Hello all,

I'll start my PhD this October and got accepted at two places but haven't secured funding yet. I'll be applying for a teaching assistantship but on the application form they are asking for a short paragraph to explain if there's any previous experience of teaching etc. I hope to pursue an academic career and just finished my masters with distinction and have got a conference paper and a publication coming up, yet no experience in teaching. I really really really want to get this job as it will be a wonderful asset to my career prospects and of course it will help financially. I was wondering what chance do I stand without previous experience but I guess one does start somewhere! Do they ignore applicants with no experience or well, what really counts to be a good candidate? Thanks in advance for any ideas!

Good luck to all with everything,

leaf.

Since starting my PhD, I have found out that my dept. only gives TA work to people on the 2nd/3rd years of their thesis, hence I have some teaching lined up for next year but am not doing it at the moment. I think the reason that some (not all) places are reluctant to give TA work to 1st years is not down to experience, but rather a desire to see you established in your research. TA work is supposed to be quite time consuming, and I can imagine that trying to get your thesis off the ground AND prepare, teach and mark work for a class, might be quite a challenge.