Questions to Ask in a Graduate Assistant Interview
For graduate students and applicants interviewing for an assistantship in teaching, an administrative office or a campus department such as residence life, advising or athletics. The questions follow the order the conversation usually takes: the job itself, hours around your classes, who supervises you, the stipend and tuition waiver, renewal and summer, and what to settle before you leave the room. Research posts in a lab raise different questions, so this list stays with teaching and office appointments.
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The questions
Each question, and why to ask it
The job
What would a graduate assistant in this office spend most of the week doing?
Why ask it
Assistantship postings tend to list every task the office has ever handed a student, so ask which two or three fill the hours and how much of the week is covering a desk, the phones or an inbox. If it is mostly coverage and you were hoping for advising or event planning experience, say so now and ask whether some of that can be built in.
For a teaching post, would I lead my own section or lab, or grade and hold office hours for someone else's course?
Why ask it
These are different jobs under one title. Leading a section means preparing and standing in front of a room every week, while grading comes in bursts around exams and due dates. Ask how many students you would be responsible for, since that number sets the workload more than the title does.
What would you want me to have taken off your plate by the end of the first semester?
Why ask it
This is the supervisor's private measure of whether the hire worked, stated in advance. A concrete reply, such as a workshop series running without them or a backlog cleared, also shows how much independence they expect by December.
Who are the students this office works with most, and what do they usually come in for?
Why ask it
A first-year student with a registration hold, an athlete missing class for travel and a resident locked out at midnight are three different jobs. For a teaching post, ask the same about the course: majors who chose it, or students filling a requirement. It also shows how much of your week is spent with people and how much with a spreadsheet.
What does the busiest stretch of the year look like here?
Why ask it
Every campus office has one: move-in, orientation, registration, an admissions deadline, finals grading. Ask which weeks they are and lay them against your own exam and paper dates. If the two peaks land together, ask how earlier assistants got through it.
Is this a new position, or would I be following someone who graduated?
Why ask it
Following a graduate usually means files, a calendar and routines you can inherit, and it is worth asking whether that person would answer an email or two. In a new post you set the pattern, which is more work and more say in what the job becomes.
Which projects or events would be mine to run from start to finish?
Why ask it
Owning one thing, such as an orientation session, a tutoring schedule or a newsletter, gives you a line for a resume and a story for later interviews. If everything is shared, ask which piece of work the last assistant was known for.
Which course would I be assigned to, and when is that decided?
Why ask it
Teaching assignments are sometimes settled only a week or two before the term starts, which matters if the course sits outside what you have studied. Ask whether you can state a preference and whether you would keep the same course in the spring, because a repeat cuts the preparation sharply.
Would I supervise anyone, such as student workers or undergraduate staff?
Why ask it
Running a desk staff or a team of resident assistants is management experience you can name later. It also means schedules, no-shows and awkward conversations land on you. Ask how many people it is, and who steps in when one of them has to be let go.
What could I decide on my own, and what needs your sign-off?
Why ask it
A student standing in front of you wants an answer about a deadline, a room change or a grade, and you need to know whether it is yours to give. Ask for one thing the last assistant handled alone and one they always passed up the line.
Where would I work, and can any of the hours be done remotely?
Why ask it
A shared desk in a busy office brings interruptions and help within reach, and a room you unlock yourself at eight brings neither. If remote hours exist, ask which tasks they cover, since desk shifts and events do not travel.
Hours and classes
How many hours a week is the appointment, and what happens in weeks that run over?
Why ask it
Assistantships are normally written as a set number of hours, and the ceiling may come from the university or from visa rules, so ask what applies there. The second half is the useful one: whether a heavy week is balanced by a light one, and who you tell when the count keeps climbing.
Is the schedule fixed, or rebuilt around my classes each semester?
Why ask it
Most offices expect to work around classes, but some need a person at a desk during set hours whatever you are enrolled in. Find out when they need your course schedule, and what happened the last time a required course clashed with a shift.
How many courses do your assistants usually take alongside the job, and is there a minimum enrollment?
Why ask it
Many assistantships require you to stay registered for a certain number of credits, and the number differs from one university to the next, so get it from the graduate school. What current assistants carry is the realistic figure for planning how long the degree will take.
Are there evening, weekend or on-call duties?
Why ask it
Residence life, athletics, events and student activities live outside nine to five. Three things to pin down: how often your turn comes around, how far ahead the schedule is posted, and whether a Saturday worked comes off the following week's hours.
For a teaching post, do the hours include preparation, grading and answering student email?
Why ask it
Time in the classroom is the visible part. Preparation and grading often take longer and are the first things left out of the count. If the answer is hazy, ask a current teaching assistant how long one set of papers takes them.
