Undergraduate Teaching Assistants

How To Apply

Below, you will find information about and instructions on how to apply for an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant position in the Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering. Please read carefully.

Eligibility Requirements — Winter Quarter 2025

To be hired as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, you must be:

Eligible to legally work in the US (includes most US citizens, Permanent Residents, F-1 visa holders,etc.)
Not yet graduated. Students who have graduated or will be graduating at the end of autumn quarter 2024 are not eligible to be a TA in winter.
Enrolled for 6 credits or more in WINTER or AUTUMN quarters.

When classes are in session, students enrolled for 6 or more credits are limited to working 19.5 hours per workweek total for all UW student positions held. Students may work other positions, but will need to split hours to not exceed the 19.5 hour limit.

Undergraduate TAs who repeatedly work in excess of 19.5 hours per week may have their assigned duties reduced or suspended and may not be eligible for rehire in future quarters.

Application and Course Assignment Process

There are three steps:

Students fill out and submit an application form and express their preferences by ranking courses.
Instructors review applications and express their preferences by ranking applicants.
The CSE TA Coordinator finalizes the TA assignments based on instructor and TA applicant preferences, with the goal of meeting the needs of all our courses, while giving as many applicants and instructors their top choices as possible.

Some instructors may recruit for their individual courses or conduct a separate interview process to select candidates. This information will be included in the “Course Specific Application Information” section below whenever possible.

Application Instructions

Go to the Undergraduate Teaching Assistants application website and sign in with your UW NetID: https://ta.cs.washington.edu/apply/
You should now see a page with your “TA Candidate Dashboard”. Click the “Apply” button which will take you to the application page.
In the Basic information section, you should see your name displayed; For “TA type”, select “Undergrad TA” if you are an undergraduate student.
In the Personal statement section, you may describe why you would like to be a TA and/or what outside experience you have. This is not required; rather the purpose is for you to provide any information you’d like instructors and/or the TA administrators to know when considering you for a TA position. This information is particularly helpful if you are a non-CSE student or a first-time applicant.
In the Course category preferences section, indicate your general preferences for the various course areas.
Finally, in the Individual course preferences section, you can indicate your TA preference rankings for individual courses. Give whichever course(s) you would prefer to be assigned to a higher ranking preference from 1 to 5 (with 5 being most preferred and 1 being least preferred) and rank any other courses relative to that (or the same if you have an equal preference). If you are unable to TA for a course due to a schedule time conflict (i.e. you are unable to attend all of that course’s lectures OR the weekly course staff meeting), please check the schedule conflict checkbox in the first column.
Click the Submit button and you’re all done!

CSE 12x (Introductory Programming) positions:

New TAs for CSE 121, 122, and 123 are selected through a separate application process. These courses are still listed on the current application for returning 12x TAs to submit their course preferences.

An announcement with information on how to apply for winter 2025 CSE 12x TA positions will be made toward the end of the autumn quarter. More information on CSE 12x TA positions and instructions on how to apply and be notified when the application is available can be found here: http://courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse14x/ta/apply.php.

Hiring Criteria

Eligibility Requirements — Autumn Quarter 2024

To be hired as an Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, you must be:

Eligible to legally work in the US (includes most US citizens, Permanent Residents, F-1 visa holders,etc.)
Not yet graduated. Students who graduated after spring or summer quarter 2024 are not eligible to be a TA in autumn.
Enrolled for 6 credits or more in AUTUMN or SUMMER quarters.

Undergraduate TAs who repeatedly work in excess of 19.5 hours per week may have their assigned duties reduced or suspended and may not be eligible for rehire in future quarters. Please keep this in mind when submitting an application or considering multiple UW hourly positions.

Undergraduate TA appointments will be based on the following criteria:

Academic performance and progress.
TA/Instructor preferences as determined by the applicant and potential instructors.
Previous TA experience and performance.

Academic Student Employees working at the University of Washington should be aware of the University’s non-discrimination and harassment policies.

