southerncharm

Hi,

Hoping to get some career insight from this forum, as you all seem quite in tune with the education field (and I am certainly not!).

I am considering a career switch into higher education - I was very involved in student government activities during undergrad and worked for the VP for Student Affairs for 4 yrs as well. I'd ultimately like to hold a similar position, or perhaps dean of business or public policy school, or the dream - university president.

Note, I'd want to do this at a large public university in the south (ie, SEC type schools such as LSU, UGA, AU, etc)

My background to date -- masters in public policy from top 10 school, MPhil in business field from Cambridge, and 4 years of strategy consulting (currently in this job still).

My question - what would be the best path to reach the positions noted above (dean/VP/president)?

I see three potential routes (that fit with my own interests):

1) continue down the career path that I am going which would likely include a switch to public sector or non-profit management position in coming year. Try to come into higher ed admin by being a "star" in public/non-profit sector. Perhaps add an MBA along the way to gain the management skills and cache

2) pursue a PhD in the coming years, in the field of my preference (likely public policy) and at ~35 yrs old try to get on fast track into administration without having to do tenure track (is this even possible?)

3) pursue a masters and/or PhD/EdD in higher education administration and go directly into administration. This potentially seems like the lowest risk option, but I'm just not sure where the higher ed PhDs end up? I don't particularly want to start as an asst provost for strategy and planning etc, having to fight through the admin ranks for 20 yrs before landing my dream job.

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!