UC Davis - TA-ship or RA-ship at other departments

[jota.be]

Hi,

I was accepted into Davis, unluckily without funding or TA-ship. One answer to a FAQ on the departments' webpage states that new graduate students can apply for TA-ships in other departments such as Math, Statistics or Agricultural and Resource Economics.

Has anyone reading this post had experience with this issue at Davis (maybe personal experience or informations from other persons he/she knows) to provide a comment on the dificulty to get such a position outside econ department? I am not sure if I am likely to get a TA-ship at Math or Statistics department (I have taken a lot of graduate level econometrics courses with good grades but had kinda low GRE Q), but what are the typical requirements at ARE?

Best and thanks.

[chauchau]

It's cake to get an outside TA'ship at Davis. However, stats/math/Ag Econ have only sporadic openings. It's Sociology, PolySci, Anthropology, Psych, Business and History which are the departments chronically short of TA's... Some of these dept.'s do have entry level stats classes that their own PhDs hate to TA for... Everyone who wanted a TA'ship in the first year found one at least for one quarter... there was one guy who got on the horse late last fall and was left without (but he TA'd in winter & spring); and some of the East Asian students may have been left high & dry, but I don't think they applied to all the departments listed above... It's also cake to tutor for math & stats to undergrads for $30+/hr...

[jota.be]

Hey Chauchau,

Originally Posted by chauchau

It's cake to get an outside TA'ship at Davis.

What do you mean by 'it's cake'?

Originally Posted by chauchau

It's Sociology, PolySci, Anthropology, Psych, Business and History which are the departments chronically short of TA's

Would you recommend to contact these departments already and query about such positions? I mean, naturally I would like to know whether I can finance the whole story before I start it.

Originally Posted by chauchau

Everyone who wanted a TA'ship in the first year found one at least for one quarter... there was one guy who got on the horse late last fall and was left without (but he TA'd in winter & spring)

Was he from the 1st or 2nd year?

Originally Posted by chauchau

It's also cake to tutor for math & stats to undergrads for $30+/hr...

What do you mean? Do TA-ships at other departments not imply these in-state fee reductions from $10,000 to $600?

[Andronicus]

"It's cake" is a short form of the colloquialism "piece of cake" which means "It's very easy."

[chauchau]

If you're a california resident, then a TA'ship covers everything, otherwise, you'll be left to pay the out of state fees -- maybe 4-5K/quarter, or about as much as you'll get in cash TA'ing, which means you'll still have to cover living expenses. Applying now for TA'ships for next year won't do any good; often these positions open up/get filled last minute. To apply a couple months before the first quarter you want to TA for and then to follow up w/ the grad secretaries is the best way (at any large public university...)... Also, it is a bit more difficult for non-native speakers of English to get some of these jobs, while all of the Americans in the first year (and the year before) ended up getting taken care of... As far as I know everyone in the second year and up has some kind of funding...