As a master's student, will a GRA or GTA position provide a greater benefit for PhD applications? I am a Master's student with goals to pursue a PhD. I am currently a graduate research assistant (GRA), but have been offered a GTA (graduate teaching assistant) position in Machine Learning. The course in question is challenging and is probably considered more competitive/desirable than most other GTA positions.
Which is better in terms of PhD applications? Also, is it considered better to have both GTA and GRA experience? I am asking for a generalization. How would you view this on an applicants resume? Let's assume average performance in both positions.
If you're planning to go into Academia, you might want to do a GTA (Graduate Teaching Assistantship) to get teaching experience. Because a GTA means approximately 20 hours per week on teaching duties, you may find it harder to work on your thesis or dissertation as much as you want.
A GRA (Graduate Research Assistantship) will focus on research instead but you may not be working directly on your thesis research but instead on another project for which a professor has funding.
At my university (25 years ago), a GTA paid less than a GRA so that's also something to check.