The University of Washington is an equal opportunity, affirmative action employer. To request disability accommodation in the application process, contact the Disability Services Office at 206.543.6450 / 206.543.6452 (tty) or https://hr.uw.edu/dso/services/.

Roles & Responsibilities

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Computer Science and Engineering

(specific duties and responsibilities will be provided by course instructor)

Attend lectures
Conduct quiz section meetings
Facilitate discussions
Prepare lectures for quiz sections
Prepare review materials for quiz sections
Hold extra review sessions for exams
Hold regular office hours Tutor students
Manage and respond to course-related e-mail
Prepare and maintain web page for course materials
Develop and maintain electronic bulletin boards, discussion sites, etc.
Prepare assignments Grade assignments
Prepare test questions
Proctor and score exams
Maintain grading records
Prepare course attendance records
Maintain course attendance records
Calculate quarter grades
Attend instructor/TA meetings
Attend TA training sessions
Act as liaison/mediator between student and professor

Remuneration

Undergraduate TA hours are variable but cannot exceed 19.5 hours/week combined for ALL UW jobs. CSE undergraduate TAs generally work 10-15 hours per week.

Academic Student Employees (ASEs), which include TA and RA positions, are covered by the UAW/UW Academic Student Employee union contract. The union contract governs policies and procedures for appointments, salary, job definitions and leave time. You are encouraged to familiarize yourself with this contract.

Undergraduate Teaching Assistant Salary

Starting rate — $21.57 per hour **effective July 1, 2024

Undergraduate TAs will receive hourly rate increases based on the number of quarters experience as a TA:

Quarters 8 and above: base hourly rate + $4.00
Quarter 1: base hourly rate (currently $21.57*)
Quarters 2 and 3: base hourly rate + $1.00
Quarters 4 and 5: base hourly rate + $2.00
Quarters 6 and 7: base hourly rate + $3.00

General Information

Due to their large number, scheduled quiz sections offered with most CSE 100-level and 300-level courses have not been listed on the TA application but a complete listing can be found on the winter quarter time schedule page.
TAs are expected to be on campus and ready to work from the first day of class through the completion of finals grading. Contact the instructor as soon as possible about any time that you will need off or if you have any questions about the dates in which you will need to be available.
We will assign applicants to TA a course only if they already have a solid command of the material to be taught in the course. In other words, only apply to TA for a class if you have taken the course or its equivalent or have comparable other experience. For a description of our courses, please see here.
A weekly TA training seminar is offered each quarter on Thursdays, 4:30-5:20 PM, for students who are selected to TA and who will be teaching for the first time. It is strongly recommended for any TA who has not participated previously, even if this is not your first time as a TA.

This job classification is governed by a negotiated labor contract and is subject to union shop provisions. For more information about union shop provisions, visit: http://www.washington.edu/admin/hr/jobs/apl/union-info.html

Academic Student Employees working at the University of Washington should be aware of the University’s non-discrimination and harassment policies.

By choosing to apply for a Teaching Assistant (TA) position with the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington, I understand that if I am hired, certain information associated with my TA appointment, which is part of my education record under FERPA , will be published in various online locations. As a result, this information may be visible to CSE instructors and staff outside of my course, the greater university community, and, in some instances, the general public. The published information may include any combination of my name, school email address, photo, the course(s) and section number(s) to which I am assigned, and my status as an undergraduate or graduate. Online locations may include time schedules, course websites, instructional dashboards, and other course-related resources.

I also understand that (1) I have the right to inquire further about the release of this information. (2) I have the right to request a specific exception. (3) I have the right not to consent to the release of any information where I can be identified as a TA. (4) I have the right to revoke this consent in writing, delivered directly to the CSE Course Coordinator/TA Advisor, with the knowledge that any subsequent revocation of this consent shall not affect information shared by the Paul G. Allen School of Computer Science & Engineering at the University of Washington prior to the receipt of my written revocation of consent.

Teaching Assistants