Graduate School.

[IndianaSigKap]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

For those who are unfamiliar:

GA = graduate assistantship and consists of RA (research assistantship) or TA (teaching assistantship)

I recommend looking into a TA or RA, starting with your department and then seeing what the university in general (i.e. admissions) has to offer. You may not get the assistantship with your department for your first year but may be offered one in your second year. TA and RA within your department are preferred because, although you may still need loans and grants, you get the experience, networks, and resources to place on your resume` and use for your graduate student and career prospects.

I must shout this from the roof top, loud and clear:
I do not recommend being a residential assistant. Generally speaking, graduate student residential assistants waste a lot of time and patience living around and putting up with undergraduates. You never know how relaxed or how stressful your experience will be until you are in the experience. Unless your career path is residence life or student affairs you will get nothing out of being a residential assistant except for room and board. But, it isn't free in terms of what it requires from you and you don't get paid much (if at all) besides the room and board. By the time those undergraduates are finished with you, you will probably wish you lived off campus and paid for your own room and board. The last thing a graduate student needs is to finish a stressful day of classes, comprehensive exams, etc. and come "home" to some darn college students. Please believe it.

While this IS true is some cases, it is not true in ALL cases. It definitely depends on the university and the housing unit itself. Yes, there are some nightmare floors, but there are many other types of living situations. There are honors floors, major specific floors, upperclassmen floors, married student housing, on campus apartments, co-ops, etc that do not have these nightmares. My three grad student friends who were RAs did have the luxury of choosing their living circumstance. One was placed the married student housing dorm because she was older and closer in age to the residents. Her most common nuisance was when one spouse would lock the other one out and she had to let one in.

It really depends on how much financial assistance the OP wants. If a higher level of assistance is needed, both GAs and RAs are viable options. I know there are people who do not want large loans to deal with when they graduate.

Thanks for clarifying the GA, TA thing. I forget that not everyone on CG is in higher ed.