How does the departmental financial aid offer work?
If a student is admitted with an offer of financial aid from the department, we call this offer an “RTA” offer. This means the student can receive either an RA (Research Assistantship) or a TA (Teaching Assistantship). If a student contacts and finds a faculty member with an opening in their research group and both parties agree to this commitment, then the student receives the RA. In this case, speaking assessment testing is not required. If the student does not find a specific faculty member to work with prior to their arrival, they will be assigned a TA appointment. In order to be eligible to hold this appointment, non-native English speaking students must have taken a speaking assessment test. We accept either the ibt-TOEFL (minimum score of 24/30 on speaking section), or the IELTS (minimum score of 8 on the speaking section) to fulfill this requirement. Even if your goal is to receive the RA, it is a good idea to take this test in advance, so that you are eligible to hold the TA a
• If a student is admitted with an offer of financial aid from the department, we call this offer an “RTA” offer. This means the student can receive either an RA (Research Assistantship) or a TA (Teaching Assistantship). If a student contacts and finds a faculty member with an opening in their research group and both parties agree to this commitment, then the student receives the RA. In this case, speaking assessment testing is not required. If the student does not find a specific faculty member to work with prior to their arrival, they will be assigned a TA appointment. In order to be eligible to hold this appointment, non-native English speaking students must have taken a speaking assessment test. We accept either the ibt-TOEFL (minimum score of 24/30 on speaking section), or the IELTS (minimum score of 8 on the speaking section) to fulfill this requirement. Even if your goal is to receive the RA, it is a good idea to take this test in advance, so that you are eligible to hold the TA
