Financial Opportunities

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Teaching Assistants:

  • Please do NOT apply for a TA position unless you will be available to fulfill TA duties for the whole quarter (the official start of the quarter through the day grades are due). Your TA contract is contingent upon your ability to work for the duration of this time. This is strictly enforced and your contract will be revoked if you are not available during this time.
  • If you are an international student, please do not apply if you are not eligible to take the ELCE if you are selected for a position. Students who do not meet the minimum requirements as outlined below will have their applications automatically removed after the application deadline.
    • Students with a spoken TOEFL score of 28 or above are exempt from this requirement and may be considered for a TA position immediately.
    • Students with a spoken TOEFL score of 23-25 or who received a TOEFL waiver during admission must pass an English Language Proficiency Certification Examination (ELCE) requirement prior to being hired as a TA for the first time. All students in this category may apply to TA through the IA System, however, they will not receive an offer letter until they have satisfied the ELCE requirement. We will schedule an ELCE test on your behalf if you are slated to hold a TA position.
    • Students with a spoken TOEFL score of 22 or below will not be allowed to take the certification test until they have completed formal English proficiency training. All students in this category may not apply to TA and will have their TA application marked as ineligible immediately after the application deadline. Students who fall into this category may acquire the required English language proficiency skills via courses offered in the English Language Institute and the English as a Second Language (ESL) Program. For more information, please see the Graduate Division’s policy here, and a helpful FAQ guide from the Teaching + Learning Commons here.
  • You must remain enrolled in at least 12 units all of Fall quarter to be hired as a 50% TA. You must be enrolled in at least 6 units to be hired as a 25% TA.
  • Doctoral students, you should talk to your advisor about whether you will need to TA and, if so, at what percentage (25% or 50%).
  • Advisors or course instructors often encourage students to apply to TA for a specific course, but this is not a job offer. ONLY the department makes the official job offer through the IA System. However, we do use faculty input to determine who should be assigned to each course.
  • You should not start preparing to TA for a course until you have received an official appointment letter from the department and accepted the position.
  • The TA application is for submitting requests only. There is no guarantee that you will be given a TA position or that you will be assigned to TA one of your preferred courses.
  • Students may not be a TA for courses in which they are enrolled.
  • TAs must complete DSC 599 (Teaching Methods in Data Science) with a grade of S concurrently with their first TA position. We will approve first-time TAs to add DSC 599 after they have accepted their TA assignment in the IA System. The goal of DSC 599 is to give you the skills and knowledge needed to be an effective and successful TA.
  • TAs may be asked to attend lectures, lead discussion or lab sections, and proctor midterm and final exams. You should be available to do so for any classes you mark as TA preferences. The general expectation is that instructional assistants may be expected to be physically present for hybrid course offerings.
  • We will assign you to TA a course only if you already have a solid command of the material to be taught in the course. In other words, only request to TA a class if you have taken the equivalent course or have comparable other experience. For information about our DSC courses, please see the Undergraduate Course website.
  • Pay Rates for all Student Academic Titles can be found here:  https://grad.ucsd.edu/financial/employment/student-pay-rates.html  In addition, a partial fee remission and health insurance subsidy will reduce fees owed by the student. Those classified by UC San Diego as non-residents must also pay nonresident supplemental tuition.
  • If you are applying for other campus employment (i.e. you think a faculty may support you on research funding, or you applied to TA in more than one department), please remember that your total UCSD employment may not exceed 50%.

DSC Department Application Links
To apply for a DSC TA position, please visit:
https://academicaffairs.ucsd.edu/Modules/ASES/Apply.aspx?cid=4370