<p>xiggi, at Michigan, only doctoral students may become TAs. Typically, TA positions are given only to 3rd or 4th year doctoral students. Never will an undergraduate be given a TA position. </p>
<p>As for English proficiency, I rememeber there were some complaints during my first two years at Michigan regarding TAs who spoke with heavy foreign accents. I had one such unpleasant experience myself. As a result, since the mid 1990s, Michigan has had a strict English Proficiency requirement for all TAs. Graduate students who do not meet the required English proficiency are directed to research assistanship positions.</p>
Why did you say “Wharton” instead of “Penn”? Wharton is not a university, but Penn is and a mighty fine one at that; nearly all of UPenn’s academic departments are ranked in the top 10 and most are top 5.</p>
<p>Instead of giving your uncle his proper dues by attaching his name to one of the nation’s elite research universities and most prestigious liberal arts undergraduate program, you had to qualify it by putting a vocational school in its place as if this would move would strengthen whatever argument you were trying to make.</p>
<p>You just made a huge foreigner mistake. No US national who is affiliated with Penn and Wharton in any way would emphasize the latter over the former. You either say you went to “Penn” or the “business school at Penn” or the “Wharton school at Penn”.</p>
<p>Humm, from my limited experience with a number of foreigners who attended Wharton (read business school) none of them would mention Penn. I believed from getting tired of having to say … No, no, not the Penn State you see on TV. In the same vein, other people I know like to say they went to Tuck, Kellog or McCombs. </p>
<p>This said it is pretty clear why not many people like to say they went to a school named … Fuqua, especially when they have a foreign accent! :)</p>
<p>Alexandre, are you claiming that no students pursuing a MASTER’s degree at Michigan is asked to function as a TA? None as in zilch, zippo, nadie?</p>
<p>Education
2007 MSE in Computer Science & Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI.
2006 MSE in Financial Engineering, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI. That is where 2005 fits in!
2004 BS in Mathematics, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.
2003 BS in Computer Engineering, Iowa State University, Ames, IA.</p>
<p>Teaching Experience
winter 2005 Mathematics of Finance, Graduate Student Instructor</p>
<p>Lesdiablesbleu and Xiggi, my uncle who went to Wharton did so for his MBA, and did my mother at Columbia. Both did their undergraduate studies at the American University of Beirut. So I was right to point out the program since graduate students belong to a program, not a university.</p>
<p>Xiggi, I said no undergrads. I am not sure about Master’s students, although I am 100% sure that only Doctoral students aregiven TA positions in Economics, History, Mathematics and Phsycis. But I am not sure when it comes to Foreign Languages and other majors. But like I said, there is no way an undergraduate student would ever be given a TA position.</p>
<p>UCBChem, your choice above is pretty ironic concidering the fact that the bad experience I had with a TA also came from Turkey, but he was not her! LOL!</p>
<p>try the sort for Cal’s 2009 “fall” admissions (not all terms) on uc statfinder. (Spring admits don’t count for CDS since they don’t exist when the form is completed, students as of October xx, 2009).</p>
<p>Most foreign students need TAs, RAs or other finaid to keep their I-20 form. Not only they have to keep good grades, but also to keep the “money”. To appreciate how difficult it is, I would like to see xiggi to study at Peking University in China, you have to:</p>
<p>1.) teach math (in Chinese of course).
2.) learn everything about science and engineering or whatever, in Chinese.
3.) you can not fail any quarter or semester.
4.) maintain good grades to get the finaid, sometimes your professor could be just out of funding.
5.) you are not allowed to work outside campus.
6.) Anything happens, you out.</p>
<p>Basically you are like a fish from the river getting into the ocean. </p>
<p>xiggi, according to UC Berkeley GSI policy:</p>
<p>“Appointees must be UC graduate students. Only under very exceptional circumstances may a UC Berkeley undergraduate student be appointed to serve as a GSI, and advance approval of the appointment by Associate Dean Carlos Fernandez-Pello is required in each case. UC Hastings College of the Law students may not be appointed as GSIs.”</p>
<p>I wonder how many UGs served as GSIs under these “very exceptional circumstances”?</p>
<p>“To advance to GSI Steps II, III or IV, a student must have completed a master’s degree or the equivalent.”</p>
<p>It goes further to say if a GSI is acting as a course instructor (AI-GSI), then these are the minimum qualifications:</p>
<p>"B. Minimum Qualifications
Graduate Standing: Appointees must be UC Berkeley graduate students.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Advancement to Candidacy: Students must be advanced to candidacy at the doctoral level before a department may nominate them for AI-GS positions.</p></li>
<li><p>Teaching Experience: Nominees for AI-GS positions must have completed at least four semesters of post-baccalaureate teaching experience as a GSI at UCB, or have been approved in advance by Associate Dean Carlos Fernandez-Pello for early advancement to step II, or higher, based on a combination of post-baccalaureate teaching experience at UCB and other institutions of higher education.</p></li>
</ol>
<p>C. Restrictions.
