<p>Okay....I would like to know what exactly your experiences are in being a TA or an RA.</p>
<p>I know I definitely plan on being a TA but I'm not sure exactly what that does to one's schedule. What exactly do you do and in what time frame during the week?</p>
<p>RA's....I'd like to know the same thing as above.</p>
<p>i dunno where u go to school, but TA's or GSI''s (graduate student instructors) are grad students not undergrads.</p>
<p>Yup, TAs are generally grad students. Occasionally at my school, exceptional seniors might also TA large intro classes. For instance, there were senior TAs in my intro to econ class- but they didn't have much responsibility as they didn't hold sections, grade anything important (if they graded, it was off of a key), and doubled up with grad students to offer extra help. You'd have to have gotten an A in every course in that field. Our senior TAs just had to be at the intro to econ class in regular attendance and offer group help once a week at night. The pay isn't that great either, if that's what you're hoping for.</p>
<p>RAs go through a rigorous process to be admitted into the program- at least at my school. At my school, you have to basically post your schedule so people know when you'll be in your room and you have to stick to it. You also have all night rounds on an alternating schedule with other RAs where you patrol your quad to make sure there's no parties, loud noises, etc past quiet hours. Basically, you're the professional bad guy, if you don't want to lose your job. Our RAs are regularly fired for not shutting down parties and such so in some places it's taken very seriously.</p>
<p>Usually at my school, for the large classes like chemistry, calculus, and biology the lectures had TA's who were grad students - they would teach during recitations (other schools call these quiz sections, discussion sections, etc). Usually involved going over big concepts and answering questions students had, as well as giving out quizzes (as per the instructor). </p>
<p>Most lab TA's especially in lower level biology were undergrads. </p>
<p>Some departments like sociology had grad students teaching a standard curriculum for an intro level class.</p>
<p>I was a TA for a leadership class while a junior. I basically showed up for class each week, taught a couple lessons, graded the presentations students were giving, and offering insight during class discussions. My experience was great, but probably not similar enough to what other people have to do.</p>
<p>At Duke, we have undergrad TAs for econ and most of the sciences who hold sections and labs.<br>
I am a TA for econ, it adds about 5-6 hours of work per week for me. As an engineer, this is kind of a significant chunk of time, but it pays well.</p>
<p>RA = research assistant
TA = teaching assistant</p>
<p>In my mind RA is much better than TA.</p>
<p>For TA here, grad students turn in their class schedule and look at the course offerings and make a list of sections that work with their schedule that they might like to TA. Then, one of the department heads sorts through everyone and assigns everyone a section. He may not give you your top choice, but he tries to match the times as best he can. Then you go to the class you're in charge of & you grade for your students (run labs or discussion, etc) - lectures still done by a professor or lecturer.
GSI is a step up - a replacement for the professor altogether.</p>
<p>RA - work in a research lab on a project (usually given to you by the professor you're working for). Do research, write papers.</p>
<p>Finding a TA that is an undergrad is rare here.</p>
<p>I'm a TA for an UGrad Organic Chem lab, and I know here we have a ton of UGrads teaching Organic and Gen Chem labs. Biology and Physics employ only graduate students. Econ/other departments it definitely varies based on the class.</p>
<p>For UGrads, each TA has one section, which is a 3 hour lab period. We also have one hour meeting a week, and then grading lab reports. I'd say I'm usually putting in 6 hours a week or so...on top of my other schoolwork...but it pays well and its definitely doable.</p>
<p>Plus, since I want to teach in the future it's definitely good practice for that.</p>
<p>If I decide to become a TA while taking 9 credit hours for my Masters....how many additional hours do you recommend working on campus?</p>