Physics GRE Discussion Forums

How good does volunteering over the summer to work for SEE College Prep as a teaching assistant for students to prepare them for the SAT's?

Do PHD schools weigh this a lot?

Should I devote a lot of time to this? Or should I focus on my research more. Or do both?

Thanks.

CyberShot wrote:How good does volunteering over the summer to work for SEE College Prep as a teaching assistant for students to prepare them for the SAT's?

Do PHD schools weigh this a lot?

Should I devote a lot of time to this? Or should I focus on my research more. Or do both?

Thanks.

Likely the volunteer work won't make much of a difference in your admissions. If you do become a teaching assistant, you could and probably should make note of it in your SOP that you have experience in teaching (being a TA) and how you feel it made you a better educator and how this will benefit the institution you are applying to and blah blah blah... but in the end it is not likely to make or break your application. If you really feel that the ultimate outcome of your research could improve by not doing the TA then it might be worth skipping the volunteer work. With that being said, I would be willing to bet that you would see no substantial difference in your research between doing both or just doing the research so I would just go ahead and do both.