If I have a practicum, comprehensive exams or a thesis deadline, how much can the schedule give?
Why ask it
Name the one requirement in your program that will take over a month of your life and ask how the office has handled it before. A supervisor who can describe swapping shifts for a past student has told you more than one who says they are flexible.
Can any of this work count toward a practicum or internship my program requires?
Why ask it
Programs in higher education, counseling and similar fields often require supervised hours, and whether paid assistantship work can count is the program's decision, not the office's. The supervisor will know if past assistants managed it. Take the question to your program coordinator before you plan a semester around it.
How are hours tracked: a timesheet, a set schedule, or simply getting the work done?
Why ask it
Each has a catch. A timesheet protects you from creep but can be rigid, and 'until it is done' grows quietly, especially with grading. Ask what the assistant before you logged in an ordinary week.
What happens to my hours during exam weeks, breaks and the gap between terms?
Why ask it
Some posts stop when classes stop, and some expect you through the break because that is when the office catches up. It decides whether you can travel home and whether pay continues in those weeks, so ask about both.
What should I do if I am sick or need a day for a family matter?
Why ask it
Whether assistants get any paid leave is set by the university or a contract, so ask what applies there. Inside the office, the practical part is who you text before a desk shift or a section you cannot make, and whether the hours have to be made up.
Are assistants allowed to hold a second job, on campus or off?
Why ask it
Rules on outside work come from the university, the funding source and, for international students, the visa, so ask how it works there and where the policy is written down. If nearly every assistant has a second job, that says something about the stipend as well.
How early would you need me on campus before the semester starts?
Why ask it
Training for residence life and teaching posts can begin two or three weeks before classes. That moves a lease, a move and the end date of whatever you are doing now. Ask whether those weeks are paid and where you would stay if housing has not opened.
Supervision
Who would give me my work day to day, and how often would we sit down one on one?
Why ask it
The person interviewing you may not be the person who hands out the tasks. In a teaching post that is often the course instructor, and in an office a coordinator. A standing weekly meeting is the best sign, and an open door with nothing on the calendar tends to mean you meet when something has gone wrong.
How would you describe the way you supervise graduate assistants?
Why ask it
Some supervisors hand over a task list every Monday, and others set a goal for the semester and wait to be asked. Neither is wrong, but you should know which you are getting. For a clearer picture, ask about the last time they had to correct an assistant and how they did it.
What training do new assistants get before they are in front of students?
Why ask it
Teaching posts may come with a workshop on running a class, and front-line offices with sessions on privacy or on students in distress. Ask how long it lasts and who runs it. If training is a day of shadowing, plan on asking a great many questions in your first month.
How will I get feedback, and is there a formal evaluation?
Why ask it
An evaluation often feeds the decision to keep you for another year, so ask what it measures and when it happens. For a teaching post, ask whether anyone sits in on a class, because student ratings alone are a thin record of how you did.
When a student brings me something serious, who do I hand it to?
Why ask it
Assistants at a desk, in a hall or in a classroom hear about crises, complaints and cheating before the staff do. You want a named person and a clear point where your part ends. Whether you carry any duty to report depends on the university and the law where it sits, so ask what applies to this role.
What does a strong graduate assistant do here that an average one does not?
Why ask it
Supervisors answer with habits: turns up, replies to email, finishes the dull task, says early when coursework is piling up. A reference letter gets written from those same habits, so take the list as the real job description.
How many other graduate assistants are in the office, and do they share the work?
Why ask it
A group of four covers for each other, swaps shifts and passes on what the handbook leaves out. As the only assistant you get more of the supervisor's attention and nobody to trade a Friday with.
Would the person I report to also teach or advise me in my program?
Why ask it
It is common in small departments, and it means a rough week at work can follow you into a seminar. That is no reason to turn the post down. Ask who you would go to if the two roles ever pulled against each other.
How have you handled it when an assistant's coursework started to slip?
Why ask it
The reply shows whether the office sees you as a student first. Lighter hours for two weeks or a deadline moved is a good sign. 'It has never come up' is hard to believe from an office that has had assistants for years.
What mentoring do you offer assistants who want a career in this field?
Why ask it
For a post in student affairs, advising or athletics, the assistantship is the apprenticeship. Listen for specifics: a seat in staff meetings, a project with a budget, introductions at a conference. A supervisor who started out as a graduate assistant usually has a ready answer.
Where have your recent graduate assistants gone after finishing?
Why ask it
For an office post this is the track record: a first job in residence life, an advising role, a doctoral program. Names and employers suggest a supervisor who picks up the phone for people. It also shows what the experience is worth in the job market you are heading for.
Pay and tuition
What is the stipend, and is it paid over the academic year or across twelve months?
