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The differences between graduate student interns and graduate assistants can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a graduate assistant has an average salary of $31,704, which is higher than the $30,945 average annual salary of a graduate student internship.
The top three skills for a graduate student internship include patients, speech-language pathologist and data collection. The most important skills for a graduate assistant are computer lab, undergraduate courses, and research projects.
| Graduate Student Internship | Graduate Assistant | |
| Yearly salary | $30,945 | $31,704 |
| Hourly rate | $14.88 | $15.24 |
| Growth rate | 21% | 20% |
| Number of jobs | 56,982 | 3,026 |
| Job satisfaction | - | - |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Years of experience | - | - |
Graduate interns work in different industries, and their job responsibilities may vary. As a graduate student intern, you may be expected to offer your services free of charge to the company you find placement in exchange for the experience you'll be getting. In other cases, you may be offered compensation of some sort. Most often than not, you will be assigned to a department to work under the supervision of the head of that unit.
Graduate assistants are graduate or postgraduate students in a university who work part-time for a researcher, professor, or department in the university. They do a variety of tasks that would help expose them more to the field they are doing their studies in. Graduate assistants help researchers by conducting interviews, testing research tools, encoding and analyzing data, creating presentation materials, and managing the research schedule. They help professors in preparing for lessons, creating and updating presentation materials, and even trying their hand in teaching the professor's students. They help university departments in administrative, clerical, research, and any other task that may be needed.
Graduate student interns and graduate assistants have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Graduate Student Internship | Graduate Assistant | |
| Average salary | $30,945 | $31,704 |
| Salary range | Between $18,000 And $50,000 | Between $11,000 And $85,000 |
| Highest paying City | - | Boston, MA |
| Highest paying state | - | Massachusetts |
| Best paying company | - | Sotheby's Institute of Art |
| Best paying industry | - | Education |
There are a few differences between a graduate student internship and a graduate assistant in terms of educational background:
| Graduate Student Internship | Graduate Assistant | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 72% | Bachelor's Degree, 74% |
| Most common major | Psychology | Psychology |
| Most common college | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill | Stanford University |
Here are the differences between graduate student interns' and graduate assistants' demographics:
| Graduate Student Internship | Graduate Assistant | |
| Average age | 44 | 44 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 25.8% Female, 74.2% | Male, 42.9% Female, 57.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 11.9% Unknown, 4.7% Hispanic or Latino, 18.7% Asian, 5.7% White, 57.9% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% | Black or African American, 11.1% Unknown, 4.5% Hispanic or Latino, 17.8% Asian, 11.0% White, 54.4% American Indian and Alaska Native, 1.1% |
| LGBT Percentage | 6% | 6% |