<p>How common is it for a TA to teach a class instead of the professor at a university. I am finally transferring to a university in the fall and I worry about how good or bad the quality will be with TA's and how often I'd get one teaching the class. </p>
<p>I took a lab with a TA teaching it at my community college, she eventually wants to be a professor. She wasn't very good and I fear 2 more years of that.</p>
<p>We have grad students teaching here so</p>
<p>A TA is an assistant to a professor that teaches the class, so I’m assuming you mean classes taught by grad students/PhD candidates etc (even though TAs often lead break-out discussion sections in larger classes). Anyway, in my experience, classes taught exclusively by grad students are more common for STEM disciplines where the quality of the lecturer doesn’t matter as much (as in, where it matters more that the person teaching has a command over the material and can explain it clearly than that s/he is well-spoken and articulate).</p>
<p>Also, at my university, most language classes are taught by grad students. Larger liberal arts/communications lectures tend to be taught by professors. So it’s more likely to end up with that infamous instructor that doesn’t speak English in your bio class than in a government or history class.</p>
<p>At my son’s university, grad students mainly teach intro calc classes and intro writing classes, plus do the discussion sessions of the large lectures.</p>
<p>The most common complaint I’ve heard across the country is about TAs who do not have English as their first language, and who can be difficult to understand.</p>
<p>there is a pretty big thread about this, <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1069275-public-university-classes-really-taught-assistants-not-profs-6.html#post12376570[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/college-life/1069275-public-university-classes-really-taught-assistants-not-profs-6.html#post12376570</a></p>
<p>I think it probably depends on the college/university. If you asked about a specific one, people would be able to be more helpful.</p>
<p>Yup. I know at my school, the only people who teach classes are professors. TAs, which may include grad students, grade work, hold review sessions, proctor in-class tests, and etc.</p>