Why ask it
Get the total and the number of paychecks, then do the division yourself. A stipend spread over nine months leaves a summer to cover, and the first payment can land several weeks into the term, so ask for its date.
Does the tuition waiver cover the whole bill or a set number of credits?
Why ask it
Waivers run from full tuition to a fixed number of credits a term, and some cover the resident rate only. Ask what a student on this assistantship owed last semester once the waiver had been applied. Budget from that figure.
Which fees stay with me after the waiver?
Why ask it
Student fees, program fees and course fees often sit outside a waiver and can come to a real sum each term. Ask where the fee schedule is published so you can add it up yourself before comparing offers.
Does the post come with health insurance, or a contribution toward it?
Why ask it
Coverage for graduate assistants differs by university and sometimes by the size of the appointment, so ask how it works there. If a plan exists, check whether a half-time or quarter-time post qualifies for it.
Does the waiver reach summer courses, or credits taken outside my program?
Why ask it
This matters if your degree plan has a required summer term or you want an elective from another college. The supervisor may not know. The graduate school or the bursar will, and it is fine to be pointed there.
Does the position include housing, a meal plan or parking?
Why ask it
Residence life and some athletics posts pay partly in a room and meals. Ask what the room is, whether a partner or a pet may live there, and whether you have to move out over breaks. A parking permit sounds minor until you see the price.
Is there a graduate assistant handbook or a union contract that sets these terms, and where can I read it?
Why ask it
Where one exists, it holds the pay levels by degree, the hour limit and the leave rules, which is why a supervisor often has little room to bargain. Read it before you compare offers. If the stipend follows a published scale, look for whether a second year moves you up a step.
Could this assistantship change my financial aid or another scholarship?
Why ask it
An assistantship can alter a loan or scholarship amount, and those rules sit with the financial aid office, not the hiring department. Ask the panel whether past assistants ran into it, then confirm with the aid office before you sign anything.
Is there money for conferences, certifications or professional memberships?
Why ask it
Student affairs and advising offices often send assistants to a regional conference or pay for a training certificate. Ask what the last assistant attended. If nothing, ask whether you could make a case for one.
Renewal and summer
Is this a one-year appointment, or can it be renewed for a second year?
Why ask it
Plenty of master's students need two years of funding, and plenty of assistantships are written for one. Ask how renewal is decided, by whom and by what date, and how many of the last few assistants were kept on.
What would put a renewal at risk?
Why ask it
The answers you are likely to hear are grades under a set average, a weak evaluation, dropping below the required credits and a budget cut. The first three are in your hands. For the fourth, ask whether the position has ever been cut or reduced.
Does the appointment run through the summer, and if not, is summer work available?
Why ask it
Many assistantships cover the academic year only. Ask whether the office hires its own assistants for summer hours, whether that pay comes with a waiver, and what earlier assistants did in the months between.
Where does the money for this position come from?
Why ask it
A line in the department's standing budget is steadier than a grant, a one-off allocation or student fee money that is voted on each year. Nobody can promise the second year. The source tells you how exposed it is.
If I stay on, do the duties or the hours change in the second year?
Why ask it
Second-year assistants often pick up the bigger project, train the newcomer or move to a different course. That is a step up, and it arrives in the same year as a thesis, a capstone or a job search, so ask how others managed the two together.
Is there a limit on how many semesters I can hold an assistantship?
Why ask it
Universities often cap the number of terms a student can be funded this way, and the cap can differ by degree. Find the number now if a part-time term, a longer thesis or a doctorate after the master's is a possibility for you.
Closing
What do assistants here find hardest in their first semester?
Why ask it
Common replies are saying no to a student, grading a first stack of papers, or fitting a desk shift around a Monday deadline. Whatever is named, ask what help existed for it, and put the same question to a current assistant if you meet one.
What do you like about having graduate assistants in the office?
Why ask it
Supervisors who enjoy the teaching side tend to talk about a former assistant they watched grow into the work. If the only answer is that the desk gets covered, the post may be closer to an hourly job with a waiver attached. That can still be worth taking, as long as you know it going in.
Could I talk to a current or former graduate assistant from this office?
Why ask it
They can give you the real hour count, how the supervisor behaves in finals week and whether the waiver reached the bill on time. Ask the panel for an email address, and send three short questions, not twelve.
Is there anything about my schedule or experience you would like me to speak to?
Why ask it
Panels often worry quietly about a heavy first-semester course load, a long commute or no experience with the students the office serves. Raising it yourself gives you the chance to answer while you are still in the room.
Is the assistantship decided separately from my admission to the program?
Why ask it
Applicants are sometimes interviewed for a post before the program has admitted them, and the two decisions can come from different offices on different dates. Ask which comes first, and what happens to the offer if the admission letter is late.
