How long does it take to become a Graduate Teaching Assistant?

It takes 3 years of professional experience to become a graduate teaching assistant. That is the time it takes to learn specific graduate teaching assistant skills, but does not account for time spent in formal education. If you include the normal education requirements to complete a college degree, then it takes 6 to 8 years years to become a graduate teaching assistant.

How To Become A Graduate Teaching Assistant: What It Is and Career Path

What is a graduate teaching assistant and how to become one

Updated January 8, 2025

4 min read

Quoted Expert

Dr. Cheyrl Ensley

Graduate teaching assistants are responsible for assisting faculty members with exams, instructions, record keeping, and other projects. As a graduate teaching assistant, you will tutor and mentor students, prepare presentations for lectures, deliver lectures, hand out and grade assignments, record grades, and arrange for teaching observations.

Your job is to help professors and teachers develop course plans, meet with the students during office hours, assist the student's conference, lead the discussion sections, and also teach the postgraduate students. For effective workflow, you are allowed to create and write syllabus, visual aids, answer key supplementary notes, and record lectures given by lecturers. Your work may revolve around the laboratory by cleaning labs, performing experiments, and enforcing laboratory rules and regulations to prevent accidents. You will also assist the lecturer by recording responses and taking attendance.

A graduate teaching assistant is a graduate student enrolled in a university who also teaches students in the university. They usually hold a bachelor's degree in biology, chemistry, or other related disciplines. Some skills you must have include attention to detail, patience, resourcefulness, a high sense of humor, ability to communicate well, and devotion to learning. The annual salary of a graduate teaching assistant is $54,000.

What general advice would you give to a Graduate Teaching Assistant?

Dr. Cheyrl Ensley

Interim Head, Associate Professor, Grambling State University

Flexibility is important. The graduate must be prepared and flexible! The graduate must be prepared to teach effectively and efficiently, regardless of the delivery method and flexibility regarding reporting to the school or working from home. Be prepared and accepting of the fact that what is required of you may change unexpectedly. In this age of uncertainty, the graduate must be flexible enough to perform as needed and remain focused on student growth.

ScoreGraduate Teaching AssistantUS Average

Salary

3.5

Avg. Salary $44,994

Avg. Salary $59,228

Diversity

8.0

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 1.11%

Asian 11.93%

Black or African American 11.03%

Hispanic or Latino 17.65%

Unknown 4.53%

White 53.75%

Gender

female 49.56%

male 50.44%

Age - 45

Race

American Indian and Alaska Native 3.00%

Asian 7.00%

Black or African American 14.00%

Hispanic or Latino 19.00%

White 57.00%

Gender

female 47.00%

male 53.00%

Age - 45

Stress Level

3.7

Stress level is moderate

7.1 - high

Complexity Level

5.8

Complexity Level is intermediate

7 - challenging

Work Life Balance

8.0

Work Life balance is good

6.4 - fair

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Key steps to become a graduate teaching assistant

Explore graduate teaching assistant education requirements

Most common graduate teaching assistant degrees

Bachelor's

71.9 %

Master's

22.3 %

Doctorate

3.4 %

Start to develop specific graduate teaching assistant skills

Skills	Percentages
Lab Experiments	22.00%
Laboratory Sections	8.24%
Undergraduate Courses	7.63%
Organic Chemistry	5.74%
Mathematics	3.33%

Research graduate teaching assistant duties and responsibilities

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Assist classmates with developing positive study habits and strategies for managing classroom material.
Tutor calculus, algebra, probability, financial mathematics and others as requested.
Learned advance PCR techniques and troubleshooting.

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