Six Questions to Answer Before Taking a Research/Teaching Assistant Position

When working as a research or teaching assistant can keep costs down while in school, but there are six questions you should think about before pursuing a TA gig:

• 1. What is your real hourly wage?

Graduate student positions usually involve a combination of pay and reduced tuition. But, the tuition break usually involved cliffs for hours worked, not a gradual increase. For example, at Berkeley, you have to work the equivalent of 10 hours per week to get money off tuition, if you had a 5 hour per week opportunity, you only received an hourly wage. The hourly for a GSI was approximately $20, but with the tuition reduction doubled that amount. So, figure out what you are actually going to get paid to impact your wisdom on undergraduates

• 2. What Are Your Opportunity Costs

The unfortunate fact of business school (and life) is that you’re limited to 168 hours per week. And a teaching job is going to take away 5-10 (or more) of those hours per week. What are you giving up by taking on added responsibility (be honest) and is it worth the pay and, possibly connection(s), you will make?

• 3. Is the professor a good connection for jobs in your field of interest?

Let’s face it, being a business school professor is a plum job. You get paid a great salary, have a tremendous amount of job flexibility, and are often encouraged to have paid consulting jobs on the side. That means that many of your professors have fantastic connections in the real world and with high level people within organizations that are a much more streamlined way to get a job than trying to get through HR resume filters. This can be a much more important reason to work with a professor than the hourly wage, and the professors can be great points of contact long after you graduate.

• 4. Do you like the subject matter?

Teaching (and researching) is far, far more enjoyable if you like the topics you’re covering. So, is the assignment you’re considering a topic you’re passionate or heck, even interested in? If you don’t get a thrill out of debits and credits balancing, do a room of thirty undergrads a favor and pass on applying for that Accounting TA job.

• 5. Do you like to teach?

Who was your favorite teacher in high school? What about college? You’ve got a mental picture in mind and that individual no doubt has many positive attributes. No doubt one of them is that they enjoyed being in front of a group of students. Do you like to help/coach others? If not, pass on the teaching job and consider a research position instead .

• 6. Is the professor batshit crazy?

The halls of academia are full of brilliant minds, but they are not all balanced. Trust your gut when your interview for the position—is this someone you can work with? And track down former teaching assistants to see how they rate the professor. Working with a bat shit crazy professor can have a very negative impact on your b-school experience.