How to Approach professors to ask for TA or RA? need help thnx

[salmazahran1992]

Well, I honestly tried to email couple of professors But there have been no response at all. Also the financial aid office is providing no absolute help. As an international student wanting to pursue Master's, I wanna ask ppl who have experience how do I approach professors to get RA or TA as a kind of financial assistance? I honestly felt that the universities do not like saying the kind of assistance they provide to make ppl pay ! I would be forever in debt with any kind of assistance and guidance  Thanks

[salmazahran1992]

I sure mean in American universities

[TakeruK]

Usually, the financial aid office has very little to do with the TA and RA appointments. TA appointments are usually handled by the department while RA appointments are usually handled by each professor separately (although there may be department wide guidelines).

 

What is your status right now? Are you already accepted to a school and would like to know about how to secure TA and RA funding for this coming year? Or are you in the application stage and want to know what would be available if you were to get accepted? 

 

If you already have an offer, hopefully the offer indicates whether or not funding is available. Sometimes the offer will say that TAships are available and that you should arrange for an RA offer independently if you want one. In this case, you would want to email professors individually and let them know you would want to work for them and ask what is available, if any.

 

If you are still deciding on which schools to apply, you should direct these questions towards the department graduate admissions person (it may be an administrative person or a professor). Since you don't have an offer, you would be only asking about funding for your program in general, not for your specific case of course. Ask if there are TA and RA positions available for your Masters program, in general, and ask how often students are funded. You will probably find that in most cases, US schools will not fund their masters students. You might also want to inquire about any university-wide scholarships and fellowships you might apply for if you apply for the school.

[salmazahran1992]

Honestly, I am still preparing myself for admission in the fall of 2015. As an international student not being able to travel to see the campuses of the schools, I can't get access to any information. The schools are really really expensive! I got response from Columbia business school to which i considered applying ! they told me yes we do have TA and RA, but each professor has his own criteria, then when I tried to approach the professors there have been no absolutely response. The problem is that the American embassy requires me to identify my funding source before I could get the visa. I don't know whether the professors r rude and unhelpful or I am making mistake in my email format. Thanks

[TakeruK]

Maybe I am wrong, but my experience is that you don't seek out TA and RA employment offers until you already have an admission offer. 

 

You did the right thing for Columbia where you first ask the school if they have TA/RA and they told you that it's up to each professor. That's good to know, and you should note it down so that you can seek out these opportunities when you get accepted. However, you can't ask the professors now for these positions because they are not going to promise a position to someone who is not yet admitted to their school!

 

If funding is an issue, you should definitely ask every single school if TA/RA are even possible before applying. Also ask them about when you should apply to the TA/RA positions (sometimes you apply separately, sometimes you apply with the school application). Then, you should apply and wait for responses. Then, you will either get offered a TA/RA along with admission or be instructed to seek out these positions from professors. 

Edited May 26, 2014 by TakeruK

[salmazahran1992]

Maybe I am wrong, but my experience is that you don't seek out TA and RA employment offers until you already have an admission offer. 

 

You did the right thing for Columbia where you first ask the school if they have TA/RA and they told you that it's up to each professor. That's good to know, and you should note it down so that you can seek out these opportunities when you get accepted. However, you can't ask the professors now for these positions because they are not going to promise a position to someone who is not yet admitted to their school!

 

If funding is an issue, you should definitely ask every single school if TA/RA are even possible before applying. Also ask them about when you should apply to the TA/RA positions (sometimes you apply separately, sometimes you apply with the school application). Then, you should apply and wait for responses. Then, you will either get offered a TA/RA along with admission or be instructed to seek out these positions from professors. 

You know that is the most helpful tip of advice I have ever received   Thanks a lot Really appreciate it.

[bsharpe269]

TAs and RAs are uncommon for masters degrees. I went without assistance for the first semester of my MS. I got a 4.0 that semester and did research for a professor as a volunteer (like 20-30 hours a week). After a semester of that, my department offered me a living stipend and 25% off tuition. As far as I know, I am the only student in the department who was offered this.

 

If you want a masters degree in the US then you generally have to pay for it, especially when it is in a professional field like marketing. I don't think that approaching professors, asking for money will get you very far. If they decide to pay a masters student to do research then it will probably be a student that they already know from teaching, not someone who emails them who they have never met. From what I have seen, professors perfer to use their grant money towards phd students who will be there for 5 years instead of MS students since by the time they get them up to speed with the lab concepts, they dont have very long to work before they graduate.

 

Even though funding it uncommon for masters, it does sometimes happen. Certain departments seem better at funding masters students than others. Good luck... I hope you find something!

Edited May 26, 2014 by bsharpe269

[salmazahran1992]

TAs and RAs are uncommon for masters degrees. I went without assistance for the first semester of my MS. I got a 4.0 that semester and did research for a professor as a volunteer (like 20-30 hours a week). After a semester of that, my department offered me a living stipend and 25% off tuition. As far as I know, I am the only student in the department who was offered this.

 

If you want a masters degree in the US then you generally have to pay for it, especially when it is in a professional field like marketing. I don't think that approaching professors, asking for money will get you very far. If they decide to pay a masters student to do research then it will probably be a student that they already know from teaching, not someone who emails them who they have never met. From what I have seen, professors perfer to use their grant money towards phd students who will be there for 5 years instead of MS students since by the time they get them up to speed with the lab concepts, they dont have very long to work before they graduate.

 

Even though funding it uncommon for masters, it does sometimes happen. Certain departments seem better at funding masters students than others. Good luck... I hope you find something!

The problem is that I can go there with a fund of 1 semester but since I am from a developing country, the American Embassy requires that I need to have the entire amount of money to pay for school which is like 50,000 Dollars   Thank you so much

Edited May 26, 2014 by salmazahran1992

[12345678900987654321]

In my department we have a pool of funding that is allocated until it is gone. The individual professors have very little to do with providing funding so that's probably why you haven't heard back. I know it varies by department and discipline but if students contact a professor it just gets forwarded to me to respond. 

 

Right now in my department we have zero students who are self-funded (MS and PhD). I cannot recall a student who joined the program without being funded. We know you need funding and we'll do our best to get it to you.