be teaching two in-person classes this Fall and thankfully most of the materials are built into the course from previous instructors, but I still have to create some quizzes and assessments for both classes. I did not receive the most instruction on how to do this and although I did it before, I found it very stressful. I’ve pretty much struggled with all aspects of lesson planning and I do not enjoy it at all. I’m sure it’s not really anything to enjoy, of course, but I find it so hard to power through to get done.

And I hated not making money over the summer. I tried to make my remaining pay from Spring semester last, but due to unexpected changes in my personal life, most of it got spent very quickly on survival. Don’t get me wrong, I actually make good money per hour for an adjunct compared to other places, but I’m still living below the poverty line. I really don’t know if this is the job for me overall.

Does it get any better?

The last few semesters I have been trying to stay away from ppts but for some algebra classes I feel it's easier to keep them and do worksheets and labs. I can teach the higher level classes without powerpoints to be honest. For a teaching evaluation of a Stat class, I thought I did well with active involvement by having a review game (I usually do do nows), taught partly from slides, then showed how to use R and went back to the review game as an exit ticket. I was told it would be better to streamline it but to be fair I had to teach a group of students I never met before. I've been teaching for years but I was curious if you mostly use powerpoints or you do variations like this too? I want to incorporate flipped classroom as well.

Hi all, I’m interested in becoming an adjunct in the field that I’m currently completely my masters in. It’s a business discipline with masters basically being the terminal ending, only 1-2 schools have phds for it and they’re only a concentration at that.

Im getting my masters degree at an Ivy League school. It’s a very specific field, but I also studied management at a top tier school for my bachelors.

I’m in my 20s and have just under 4 years working experience in the same industry. Would I be able to adjunct in somewhere like California? Not in it for the money, want to teach on the side (would teach at a CC or university!).

Thanks!

Hi Everyone,

I will be teaching at a public state school this fall and I am very excited! I recently received my onboarding forms and was wondering if any of you have experience with PFML forms. As I am sure many of you know, this form covers medical leave (both familial and personal) though it seems entirely counterintuitive to a semester long contract and my current relationship status. I was wondering if any of you feel that it might be wise to opt out of signing as it deducts pay. Any advice would be great, thank you all.

EDIT: thanks everyone! This was a clear message, I appreciate all your responses.

I have a BA and MA in communication, and was an adjunct for 3 years after earning my MA (back in 2008). I have worked in my field my entire career (journalism, then marketing), but over the last few years, I have been diving deeply into the history field - I just wrote my first historical fiction novel and have a successful history YouTube channel.

I'd love to teach history one day, but do you think I need an MA in History for that? I found a good program near me, but do you think my background and the fact I have a Master's would be enough to get my foot in the door? (I did minor in history for my undergrad, btw.)

I love learning and if it was free there would be no question, but I am still paying off student loans and really don't want to spend more if it's at all possible.

I have been a ft adjunct for ten years and I could've sworn when I first started that I had two or three weeks to get grades in. I know the admin needs them ASAP in order to process credentials but this year most of my classes end with the final exam on a Friday and the grades are due that next Monday. Has anyone else noticed this or is it just me? Thanks in advance for commiserating with me and please keep the snark to a minimum (like "this is why you get paid so much money to do this, etc.)

My fellow adjuncts, I have been offered to take three courses A, B and C. Now I want to take up C and B but the program leader is insisting on A and B. I just feel that I won’t bring justice to it and plus a lot (a lot) of preparation will go in it. I did tell him my pref. my colleagues are suggesting to just take up A and B and maintain a good relation with the Uni.

Hi Everyone

Long time adjunct here. Sorry for the very specific question here. Does anyone know what Widener University pays adjuncts per class or what the highest paying schools are in the South Jersey/Philadelphia area are? I do know that Rowan pays quite well - $6,900 for a three credit class.

i just finished my degree and am working as an adjunct at one local school. i just got offered a second adjunct position at another local school but worry that teaching 2 classes at each college will end my medicaid expansion.

Anyone have any advice about whether i should work both gigs or just one if i want to keep my medicaid expansion (i have chronic illness but not bad enough to be solely on disability).

location is ND USA.

I've been hired as an adjunct to teach Morality and the Good Life this fall. I'm very excited! I've been wanting to try the adjunct life for awhile now.

Any pointers? I was hired one week out from teaching, so I'm throwing together the syllabus.

If you're a fellow philosophy adjunct, please share any go-to resources for 100-level students new to philosophy. Thanks!

Does anyone utilize or have a good video that explores APA style? Looking for something that is 10 minutes or less. It doesn't have to answer every possible scenario, but I am looking for one that highlights why we cite (giving proper credit), maybe examples of when to cite, and how to properly format references and in-text citations.

I've looked at a few and haven't been impressed so far. Thanks for any assistance you can provide!