MS Programs
The following is a list of institutions with MS programs that are known to help prepare students to be teaching faculty. There aren’t a lot of these, and each of them handle things differently.
University of California, Berkeley Berkeley, CA, USA
- Can TA (called Graduate Student Instructors or GSIs) or Head TA massive courses
- Pay seems to be around $3k a month for 10-20 hours a week, but varies a little year to year and based on how much experience you have.
- MS Students can get in-state tuition covered, which includes all the fees for CA folks doing a "research oriented" MS. "Professional Masters" programs (like berkeley’s M.Eng or Stats MS, MIMS/MIDS in the iSchool) have an additional set of fees.
- Summer instructor positions are quite possible and supported. Great pay (~$20k). Can teach the summer that you graduate.
- Getting a TA role as an MS students can be hard unless you have a discussion with a faculty member about it. This is due to costs of having an MS teaching assistant instead of an undergraduate.
- Has the DeCal program which lets all UC Berkeley students (including undergrad) create and teach courses even during the school year. Typically does not have much mentoring, nor count towards a degree. No payment for this either. Could be better (or as good) to just be an experienced Head TA.
University of California, San Diego San Diego
- TA pay is highly competitive, details can be found here https://cse.ucsd.edu/graduate/financial-opportunities/teaching-assistantships
- Ample TA opportunities. PhD students do get priority, but due to the number of courses available, there are lots of opportunities for MS students to TA, as early as their first quarter, especially for large early undergraduate courses.
- MS students cannot teach as instructor of record, but they are eligible to teach courses once they get their MS degree.
- After graduation students may be hired at UC San Diego as lecturers, but this would typically be to teach an occasional course. Could possibly teach elsewhere though.
- Has several teaching faculty, so MS students can find a strong teaching culture here.
- Has an active and large education research group, and many faculty doing education-related projects. MS students are welcome to participate, usually for research credits if their course schedule allows it, but occasionally as (paid) graduate student researchers. The computing education resarch group has a site here https://csed.ucsd.edu/home
University of Illinois Chicago Chicago, IL, USA
- Being a teaching assistant is possible, but priority is given to PhD students
- Being a TA gets a stipend and tuition waived.
- Seemingly no formal instructor opportunities, even over summer. Technically possible and has happened, but may have been a special circumstance.
- At time of writing (August 2024) has ~2-3 students who are being prepared to be instructors at UIC itself
University of Pennsylvania Philadelphia, PA, USA
- Normal Teaching Assistant pay & process for MS students as undergraduates. (~$16/hr but goes up $1/hr or so if you are a head TA)
- Opportunity to be instructor of a "mini course" during the year, you get better pay than being a teaching assistant. (https://www.cis.upenn.edu/~cis19x/)
- Possibility for PhD and some MS students to teach or co-teach a full course in Fall or Spring Semester. Get paid about enough to cover tuition for that semester.
- Summer Instructor positions are also possible things
University of Washington, Seattle Seattle, WA, USA
- Only available really if you are doing your BS there already. This is part of their combined "BS/MS" program
- If you are intersted in being a middle or high school teaching in Washington state, they also have the step-cs program which seems able to fund its students and open to those who did their bachelor degree outside UW https://www.computinged.uw.edu/stepcs/
- Should have tuition waived and stipend every quarter you teach/TA
- Has a system to support instructor opportunities over the summer for most of their core courses.