Can you get hired as an RA/GA before application?

[virtua]

Hello forum,

Is it possible to get hired for Graduate/Research Assistant position without submitting application to university? I`m asking because I`m sending emails to various professors at various universities asking them if they have opening, but I didn`t submit an application to university, simply because deadlines already passed. So does it make any sense to rush and send emails to professors?

I mean, let`s say professor reads my email, decides to interview me, accepts me, can he hire me now even if I didn`t submit an application for the nearest academic term?

[TakeruK]

Graduate Assistant positions are only for graduate students, as the job title implies. But you can be hired as a research assistant without being admitted to the graduate program. In this case, you won't be a student there, and you will be paid as a staff member instead. In some fields, some people work as an RA after undergrad in order to gain more research experience and then apply to the graduate program, often for the same group/lab.

However, depending on the school, it might cost the professor more money to hire you as a full time RA than to pay for a student, so these positions may be difficult to get. But maybe even a part-time RA will meet your needs.

Keep in mind that you'll need to have a valid visa status too. You won't be able to use your student status if you're not a student!

[ExponentialDecay]

The H1-B deadline for this year also passed, bro.