How many hours per week do (will) you RA/TA?

[neuropsych76]

I know the actual work done as a TA or RA can be a little fuzzy (something I hope to find out during my visit) but school A has accepted me with a stipend and full tuition remission for working 20 hours as a TA or RA. Is this a fair amount? I've seen anywhere from 10-20 but I'm just wondering if 20 hour/week TA/RA's means I'll generally be going a lot more TA/RA work than "normal" or if it is just right.

thanks!!

Edited February 27, 2011 by neuropsych76

[JustChill]

In my field, my workload goes up to 20 hours a week only during midterms and finals, and possibly when papers are due. Otherwise, I have 10 hours a week max of TA related work. It's mostly going to lecture and then leading three discussion sessions, which adds up to 7 hours, and then doing some light grading during the week here and there.

[Eigen]

A "20 hour" TA is typical around here, but as JustChill stated... It's not always a set 20 hours per week.

As to the RA... This is somewhat field dependent. I'm not sure how the programs you're applying to work, but my wife is in a Neuroscience program, and the RAship there is paid for by your advisor... And so the workload is basically your research projects. You just get paid directly for that.

Some programs, however, have RA positions through professors other than your major professor- and those seem to be about 20 hours as a standard load.

[Bumblebee]

I've voted my average TAing time, because it depends on whether they have a big assignment/an exam or not. If they don't have any assignment due, I might work 12-13 hours/week, if they have an exam or a big assignment I might spend 16-17 hours that week.

[wanderlust07]

I voted my contract time, which is 20. Most weeks it is considerably less than that, but it evens out in weeks when I have stacks of essays to grade or hold student conferences, which can be massively time consuming. I therefore hold conferences (which are highly encouraged in my program) early in the quarter, before my own work eats my life.

[eklavya]

Interesting... in my masters now, I am told to do 6 hours of TA work. Plus 2 extra hours during exams for exam reviews. RA hours - this depends on me, and on the pace of my research work. Some weeks, I've put in 60-70 hrs whereas some weeks I haven't worked at all.

For my PhD, I think they expect me to give 20 hours for TA/RA. But depending on the workload, the number of hours might decrease... I definitely don't see myself TAing for over 20 hours a week. Research work though... I don't really mind putting more hours because I like it.

[rising_star]

I voted for what my contract says (20 hrs/week). I don't usually do that much work, except when there are papers to grade. There are weeks where I literally do 6 hours of work, with 3 of those coming from attending lecture. So, it definitely balances out at times like right now when I have 120 1-2 page essays to grade over the next two weeks.

[lewin]

I have a government PhD fellowship so I do 5-10 hours of TA work for one term per year, nothing the rest of the time. I know this is out of the ordinary, but wanted to chime in. Twenty seems like a lot.

Edited February 28, 2011 by lewin00

[lemonpepper]

I put in about 12 to 14 hours a week ta-ing, though my contract says I'm only supposed to be putting in 9. Honestly though, class prep and marking take longer than they allot. I think 20 seems like a lot also.

[Gunner24]

A part-time TA contract will usually be set around 20 hours/week, but the actual hours will vary...and probably usually on the <20 side. I know for mine it's set at 20 hours/week for insurance/tuition assistance reasons....as an employee of the University, I have to be a "PT employee", which is described as someone who works 20 hours/week, to be eligible for the full medical and to be eligible to receive the amount of tuition assistance they offered me. There are TAs whose contract says 10-19 hours per week, but they get less benefits.

[MoJingly]

The program that accepted me has no TA requirement. TA'ing is supplemental. And the stipend is already insanely high.

... what's the catch?? I can't find one.

[neuropsych76]

The program that accepted me has no TA requirement. TA'ing is supplemental. And the stipend is already insanely high.

... what's the catch?? I can't find one.

Maybe there isn't one

[neuropsych76]

Thank you all for the replies!

So basically, 20 hours seems pretty normal but as long as there are some slow weeks where I work less than 20. I guess I'll find out what TAing entails at my school when I visit!

[rising_star]

Thank you all for the replies!

So basically, 20 hours seems pretty normal but as long as there are some slow weeks where I work less than 20. I guess I'll find out what TAing entails at my school when I visit!

There are ALWAYS going to be slow weeks, trust me. There are slow weeks even when you're teaching your own course and doing all the prep work. When teaching a course by myself, I probably put in about 8-10 hours per week to do the readings, make lecture notes, etc. in addition to the teaching. And that's because it was a class that's not in my field.

This semester, I'm grading for someone else's class. Mostly, I just show up to lecture (3 hours/week) and hold office hours (2 hours/week). I use the time in my office hours to update their participation points and grade map quizzes, since no one ever comes to see me. So in a standard week, it's just my 5 hours. This week, I'm doing closer to 20 but that's because I have short exercises to grade. Next week, I'll be grading tests so that will also be closer to 20 hours. Then, it'll go back to the 5-6 hours weekly for a while.