After the Thesis proposal Meeting (in the second year), students use part of the online Thesis Proposal Presentation Meeting Form to indicate two possible semesters that they are available to TA. Students should choose these semesters carefully because in the case where the department needs to fill vacant TA positions, this choice is binding (see below).
A month or two prior to every semester, the student office sends out a TA course preference form. For any given semester, students who have indicated that they are available to TA in that semester should fill out this form with their course preferences. Soon after, the student office sends out TA assignments. Prior to the start of the semester, students who will TA should expect to participate in the MIT Teaching and Learning Lab’s (TLL) “TA Days” (series of TA-related workshops), meet with the Graduate Student Officer about departmental TA expectations, and meet with the faculty instructors to discuss course-specific expectations.
Importantly, students should note that while the department does its best to match TA assignments with student preferences, students may not always get their top choices. For example, if a class is short on TAs during a certain semester, anyone who has indicated that semester in their TA availability and has not yet TAed (even if they did not fill out the TA course preference form) may be selected to TA for the class.
Though not required, and not technically part of the TA course selection process, if students have a course in mind that they would like to TA, it is often beneficial to reach out to the faculty instructors several months to a year in advance of the anticipated semester. Though the student office has a final say in distributing TAs according to departmental needs, TA assignments are often informally agreed upon between students and faculty in this way.
(TODO: check with Melanie – what is the best course of action for someone who has indicated TA availability but when the time comes around, prefers not to TA in that semester?)