Teaching Assistantship (TA): Yay or Nay?

Question

Just curious because many of my classmates are given this option in their second year.

darren1010 · Answer

Uhm, I got 1 at Purdue, 10hrs/week for tuition waiver+ 600/month. Just don't feel I like it. Have too many things to do.

3underscore · Answer

depends on the TA position is miles more vague than the others. I expect it to win by a distance.

It is a tricky question.

lepium · Answer

I voted: "depends..."
I'd take it if: 

1) I'm already through with recruiting.
2) It will add something interesting (and somewhat aligned with my goals) to my resume.

I wouldn't take it during 1st year or during 2nd year prior to getting a job. Even after securing a job, I would consider the TA vs. more electives / more activities and/or other options. 

Cheers. L.

GMATT73 · Answer

According to the grad school homepage, most MBA students are encouraged to pursue TAs on their own, provided the students have mastered their time management skills by the second year. Virtually no one goes for a TA during their first year for obvious reasons. I did meet one woman during welcome week who claims to have balanced a TA for  both years  and is graduating debt free. To take it a step further, she somehow was able to save a portion of her stipend (plus internship) by living on an extremely frugal budget. She also claims that if she had the opportunity to do her MBA over again, she wouldn't have opted for the TAship from the start, even though it was only a 15~20 hour weekly committment.

cnc2 · Answer

That's ridiculous...TAKE IT. I attended a welcome weekend at one school that shall go unnamed and many of the assistants indicated their roles were flexible with their schedule and often times they aren't required to put in the full amount of time specified by the offer. The jobs often end up as less demanding than advertised.

kidderek · Answer

20 hrs/wk for 45K is hard to pass up. (Not sure if timing would work out, but. . .) How about you make yourself a deal: If you can secure a full time offer after your summer internship, you do the TA position to soften your post grad debt.

imjimmy · Answer

Sorry if it's a dumb question.

Do GA and TA have nearly the same workload. And are these two terms used synonymously. In other words, is taking a GA as bad as taking a TA.

GMATT73 · Answer

That's net income kid. Therefore it's more like $60K p/yr for up to 20 hours a week.

pelihu · Answer

Most of the reports I have read and the few people I have talked to all say that given the choice, they would not take a TA position again if they could do it over. Of course, some people have no choice and need the money & tuition abatement.

The common theme I've heard is that they regret giving up the time that could have been spent participating in events, networking and just plain socializing.

Teaching Assistantship (TA): Yay or Nay?

If your school offered you a part time TA, which includes a full tuition waiver, monthly stipend and health insurance, would you go for it?

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