Ta Evaluation: Fill & Download for Free

You apply here: Information for Prospective StudentsYou need:A powerful statement-Now, in order to be competitive enough to be considered, you need to stand out from the 2000+ applications we get. Identify things related to your academic interest that make you stand out. This could be anything from student clubs to teaching to performance in classes to projects that interested you. For me it was teaching. I consider myself to be a good teacher and my TA evaluations speak to that. So that’s what I talked about in my essay.I mean sure, my grades were okay, my GRE was okay, I had some research experience. And that’s the bare minimum you need to be considered. But being considered is not the same as being admitted. You need to have that one special thing that sets you apart from other candidates.Research Experience-UMD is a research institute. If you have done solid research, and not just coding projects, tell us about it! Get letters from professors with who you’ve done research with. If you can get a professor to say wonderful things about you pertaining to your skills as a researcher, then you have a strong chance for admission.Again, my grades were okay, my GRE was okay, but I had done a summer research with a professor at UMD before applying and I impressed him. So his letter sealed the deal for me.Good Grades, GRE:These need to be “not bad”. Why I didn’t say “good” is because good is subjective. But if they’re bad, you immediately fall behind a lot of applicants who indeed do have superior grades. So these need to be competitive.

My fellow TAs and I have all had different experiences. It depends on the professor, the role, and your technical and people skills.I was a Computer Graphics TA for Brian Curless about 5 years ago. I worked with three other undergraduate TAs to grade papers and hold office hours. I enjoyed the sense of camaraderie with the other TAs, as well as the sense of pride that I had been chosen to help educate my peers. The commitment was generally pretty light: we only had to score two homework assignments, four projects and a final exam each quarter. We would grade them together in one of the top-floor meeting rooms, with a view of the sunset over Lake Washington. The paycheck wasn't great, but it did substantially offset my quarterly tuition.The most difficult problems I had to deal with weren't technical, but rather interpersonal. At that time in my personal growth, I had very weak people skills. This role magnified those weaknesses because it put me in a position of power. According to the TA evaluations, students thought I was well-intentioned, but that I had an attitude problem, that I was nit-picky, and that I didn't explain concepts clearly. These are things I'd be very sensitive to as a student, but I was just unwilling to accept that I would ever be the kind of TA I loathed. If you become a TA, then you are likely to have a similar experience.

As somebody else has mentioned, it varies from Professor to Professor. However, a typical TA is expected to perform the following tasks:Help the Professor in organizing lecture content.Help the Professor in creating tutorial problems.Guide students in solving tutorial problems (in labs as well as during tutorial sessions).Help the Professor in setting up the quiz/exam papers.Perform invigilation during exams/quizzes.Evaluate exam answer sheets.Distribute the answer sheets and perform crib sessions.Some PhD/M.Tech TAs also conduct lectures in case the Professor is unavailable.