How many of my classes will be taught by Teaching Assistants?

When I was exploring schools, I was looking for a college environment where professors were truly invested in their students. Part of what that meant for me is that professors would be in classes and actually teach those classes -- makes sense, right? So naturally, one of the things on my radar during my college search was the number of classes taught by Teaching Assistants (TAs) as opposed to actual faculty members.

 

At Barnard, the answer is 0%. TAs never teach at Barnard. You will have TAs at Barnard in a few of your classes.  What’s different is that TAs at Barnard live up to their acronym – teaching assistants – and are never substitutes for a professor in the classroom.  Where you will see TAs are in discussion sections, labs, and other supplementary academic environments (like the math help room).  Many of them are PhD students at Columbia who will help you formulate a paper thesis or host a small group review session before an exam.  Another plus is that they are often on campus during the hours you are – and hold office hours accordingly. 

 

Many of the techniques I helped to teach in intro biology
I now use as a research fellow for the NIH

Some TA positions at Barnard work a little differently.  Especially in introductory labs, you will sometimes have a student assisting the main lab instructor.  This means that in a lab of 15 students, you have two people to ask for help.  My sophomore and junior year I worked as a TA in the introductory biology labs.  It was one of my favorite things I did in college.  It gave me an opportunity to get to know a wider variety of students, especially those who weren't in my class year.  Plus, I got the chance to do all of my biology labs over again, which I loved (perhaps an early sign that I was destined for a career in medicine).  Overall, my responsibilities were few: grading multiple-choice quizzes, helping to set-up experiments, and assisting during lab time with students’ questions.  All of the teaching and major grading was done by the lab instructor – and she was always on hand for questions I couldn't answer. 

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I think Barnard strikes the right balance with the way it approaches TAs.  It’s important for students to have exposure to teaching, especially at the PhD level.  Because of Barnard's small size, these opportunities are even available to you as an undergrad. But it also wouldn’t be Barnard if you didn't get to know your professors, so having them in the classroom and available to you outside of class is a must.  

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Melanie