Frequently Asked Questions

UTAs receive $20.00 per hour. HTAs receive $22.00 per hour. You are usually paid through Brown's student payroll, and will receive your pay every two weeks during the semester. If you're working multiple on-campus jobs, you'll get one check combining your pay for the various jobs.

Note also that, if you haven't worked on campus, you'll need to fill out an I-9 to establish employment eligibility. By default, you will be granted 0 withholding allowances and considered non-exempt from federal withholding. To change this, you can fill out a W-4 at the payroll office on the 2nd floor of the Page-Robinson Hall, but keep in mind that federal withholding exemption expires every February.

TA camp is the name generally given to the TA orientation and planning activities that happen just before the start of the semester. It is usually preferred that you return for TA camp, sometimes as much as a week and a half before classes start. However, if you are unable to join TA camp, it is totally fine if you work out arrangements with your instructors/HTAs. The head TAs can provide you with this information.

This is very much dependent on the course. In most courses, every TA has previously taken the course, and every head TA has previously TAed the course. In some upper-level courses (and obviously in courses being offered for the first time) none of the TAs will have previously taken the course, but will work a few months or a couple semesters ahead of time to prepare to TA. In addition, non-concentration courses (such as CSCI 0020) generally have very few applicants who have taken the course, and will certainly select applicants who have not taken the course.

If you're a US citizen or permanent residents, you may work on campus provided you complete an I-9 form to establish your identity and employment eligibility. In most cases, you only have to do this for your first on-campus job.

If you're an international student, you can get more information from the student employment office and the OISSS office.

It depends a lot on you and on the specific situation. One of the purposes of the interview is to help you decide whether or not you have time in your schedule to TA the next semester. You should discuss other jobs (and other anticipated time commitments) at your interviews just to keep expectations clear on both ends.

If you're an international student, you may only work up to a max of 20 hours in total (all your jobs combined) during the school year. Please check to make sure you will not exceed this limit. 

TAing is a wonderful way to fulfill one's work study. Work study is, however, a somewhat complicated situation at Brown, since it's sometimes not in your best interest to exceed your package's work study allocation. If you're on work study and have questions, you should probably talk to a financial aid officer.

That is fine. Fill out the application, and let interviewees know that you will need to interview via Zoom if need to interview.

This is no longer allowed (it was previously allowed during the COVID pandemic semesters). 

Except in the case of non-concentration courses like CSCI0020, it is preferred that you have taken the class before. This is on a class by class basis, so we encourage you to check in with the instructors/HTAs if they are willing to accept applicants who have not taken the class. However, no other experience if required. When you apply to TA, any previous academic or work-related CS experience helps, in addition to any experience you may have with teaching, tutoring, or grading.

There are no strict requirements, but doing well in the course demonstrates a good grasp of the material and the ability to work hard, both very important qualities for a TA. That said, many TAs are hired for courses in which they did not get an A.

Most classes have an anonymous hand-in policy for assignments (whether it is through Gradescope's anonymous feature, or no name on hand-ins). Otherwise, there will often be a TA blacklist present (TAs can indicate who they are uncomfortable to TA, grade, or mentor so they will not be assigned to these people).

You'll have to decide this for yourself. For UTAs, it's usually possible to avoid potentially awkward student-TA interactions by bringing the issue to the attention of the HTAs, and requesting that the student not attend your hours (or section, lab, etc.). They can almost always guarantee that you won't have to be responsible for grading a certain person, and will keep the request private to every extent possible. It's probably not quite so easy to avoid interacting with your HTAs, so if you think those interactions will be awkward, you should probably think carefully before applying. If you live with the person, you probably know better than anyone else whether TAing would put a strain on your environment at home.

For most people, none of these potential issues are a problem in practice. In other cases, mutual communication and a bit of cautious attentiveness suffice. There are probably some cases where it just wouldn't be worth the potential tension or awkwardness.

Note that, given the nature of the HTA job, it's more difficult (and usually impossible) to really avoid interactions with or decision-making about students and staff members. The increased demand for professionalism comes with the job. If you're concerned, talk it over with someone (i.e. the instructor, the meta-TAs, the other HTAs) as early as possible.

