Graduate student assistant vs doctoral student

The differences between graduate student assistants and doctoral students can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a doctoral student has an average salary of $56,000, which is higher than the $37,164 average annual salary of a graduate student assistant.

The top three skills for a graduate student assistant include cell culture, R and chemistry. The most important skills for a doctoral student are C++, python, and java.

Graduate student assistant vs doctoral student overview

	Graduate Student Assistant	Doctoral Student
Yearly salary	$37,164	$56,000
Hourly rate	$17.87	$26.92
Growth rate	19%	17%
Number of jobs	20,764	15,502
Job satisfaction	-	-
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Average age	44	44
Years of experience	-	-

Graduate student assistant vs doctoral student salary

Graduate student assistants and doctoral students have different pay scales, as shown below.

	Graduate Student Assistant	Doctoral Student
Average salary	$37,164	$56,000
Salary range	Between $21,000 And $64,000	Between $39,000 And $78,000
Highest paying City	Berkeley, CA	-
Highest paying state	California	-
Best paying company	Los Alamos National Security LLC	-
Best paying industry	Education	-

Differences between graduate student assistant and doctoral student education

There are a few differences between a graduate student assistant and a doctoral student in terms of educational background:

	Graduate Student Assistant	Doctoral Student
Most common degree	Bachelor's Degree, 71%	Bachelor's Degree, 53%
Most common major	Biology	Biology
Most common college	Massachusetts Institute of Technology	Stanford University

Graduate student assistant vs doctoral student demographics

Here are the differences between graduate student assistants' and doctoral students' demographics:

	Graduate Student Assistant	Doctoral Student
Average age	44	44
Gender ratio	Male, 49.9% Female, 50.1%	Male, 52.9% Female, 47.1%
Race ratio	Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.7% Asian, 11.9% White, 53.8% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%	Black or African American, 11.0% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.6% Asian, 11.8% White, 53.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1%
LGBT Percentage	6%	6%

Differences between graduate student assistant and doctoral student duties and responsibilities

Graduate student assistant example responsibilities.

Lead the in-vitro biophysical and biochemical characterization of homologous recombination and investigate structure-function effects of mutant enzymes.
Cloned genes by lambda phage library screening and RT-PCR.
Used differential display RT-PCR to identify candidate mRNA's.
Develop test suite to automatically test this system using python.
Develop assays for kinetic analyses of DNA strand-displacement reactions on fix cells.
Used OWASP ESAPI to validate input and to counter SQL and XSS injection.

Doctoral student example responsibilities.

Manage multiple collaborative projects peripheral to dissertation that leverage experience in characterization and inorganic synthesis.
Lead the in-vitro biophysical and biochemical characterization of homologous recombination and investigate structure-function effects of mutant enzymes.
Used RT-PCR, ELISA, western blot, culture of establish cell lines, and immunohistochemistry.
Apply NMR techniques to assess the effect of a health supplement on neurological changes in Alzheimer s disease.
Analyze the molecular structures by NMR and FR-IR, determine the molecular weight and polymerization kinetics by GPC.
Develop complex ELISA and western blot methods to study and characterize the host immune response to intracellular parasitism.

Graduate student assistant vs doctoral student skills

Common graduate student assistant skills

Cell Culture, 9%
R, 8%
Chemistry, 5%
Molecular Biology, 5%
Research Projects, 4%
GPA, 4%

Common doctoral student skills

C++, 15%
Python, 11%
Java, 10%
Cell Culture, 6%
Chemistry, 6%
Data Analysis, 5%

Graduate Student Assistant vs. similar jobs

Graduate Student Assistant related careers

Graduate Student Assistant related jobs

What similar roles do

Zippia Careers
Education, Training, and Library Industry
Graduate Student Assistant
Graduate Student Assistant vs Doctoral Student

Updated January 8, 2025

Browse education, training, and library jobs