Research assitanship/Teaching Assistantship

Nursing Students Post Graduate

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Hi Everyone,

How to go about if one wants to apply for GA/RA positions for MSN? Does anyone have experience in this matter? If you do, please share your valuable information. Thank you.

And, what is the test to take if I want to pursue my masters in Nursing? GRE? Or something else?

What will work on my favour to get the GA/RA? Please reply. Thank you.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

You'll have to talk with your school to get that information. Most graduate assistantships require that you be enrolled as a graduate student in order to qualify for them.

Also, the type of test required for admission, etc. vary from school to school.

So ... contact schools that interest you and ask them about their admissions requirements and the availabilty of graduate assistantships to help cover your costs.

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Thank you for your valuable information llg.

How can I find the schools that offer the program that I am looking for? Is there any paritcular website that has the listings? Thank you so much once again.

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Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

My program let me apply for an assistantship when I applied for the program, but most schools probably won't let you do that.

Not all schools require the GRE, so you'll want to make sure you need it before you take it.

Do you know what MSN track you want? Is it education, management, or NP? That's a good place to start in your search. If it's education, you probably want to do a GTA, instead of a GRA. Most include covered tuition, some sort of stipend (mine was $20,000 a year), and health insurance coverage for you, but not for your family. You will be required to work a certain amount of hours (mine required 20 hours a week during the Fall & Spring semesters).

As for what will work in your favor for an assistantship, all schools are different in that, too (from what I can tell). In my program, it's competitive, and based on GPA and GRE scores, but financial need is also considered- especially for international students. There seems to be a good amount of funding for assistantships in nursing, too.

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Thank you so much for the valuable reply BBFRN. At this point, I'm still debating as to what MSN track I would like to take. Either Management or NP. My professor suggested going DNP route ...

I'm still not sure which option to pick. What are the pros & cons of doing Management to NP?

Thank you for the encouragement and positive post. God bless you.

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Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

Thanks Moments. Which program you want to do will be your first step. Those are two fairly different pathways. Do you know any NPs or nurse managers that you could shadow to see what their jobs are like, to help in your decision? I've never been a NP, but there are plenty here that could answer that for you. I have worked in management though, and hated it. That's a personal preference though, and was based on an inability to make positive changes for the staff without getting flack from the higher ups at that particular institution. I didn't have the talent for doing that balancing act.

I guess the first step in deciding what you do want, is to figure out what you don't want. Would you like to continue doing patient care, or would you like to veer away from that?

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Thank you so much for the valuable information again BBRF. I really really appreciate it. Bless your heart. I think, the place where I see myself down the road, I see myself veering away from the patient care. So which one do you think is geared towards that?

But then, one side of me would like to do mobile nursing as a volutnary work during my summer holidays or holidays in the near future, during which time, I would like to go to remote places and provide care, in which case, I am thinking NP would come handy more than MSN in management ... Still thinking. Thank you so much once again BBFRN. Communicating with you back and forth and getting valuable feedback from you is helping me think my thoughts out loud. Good luck with your studies. You'll do good in whatever you do. God bless you.

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Specializes in Trauma,ER,CCU/OHU/Nsg Ed/Nsg Research.

Management would not really involve patient care, so that's something to consider.

As for providing care in remote places- you can still do that as a RN. You don't really need a MSN for that. I'm not sure where the biggest need is for that kind of work, as far as RN vs NP goes.

Try the Volunteer Nursing forum here: https://allnurses.com/forums/f74/

You're more likely to get answers about that from those who know more about that than me. ;)

Good luck to you!

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