icedcoffee Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 (edited) What is the difference(s) between teaching assistant and graduate assistant? Edited March 13, 2015 by icedcoffee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iphi Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 It depends on the school. At my school TAs (and RAs) are actually just subcategories of GAs. But generally speaking this may influence your pay scale. Try doing a search on your university's website. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TakeruK Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 Also, some schools have different ranking of GAs -- you start as a Graduate Assistant and then get promoted to Graduate Associate (with a pay raise!) when you reach candidacy (I guess this mirrors the Assistant Prof --> Associate Prof when they get tenure!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vene Posted March 13, 2015 Share Posted March 13, 2015 We have TAs and GTAs (as well as research assistants, but I'm focusing on the teaching side). TAs can be undergrad students and a GTAs are graduate students. You could be looking at something along those lines, but I could also see GA encompassing both TAs as well as RAs. It's really going to depend upon the university. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TMP Posted March 14, 2015 Share Posted March 14, 2015 School dependent. You'll have to look in the Graduate School's handbook. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
juilletmercredi Posted March 21, 2015 Share Posted March 21, 2015 It's definitely school dependent - it's funny that each of the foregoing posters had different definitions and I have yet another. At my school, graduate assistants had other responsibilities. Teaching assistants taught; research assistants did research. Graduate assistants often had administrative or other supportive responsibilities in other areas of the university. For example, there was a GA in the office of fraternity and sorority life (usually from our higher ed administration program); there was a GA who worked in the office of diversity; there were GAs who worked in residential life, etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sword_Saint Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 This is just for one of the prospective schools I'm looking at: GA's - Teach / teaching assistants or do research depending on the arrangement and need within the department. Graduate Research Fellowship - do research, but get paid more b/c the fellowship is awarded at the college level and not the department level. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
_kita Posted March 23, 2015 Share Posted March 23, 2015 GA: Graduate Assistant. They can work for any department. They are all graduate students (masters or doctoral) who work in a specific department for tuition waiver/assistance and a stipend. Depending on the program, the pay changes drastically. These can be lab technicians, research, disability services, residential staff, etc. I work in a psychology department with grade entry, proctoring, class assists, tutoring, etc. TA: Teaching Assistant. Usually within your academic department. You see these positions usually at more doctoral programs. Similar benefits, but if it's a doctoral program, usually you get more stipend benefits from them. RA: Research Assistant. Again, within your academic department. Again, you see these positions usually at more doctoral programs. Similar benefits, but if it's a doctoral program, usually you get more stipend benefits from them. Programs have specific requirements for how many credits you need, hours you work. For instance, I have to work 20/weekly and need to be a full-time graduate student. They will pay 9 credits, no more, no less a semester. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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