Student Work Opportunities
See below for descriptions of the special student opportunities offered
within the Psychology Department
What is this opportunity?
Peer advisors are hired by the Department of Psychology to help other psychology students navigate our major. Responsibilities include assisting other students in planning class schedules, encouraging students to take advantage of education-enriching opportunities, facilitating group advising sessions, and providing weekly office hours. The Department typically hires three students to work as Peer Advisors each year, and these students will often remain in the position until they graduate.
How do I apply for this opportunity?
When a position is going to open up on the Peer Advising Team (generally around November/April), the Program Assistant will email all psychology majors with a call for applications. The Student Development Coordinator, who oversees the Peer Advisers, generally prefers to work with applicants who can serve two years or more – so, sophomores and juniors are particularly encouraged to apply. Key qualifications include strong academic performance, ability to interact with diverse psychology majors, reliability and ability to work independently, attention to detail, initiative taking, ability to work as a team, honesty, and integrity.
What are the benefits?
Peer advising is a great way to share the expertise you’ve acquired over the years with our less experienced students. Pay forward the gift of mentorship you received from others and help us transform students’ lives!
What is this opportunity?
Research Assistants (RAs) are students who help faculty researchers carry out their projects, generally as part of a research team or “lab.” New RAs are unpaid volunteers/interns because this is primarily a learning experience for them. They engage in new tasks that require guidance and training such as recruiting participants, conducting lab experiments, creating surveys, and analyzing data. More senior students are often paid for contributing unique skills they have already gained such as training, organizing, and leading others. “Research Assistant” is a general term that may have different titles and functions across labs. The Department of Psychology maintains 14 active research teams with 2-15 RAs each, resulting in 40-60 active student researchers. RAs typically remain in a lab for a minimum of one year, and their involvement may continue throughout and even beyond their undergraduate years.
How do I apply for this opportunity?
See the list of faculty-led research teams on our department website. The faculty all have different recruiting schedules to fit their unique needs, but most recruit once yearly (either in the spring or fall). They also have different application processes. For example, some may request that you furnish references and/or a resume, and others may ask you to write application essays. Note that past experience in a research lab is never a requirement to apply to our research teams; we fully expect and welcome students to apply for this opportunity as their first research experience! To apply to a faculty member’s research team, you can either wait for a department-wide email from our Program Assistant announcing a call for applications for a given lab, or you can email specific faculty members directly to ask about their recruitment plans. You might consider carefully reviewing the descriptions on the list of faculty-led research teams to see which teams best align with your professional interests. We additionally encourage you to consider applying to work with research faculty at the UCSF Department of Psychiatry; many of our students have done so previously and reported positive experiences.
What are the benefits?
It can be fun to learn about human behavior! Of course, research is not everybody’s cup of tea, but it’s hard to know whether you’ll like it until you’ve tried it – and USF is often the best place for our students to get their first research experience. Consider applying, whether you’re just joining USF or eyeing graduation on the horizon. There are many careers that build on research skills such as data analyst, data curator, survey researcher, or user experience researcher. Furthermore, research experience is essential for anyone interested in applying to Ph.D. programs.
What is this opportunity?
The Student Program Assistant is hired by the Department of Psychology to assist with the day-to-day operations of our department. Such operations include staffing the front task to greet visitors, creating department signage, helping faculty with supplies and equipment, and more. The Department hires one Student Program Assistant at a time, and this person will generally remain in the role until they graduate or otherwise decide to move on.
How do I apply for this opportunity?
The Program Assistant will email psychology majors of Sophomore, Junior or Senior standing when it is time to apply. The position will also be posted to USFWorks for students to submit an application.
What are the benefits?
The Student Program Assistant job is the perfect student job! You get to know the Psychology Program Assistant and faculty better by seeing and working with them every day. This job is also flexible to your class schedule and involves a mix of administrative task work and downtime, during which you can spend working on homework assignments.
What is this opportunity?
Teaching Assistants (TAs) are students paid by the Department of Psychology to help instructors maximize the value of their classes. TAs may help fellow students grasp difficult concepts in meetings or class drop-in sessions, help the instructor plan new assignments and activities, host study sessions, or conduct behind-the-scenes work necessary to make a course run properly. Most of our instructors hire one TA every semester, resulting in 15-25 active TA positions. These positions typically last a minimum of one semester, and many instructors are happy to re-hire an excellent TA.
How do I apply for this opportunity?
There is usually no application process for the TA role. Most instructors invite a student who previously performed well in one of their classes to work as their TA. Faculty members all have different criteria for selecting their TAs, but TAs tend to share a few characteristics: namely, they (1) took the class, (2) did well in the class, (3) demonstrate the strong interpersonal skills needed to teach others effectively, and (4) have a good relationship with the instructor. If you are interested in being a TA, consider emailing instructors with whom you have a good relationship!
What are the benefits?
The TA role is by no means required to move forward in your career, so don’t sweat if you never take on this role! With that being said, working as a TA can serve as a small signal to employers and graduate programs that you are particularly knowledgeable about a subject. Furthermore, being a TA may help you gauge whether you like being part of the teaching process and strengthen your understanding of a field.