When will you decide, and would there be a date by which I have to accept?
Why ask it
Funding offers often carry an acceptance deadline, and some universities keep to a shared date for graduate funding, so ask what applies. If you are waiting on another program, say so plainly and ask how long an offer would stay open.
Will the offer letter set out the stipend, the waiver, the hours and the dates?
Why ask it
What is said in an interview is a description, and the letter is the agreement. If something you were told about, such as summer hours or covered fees, is missing from it, ask for it to be added before you sign.
Getting clear answers about an assistantship
Practical guidance for the conversation itself
Who can answer what
The supervisor knows the work
The person across the table can speak to duties, the schedule, training and how the office runs. They often cannot quote the fine print of the waiver or the fee schedule, and a guess from them is worse than no answer. When a money question draws a pause, ask who holds the figure and write the name down.
The graduate school holds the terms
Stipend levels, waiver rules, enrollment minimums and limits on semesters are normally set centrally and published in a graduate assistant handbook or on the graduate school's site. Read it before the interview. Then use your time for what a handbook cannot say: how this particular office applies those rules, and what a week there is like.
Current assistants know the hours
An appointment letter gives a number of hours and a current assistant gives the count they lived. If the panel includes a student, or you are offered a tour by one, save the Hours and classes questions for them. Ask about last week, not about a typical one.
Payroll and financial aid for anything about your own money
Tax treatment, loan adjustments and how a stipend sits with a scholarship depend on your situation and on where the university is. A hiring committee is not the office for that, and most will say so. A short email to payroll or financial aid after the interview gets an answer you can rely on.
Picking five for a half-hour interview
One from each group, weighted to what you cannot look up
An assistantship interview may leave only a few minutes for your questions. Take one from The job, one from Hours and classes and one from Supervision, since only this office can answer those. Add one on renewal and finish with one from Closing. Keep the stipend and waiver details for the offer stage unless nothing about them has been published.
For a teaching assistantship
Put the section-or-grading question first, then whether preparation and grading count toward the hours, then who trains you before the first class. Those three decide the weekly load. If the course instructor is in the room, ask how they like to work with an assistant and how quickly graded work is expected back.
For an office, residence life or athletics post
Lead with what fills the week and whether any piece of it would be yours to run. Then ask about evenings, weekends and on-call duty, which is where these posts differ most from what the listing says. If the post pays partly in housing or meals, treat those questions as pay questions and ask them before you accept.
If you have not been admitted yet
Some programs hold assistantship interviews during a recruitment day, before admission letters go out. Ask early whether the two decisions are linked, because it changes the rest: an offer that depends on admission, or an admission that is only affordable with the post, are different positions to plan from.
Working out what the offer is worth
Add up the whole year
Write down the stipend, the value of the tuition the waiver covers, and anything paid in kind such as a room. Then subtract the fees that stay with you and the months with no pay. Two assistantships with the same stipend can end up far apart once the uncovered credits and the summer are counted.
Lay the calendar over your degree plan
Mark the office's busy weeks, the early training dates and any on-call schedule against your course schedule, your practicum and your exam dates. A post that pays a little less and keeps your Tuesdays and Thursdays clear for a required sequence may be the one that lets you finish on time.
Count the second year as a separate question
If your degree runs two years or more, a one-year appointment funds half of it. Note what you were told about renewal: who decides, when, and how many past assistants were kept. Where the answer was vague, a polite email asking for the renewal terms is reasonable before you accept.
Wait for the letter
Thank the panel, say you are interested, and hold your decision until the written offer arrives. Check it against your notes line by line: hours, dates, stipend, what the waiver covers, any housing. Raise a gap as a question, such as 'I understood summer hours were likely; could that be added?', and keep the reply.
Slips that cost applicants
Opening with the waiver
The committee knows the money is why most people apply, and still wants to hear interest in the work first. Start with a question about the students the office serves or the course you would teach. Pay questions land better once the panel has pictured you in the job.
Promising hours you do not have
Saying you are free whenever they need you is tempting and rarely true once classes are assigned. Tell them which days your required courses meet, if you know, and ask how they build the schedule. A supervisor would far sooner hear it in the interview than in the second week of term.
Asking what the handbook answers
Asking how many hours a half-time post is, when the listing says twenty, uses up a question and suggests you did not read it. Build on what is published: 'The listing says twenty hours. In a week with an event, how does that tend to go?'
Forgetting that the supervisor is also a reference
For many students this person writes the letter for a first professional job. So the interview is a chance to judge whether they notice their assistants' work and speak about past ones by name. Indifference toward the people who held the post before you is worth weighing alongside the stipend.