Guidelines On Getting GA/GTA AND GRA POSITIONS In The US.

A graduate assistantship offers opportunities for students to engage in administrative, research, teaching, and other projects during their graduate study.

There are different types of graduate assistantships:

Graduate Assistant (GA): work 20 hours a week in an administrative position.

Graduate Teaching Assistant (GTA): consists of teaching-related duties under the supervision of a faculty member.

Graduate Research Assistant (GRA): work with a faculty member on related research agenda or research conducted through external funding by a grant.

Graduate Teaching Associate (GTA): is the instructor of record for undergraduate courses in the specific discipline.

Graduate assistantship positions allow qualified students an opportunity to gain experience while continuing their studies.

Here are ten steps on getting GA/GTA AND GRA POSITIONS IN THE US.

1. Get an optimized draft of an Academic CV, SOP (Statement of Purpose) and LORs (Letter of Recommendations).

2. Get your Academic Transcript. Merge CV and Transcript in one PDF.

3. Get 4-5 research areas that aligns with your course of study. Note, that some of your research interest may cut across several departments. E.g. Material science is a research interest of a Chemistry, Physics, Polymer Graduate. Gender Studies and Diversity is a research area of International relations, Public administration, Sociology, Political Science.

4. Search out universities with professors in your research interest. For Example: Go to google and type; Professors in War Studies in the US universities. Make a list of these professors. You can take same steps on twitter or LinkedIn.

5. Sieve through the Universities to find schools with waived GRE (Graduate Record Examinations), TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) and Valuation.

6. Be on the look-out for for virtual open days, school fairs and application waiver codes.

7. Apply to as many schools as have your discipline or professors with your research interest.

8. Search for advertised positions and send in an irresistible Letter of Intent. A strong letter of intent is built on a proper research of the type of work carried out at the Lab or workgroup making the advert placement. There are usually hundreds of such offers on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn etc.

9. Look out for Universities in the Cold Regions of the USA. They usually have less applicants and therefore lesser competition for you.

10. Prime your CV for GRA/GTA/GA offers. These funding positions that waive tuition fees and pays stipends ranging from 18,000 to 26,000 USD are usually awarded to Graduate students who show capacity for Research, Teaching or Administrative duties.

A lot has been written about how to get GRA/GTA and GA positions in the US. Go through previous posts and and start out bright and strong for this admission season.

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