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 | Background 
        | Teaching 
        Assistantship Advantages | Research 
        Assistantship Advantages  Some 
        graduate programs offer great financial support in exchange for your help 
        with teaching and / or research. These types of support are often referred 
        to as assistantships. Two common types of support are teaching 
        assistantships and research assistantships. In exchange for your help, 
        graduate programs often compensate you with a monthly stipend and tuition 
        reimbursement. Here's a bit about each type of assistantship. 
        Teaching 
          Assistantships: These are frequently 
          offered to first year graduate students, especially in public universities. 
          To earn your monthly stipend and tuition, you are typically asked to 
          teach a lab, teach a class, or assist a faculty member with grading. 
          In my doctoral program, I had a teaching assistantship. I began by teaching 
          one, two hour lab per week. At first I was a little intimidated about 
          speaking in front of students but I got used to it in no time. I was 
          working for a professor who had prepared all of the Power Point lectures 
          in advance so I did not have to prepare much for my weekly labs. After 
          teaching a few labs over a span of three semesters, I was offered the 
          chance to teach my own course. Teaching my own course was a bit more 
          work because I had to create my own lectures. But it really wasn't that 
          bad. After a few semesters of teaching my own course, I had all the 
          materials prepared. 
Research 
          Assistantships: Some graduate 
          programs offer research assistantships. To earn your monthly stipend 
          and tuition, you are typically asked to help a faculty member with their 
          research for 10-20 hours a week. Your research assistantship includes 
          tasks like collecting, analyzing and reporting data. When I was in graduate 
          school, I knew several students who were offered research assistantships. 
          They participated in activities like calling participants, conducting 
          experiments and writing up abstracts and articles for scientific publications. 
           It turns out that there is really no right answer to this question. Each 
        type of assistantship has different advantages. The best one for you really 
        depends on your personal goals. Here are some advantages for each type 
        of support.
  Teaching 
        Assistantship Advantages  Research 
        Assistantship Advantages  
 
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