I'm graduating with my BS this semester, and I'll be starting my MS in the fall studying Oceanography as a TA. What's it like being a TA? What kind of hours should I expect? How should I manage my work time, school/research time, and free time? Thanks.

If you want to purely be a lecturer at a university, then being a TA can help you get an idea of what life will be like as a lecturer. If you want to be a faculty member (PI) with your own lab, doing a TA won't help.

Mar 10, 2013 · As part of tuition waiver/stipend, the school will want me to be a TA for an intro level stats class, leading a recitation and what not. For those who have TA'd before, what is it like? What should I expect? Does it ever interfere with your normal course load?

Oct 25, 2024 · When I started, I wanted to be a ‘good’ TA; one they could talk talk and such. They don’t really listen or do their prelab, have their phones out (in a CL2 lab I might add) and just overall don’t engage and feel so entitled to good grades.

Nov 1, 2011 · I highly recommend it. I was a TA for the same class for 2 years, as well as a couple others. I've been asked about it extensively during all of my interviews and it seemed like the conversations were very favorable.

Aug 9, 2023 · When you get your degree plan from WGU it has the course cost breakdown. You then submit that to Army ignited (if you’re army) or you education center to request the TA. Went through this not to long ago and they for sure do a CCPCH.

At my university, grad students TA for a specific professor, not for a specific course. We are given a set amount of hours per week (as that's what our salary for the TAship pays), and that professor decides how you will use them.

Dec 14, 2017 · When you apply to a graduate school, it's really a two-in-one application, i.e. there are two questions to be decided: will you be accepted or not; and if yes, then with or without financial support. Having or not prior TA experience probably won't have any effect on your admission to the program.

Apr 15, 2021 · I have had great TA experiences, but it does require preparation, yes. Especially if it is a course you've never taught before. If it is something commonly taught by grad students, you can ask the previous students for their lecture notes and that will make it a lot easier on you.

Being a TA gives you extremely valuable experience that you almost never otherwise get before your first job: How to read other people's code. Some students come up with very, shall we say, "interesting" constructs, and being able to decipher them will help immensely - especially for interviews that give you some code to start with.