…
2. Students may be assigned to perform the duties of an AI-GS only for upper division courses."</p>
<p>Xiggi, you can be accepted straight into a Phd program and be given a TA(GSI) position at Umich during your first year. It is rare to be given the TA position the first year though. TA positions very rarely go to Masters students at Umich from my experience. I have not heard of this happening once.</p>
<p>There is more to the policy you quoted Alex. First year PhD students are often given funding guarantees stating that if no fellowships or RA are available you’ll get a TA. They never need to TA, but because of Michigan’s financial rules and the nature of grad school funding these funding offers often must mention the TA possibility. This probably doesn’t contradict the human resources policies Alex linked for you.</p>
<p>Your one instance of a Michigan masters student getting a TA position may have been a PhD dropout too.</p>
<p>One account? How many resumes or CV should I post that CLEARLY list GSI activities in the FIRST year of Masters’ candidates? </p>
<p>Want more examples from people not being in a PhD program? </p>
<p>
</p>
<p>I think that, with the help of google, I can keep on posting this kind of information much faster than the people who live in denial can fabricate more silly excuses. Master’s candidates at Michigan DO get teaching assignments. There is an entire department and publications that serve no other purposes than helping foreign students start their “career” as GSI. Please tell me why Michigan would deem it necessary to do so if those same students would ONLY be teaching in their third or fourth year in Michigan. Would it not be EXPECTED for such students to understand American culture (and the self-admitted potential prejudice of young white UGs – see GSI manual introduction) after a NUMBER of years. </p>
<p>Again, should I continue to post more “anecdotes?”</p>
<p>I have been reading this thread, and I thought it was important to correct some facts.</p>
<p>1) Yes, Michigan does allow some master’s students to become GSIs. While doctoral students are given preference, any graduate student (master’s, professional) can apply and interview for a GSI / GSRA position. Current master’s students have a greater chance of obtaining a GSI position than new graduate students because the positions are usually advertised very early (e.g. March/April for a Fall term appointment). As Alex pointed out earlier, there is an academic human resources website that lists the available positions by school/department.</p>
<p>2) In my graduate program, there are several master’s students who are or have been GSIs for various departments across the university. Most of my classmates have previous teaching experience or knowledge of the specific course. It has taken some master’s students 5 terms (instead of the traditional 4 terms) to finish their degree.</p>
<p>3) Master’s students who become GSIs / GSRAs have access to paid health insurance and part of their tuition expenses covered. It’s a popular and competitive option because tuition is costly (especially for out-of-state students).</p>
<p>4) Some professional schools, such as Public Policy and Urban Planning, will hire their own master’s students to become GSIs for some foundation courses as long as the applicant excelled in those courses.</p>
<p>UCB, two wrongs do not make one right. Again, my position on unqualified TAs is NOT part of a crusade against Cal or Michigan --or any other school for that matter. It is an expression of my dismay about the practice in general. </p>
<p>As far as the UG anecdotes, a few months ago there was a thread in the Parents’ forum about the value of accepting a TA position. You’d be surprised at the contents of the replies. Here’s an excerpt and a link:</p>
That is just flat out wrong. I have spent years dealing with high powered financial specialists, including private equity investment funds, merger and acquisition specialists, and takeover specialists. I never thought about it until this posting, but they were all born and bred Americans except for a handful of Brits, and even two of those went to American schools for their MBA (one Harvard, one Northwestern). These people virtually all had MBA’s from top schools, and many from Wharton. Almost without exception when I asked where they got their MBA they said “Wharton” with no mention of Penn. They assume, correctly, that someone in my position would know that Wharton is part of Penn. Being perhaps the most famous “named” business school in the country, the Wharton name carries a great deal of prestige on its own.</p>
<p>xiggi, I also wanted to point out that a MFA is considered a terminal degree in the applied arts. Read the Wikipedia page: “The MFA is seen as a terminal degree, meaning that it is considered to be the highest degree in its field.”</p>
