Assistantship

[Akshay]

hi,

I have got an admit at University of Minnesota to pursue M.S. in Electrical Engineering for Fall 2010 term. But the decision regarding assistantship has not yet been made. So i wanted to know whether i should initiate contacting the faculty for openings for TA'ship/RA'ship or would the faculty contact the selected applicants. How should i prepare for the possible interview?? anybody here who has some experience or information in this regard is requested to please share. How do i apply for TA'ship??

Thanks,

Akshay

[rising_star]

I would contact the person in charge of the graduate program (Director of Graduate Studies, or the program administrator) and ask how assistantships are handled.

[Jess77]

I've been admitted to University of Minnesota as well, in PhD Family Social Science. The professor who called me said they don't make financial decisions until February or March, for my program anyway.

[twocosmicfish]

Handing out assistantships varies from school to school and even between departments. Generally, TA allocations are made by department (or committee), with individual selections made either by the supervising professor or by a committee. Some assignments are made early in the spring semester, others may not be confirmed until August.

To get a TA, you usually need to fill out a department application and then interview with the supervising professor(s). The department office can usually point you towards suitable vacancies.

[Akshay]

Hi everybody,

I have got a M.S. admit in Electrical Engg. at Univ. of Minnesota(Falls 2010). But no decision regarding in any form assistantship or fellowship has been made yet.So i would like to seek opinion of everyone out here as to what steps should i be taking from now to get Research assistantship or teaching assistantship. I won't be able to fund it by self(poor financial conditions). I already tried emailing few profs. in areas of my interest once,but have not send reminders(thought that may annoy the profs.) .Any tips regarding the email(its contents) are welcome . People who have experience in this stuff are kindly requested to pur in their suggestions and help me out of this trouble.

Thanks,

Akshay

[Akshay]

Handing out assistantships varies from school to school and even between departments. Generally, TA allocations are made by department (or committee), with individual selections made either by the supervising professor or by a committee. Some assignments are made early in the spring semester, others may not be confirmed until August.

To get a TA, you usually need to fill out a department application and then interview with the supervising professor(s). The department office can usually point you towards suitable vacancies.

Thanks for your valuable suggestions.I also wanted to know about the FAFSA form .Do i need to submit the filled form before funding is declared? Or is at all obligatory to fill it??

[twocosmicfish]

The FAFSA may be required by your department at some point (and is a good idea regardless) but does not play into merit-based aid - which coincedentally includes nearly all graduate funding. You can get a TA if you have $10 in the bank, or $10 billion. The FAFSA is primarily used for figuring out your loan package, if you need one.

As far as contacting people to find out your potential funding, I would start off by talking to the department and seeing what their policies are. You can also try your advisor (if you have one yet - some schools don't assign them at admission) to see if they have or can suggest funding.