What Does TAing Mean in PhD Programs?

[member 731016]

Hi Everyone,

Dose anybody please know what 'TAing' means in this context:

'In general for PhD programs, you should expect to be funded, possibly in exchange for TAing. You shouldn't expect to pay or to take out loans.'

Many thanks!

 

[Ibix]

Teaching Assistant. If you're already at university there is probably a lecturer and a bunch of younger people supervising undergraduate labs and some problem solving sessions. The younger people are probably PhD students "TAing".

 

[collinsmark]

There's also "Research Assistant" (RA). It's pretty much the same thing as a TA, but considered the slightly lesser of the two.

TA: Teaching Assistant
RA: Research Assistant

An RA is typically expected to do things like grade papers, supervise tests, and help out with anything that needs helping out with.

But an RA can also be tasked with all the responsibilities that are normally associated with a TA (teaching a lab class, problem solving sessions, etc.) -- and this is often the case -- because RAs are paid slightly less, and when a university is on a limited budget, they'd rather officially classify their TAs as RAs when possible.

 

[Borek]

Depending on the circumstances anything between inspiring work with bright younger students and debilitating slave labor with not-so-bright lazy bastards.

 

[member 731016]

Thank you for your replies @Ibix , @collinsmark and @Borek! That is pretty cool way to pay for PhD!

 

[BillTre]

My experience of RAing as a PhD student was to be paid off a research grant and do research stuff having nothing to do with teaching. I considered this better. The money was the same.

 

[BillTre]

My experience of RAing as a PhD student was to be paid off a research grant and do research stuff having nothing to do with teaching. I considered this better. The money was the same.

This was in biology and molecular biology departments.
Physics may be different, as far as I know.

 

[jtbell]

My experience of RAing as a PhD student was to be paid off a research grant and do research stuff having nothing to do with teaching.

This was in biology and molecular biology departments.
Physics may be different, as far as I know.

It was the same in physics when I was in grad school at a large state university in the US.

Most grad students started out as TAs in their first year, alongside their own coursework. The most common setup was to teach four introductory lab sections, and take two graduate courses, per semester. That's what I did.

By the end of their second year, they were expected to hook up with a research group or advisor and become an RA (if the group/advisor had enough funding to take them on full time) or a "split" RA/TA (if funding was limited). TAs at this level usually taught introductory recitation sections, or graded homework for upper-level courses.