Med School and TA?

[BuckyBadger!]

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Hi All,

I'm a Junior in undergrad wondering if anyone is able to find the time/energy to be a TA for an undergrad course while in medical school. I doubt it happens often, but has anyone done it?

Thanks for the info!

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum!

 

[TraumaLlamaMD]

I feel like you would physically have time in years 1-2, but of course it would come at the expense of something else, be that studying, research, other activities, or fun. It'd also make a big difference when the class is, if you like to go to lecture or your school doesn't podcast lectures.

Unless it's something you're passionate about, I wouldn't advise this route as a resume builder.

 

[operaman]

I've had friends do some tutoring for undergrads but no formal TAs to my knowledge. During the summer, some students worked as anatomy TAs but I think they were probably more like tutors than what you probably mean by TA.

 

[Psai]

Anatomy, that's about it. It's more likely that you'll be tutoring first years than undergrads

 

[Frazier]

Hi All,

I'm a Junior in undergrad wondering if anyone is able to find the time/energy to be a TA for an undergrad course while in medical school. I doubt it happens often, but has anyone done it?

Thanks for the info!

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum!

I TA'ed a bunch of classes in undergrad. At my school, duties were basically professor-dependent -- saw the full spectrum. Some required that we be present for all classes. Others just suggested attendance and utilized TA's for admin type duties. Another was basically free range: "I need you to do these tasks and teach a review session each week. Don't care when you do it. Here is the classroom availability chart for the semester, go forth."

One hard thing about trying to TA undergrad during med school is that you aren't on the same schedules. Their possible MWF classes are the same shifts as your MWF blocks...say 1:00 to 1:50pm. 2:00 to 2:50pm. Etc. So, as an undergrad TA, you know that for the semester you need to keep 1:00 to 1:50pm open (if that is your slot) so that you can do the TA thing.

Med school cannot give a damn less about your TA aspirations.

One week you might have no class. Another week might be optional class. Another week might be a PBL that takes all afternoon. Another week might be a mandatory workshop. Maybe you will get scheduled for a mandatory weekly clinical experience session on that day. Then in a mere 2-4 weeks you switch to a new block in med school curriculum and it all can change again.

I guess if you went to a med school that is very consistent with scheduling lecture times across all blocks, and permitted podcasting....TA'ing would be more feasible. But why do it? If you get joy from educating others, get into tutoring or offering pro bono review sessions for Ochem 1 students or whatever.

If you have a free-range professor that is very lenient about things, I guess it could work out during preclinical years.

Third year. lol.

 

[ChEMD]

I'd suggest tutoring med students in the class below you if you really enjoy teaching. It's a good way to make a little spending money and review some of the important topics that you may have forgotten.

 

[Xerology]

I'd suggest tutoring med students in the class below you if you really enjoy teaching. It's a good way to make a little spending money and review some of the important topics that you may have forgotten.

This is the way to go if you are wanting to have a role similar to that a TA would have.

 

[DrEnderW]

I would just work for a tutoring company instead and make some money. I tutored pre-med classes during M1 when my schedule permitted and made a couple thousand extra dollars. It was no problem. During M2, you could tutor M1 classes if you wanted.

 

[NickNaylor]

Our school has oodles of TAing opportunities for M2s-M4s. As an M2, you can TA the anatomy course and a couple of other courses. It can be busy, but you certainly have the time if you make it a priority and want some extra cash. I taught a couple of prep courses with ExamKrackers during M2 because I was really into teaching in undergrad and missed the experience. As an M4 now, I'm TAing a number of classes - the M2 neuroanatomy course, the M1 physiology course, and the M1 clinical skills course.

tl;dr: you'll likely have time if teaching is important to you. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself too busy to have the motivation to dedicate time to it.

 

[Psai]

Our school has oodles of TAing opportunities for M2s-M4s. As an M2, you can TA the anatomy course and a couple of other courses. It can be busy, but you certainly have the time if you make it a priority and want some extra cash. I taught a couple of prep courses with ExamKrackers during M2 because I was really into teaching in undergrad and missed the experience. As an M4 now, I'm TAing a number of classes - the M2 neuroanatomy course, the M1 physiology course, and the M1 clinical skills course.

tl;dr: you'll likely have time if teaching is important to you. Just don't be surprised if you find yourself too busy to have the motivation to dedicate time to it.

Props bro, I would have loved it if a 4th year taught me some clinical skills. When I run into a first year doing their once in a while clinical time, I make sure to teach them as much as I can because I didn't get much when I was a first year. UCSD's website taught me how to do things

 

[NickNaylor]

Props bro, I would have loved it if a 4th year taught me some clinical skills. When I run into a first year doing their once in a while clinical time, I make sure to teach them as much as I can because I got nothing

Yeah, exactly. And it really doesn't take much to actually be useful. The M4 TAs I had for clinical skills were more useless than helpful, though they did occasionally provide some useful tips. But given how clueless M1s are with respect to this stuff, it really doesn't take much to actually be useful. Not to mention that it's actually a lot of fun.

 

[Trek19]

Hi All,

I'm a Junior in undergrad wondering if anyone is able to find the time/energy to be a TA for an undergrad course while in medical school. I doubt it happens often, but has anyone done it?

Thanks for the info!

Apologies if this is in the wrong forum!

Being a TA for anatomy might be a good way to help you learn and retain the material, but I would suggest doing it informally if you have a good relationship with the faculty. In my experience there will be blocks of time when you Must study and having an obligation like this could trip you up. YMMV.