TA experience on SOP for Master's

[velua]

There are some Master's programs that do fund their students, so I think having a whole paragraph about your teaching experience and how much you enjoy/value teaching, etc. is useful. Is the same true for unfunded Master's programs (where you might have the opportunity to apply for TA positions, although all the positions will likely go to Ph.D. students), or should your TA experience be limited to a sentence or two and a few lines in your CV?

[TakeruK]

My opinion is that admissions committee do not use TA experience as a criteria for MS or PhD program admission, so I don't think it's worth spending time on this in your SOP. Since you do have past experience as a graduate student TA, you could potentially work it into one sentence of your SOP as a demonstration of your experience balancing research, teaching, and coursework commitments**. And definitely include this on your CV.

 

However, your ability or passion to teach has no effect on graduate program admission. Most programs do not place much value on strong teaching ability for incoming graduate students. Instead, they take the worldview that graduate students will learn the minimum teaching ability to function as a TA when they get here. 

 

**Note: From my own experience applying to programs with a previous graduate degree, I find that having past experience as a graduate student can be a double edged sword. It's great that you have some experience, and potentially maturity, behind you but if you overemphasize this in your application, it might work against you. For example, grad programs are interested in recruiting people with a lot of potential--a student with potential might be more appealing than one with demonstrated/proven mediocrity. Another reason is that if you come off with an attitude that you already know what you're doing then it might be interpreted as arrogance and/or unwillingness to learn/fit in to a new department--every place is different. So my advice would be to mention your past experience strategically. 

[velua]

Sounds like good advice. I'll probably just end up mentioning something about the one semester I TAed a class that's actually relevant to CS, and leave the full details of my TA experience to my CV.

[MathCat]

I'd either keep it to a brief mention in your SOP or leave it out (and put it on your CV). Unless you have a point you are making about it beyond just "I was a TA", you shouldn't waste space on it in your SOP.

[Jay's Brain]

You can word it in a way to suggest that being a TA in certain CS courses demonstrates your prowess in *insert area of CS you were a TA for*. It can also be a segue for you to describe your interests.