There are lots of ways you can try to figure this out. Come to the UTA info session, talk to the head TAs for the course, talk to your current TAs or friends with TA experience, or get in touch with the meta-TAs. Like so many advising-type activities at Brown, your best bet is to "work the network."

If it's getting around time for applications and you're still not sure, you should apply, and talk about your reasons for being unsure at the interview, or tell the head TAs and instructor that you'll be back in touch if you change your mind. Once you've gone through the interview process and been offered a position, you're expected to fill the position, so you should probably establish in your interview when you'll make a decision if you're still unsure.

Not at all. While knowledge of the department's systems (and experience with scripting, permissions, HTML, etc.) will definitely come in handy TA, the average first-time TA doesn't have much system knowledge beyond what they've picked up doing their own coursework. In general, UTA selection is focused primarily on instructional and personal interaction skills and knowledge of the course material. Besides, if there's a technical skill you really need to have, you can learn it (that's one of the things TA camp is for).

In many cases, you can. Talk to the instructor or the head TA of the course you are interested in. In general, Masters students should usually apply through the normal UTA process and will be allocated as UTAs. PhD students are more often hired as separate grad TAs.

Though there is always extensive input from head TAs, the instructor is responsible for making the hiring decisions for the course.

New consultants are hired for the following year each spring semester. Hiring is conducted by the user services coordinator and the head consultant. Occasionally, if vacancies need to be filled, one or more additional consultants will be hired in December.

The head consultant is hired each spring for the following year, such that the new head consultant is involved with interviewing and hiring the new consultants. The term lasts one school year, plus hiring, transitioning, and training responsibilities during the previous semester. The head consultant is hired by the user services coordinator.

The SPOCs are hired each spring, and will generally start working at the beginning of June. They are hired by the director of facilities and the user services coordinator.

The Meta-TAs are generally hired midway through the fall and are "in training" until midway through the spring, at which point the current Meta-TAs will stick around as support and let the new Meta-TAs take the reigns. The term lasts one school year, but includes all interactions, from hiring through final exams, with the fall and spring course staffs. The Meta-TAs are hired by the director of undergraduate study.

Yes, under many circumstances. Students are sometimes able to receive course credit retroactively for independent study or group independent study done in advance of the semester they're TAing. It's sometimes possible to arrange with an instructor to receive credit specifically for course development.

Instructors can sometimes request special funding to cover course development during summer and winter breaks, as well as during preceeding semesters.

The best way to do this, though, is during a preceeding summer or semester through a university fellowship such as an UTRA or an Odyssey grant.

The meta-TAs are happy to give relevant advice on how best to approach this issue with an instructor.

No. You must apply and be selected again (and, in many cases, interview again), even if you've TAed the same course in the past. In general, assuming that things went well the last time around, having prior experierience TAing the same course will greatly increase your chance of being hired again.

In general, any other applicant who has UTAed the course will have a better chance then you during the selection process. However, if you have specific ideas/ambitions for the course and have a strong interview with the instructor, you may well be hired. A head TA with particular skills that an instructor is looking for who has passion and ideas may well be chosen over someone with more experience. If the instructor is planning to have more than one head TA, you might share the job with someone who has UTAed it. Even if you haven't TAed this particular course, however, it is still a good idea to have UTA experience before you try to become a head TA.

TAing is a lot of work. Ask 10 different people why they do it, and you'll probably get 11 different answers. Some people enjoy going at the material again, some people just like to teach, some people do it for the experience. All these things can be quite rewarding. And the money is nice, too.

Certainly, TAing is not the thing for everyone. If you have doubts, the best thing to do is probably to talk to people about it. Your TAs and head TAs are great resources for this, and you can always contact the Meta-TAs.

Not necessarily. The head TA probably contacted you because you did well in the course, you TAed the course in the past, or because somewhere down the line, someone thought that you might make a good TA for the course. To be hired as a TA, you still need to fill out an application, go through the course's interview process, and be selected.

It depends. Most instructors allow you to TA their course for a grade, though some instructors require you take it S/NC. You should contact your instructor and ask about their course-specific grading policy.