Undergraduate Course Assistant Program

Hiring Process

Fall 2024 UCA Applications

The Fall 2024 UCA application is now closed. Interview offers will be sent out shortly.

Fall 2024 Application Timeline (tentative)

March 8th
 UCA applications open
March 18th UCA applications close at 11:59 PM
March 25th – April 9th UCA interviews are held
By the end of semester Hiring results announced

UCA Application Process

Any student who is part of the College of Information and Computer Science at UMass Amherst and will be enrolled as a full-time student in the following semester is eligible to apply to be a CICS UCA. This includes students majoring in computer science or informatics, and prospective students who are in the exploratory track or are an applicant on contract. Students outside of CICS are evaluated on a case-by-case basis. To be eligible to be a UCA for a specific class, the student must have completed the course or have enough background and knowledge to be able to provide assistance in the course.

In the middle of each Fall and Spring semester, the UCA Program Leadership team sends out an email with the application to everyone who is eligible to apply to be a UCA. The application will be open for roughly two weeks with a strict deadline – so make sure to apply before then! Once applications close, the UCA Leadership Team will go through all of the applications and select a group of applicants to interview. Once interviews are over, professors are able to provide input on whom their course staff will be. Once input is gathered, the UCA Leadership team will make hiring decisions and will release application results towards the end of the semester.

Please keep in mind that UCA applications are evaluated holistically. If you are passionate about being a UCA, helping other students learn, giving back to the CICS community, and contributing to CICS courses in various ways – please do not let your grade deter you from submitting a UCA application. Conversely, please do not assume that you will become a UCA based on having perfect grades in all of your courses.

Tips on writing the UCA application

Essay Questions

The first thing we read on your application is your answer to the essay questions. It helps us gain some insight into who you are like as a person, why you are interested in being a UCA, and whether you’d be a good fit for a UCA position. So think about it as a chance to showcase your potential to be a UCA, and give your best answers! One possible approach is to consider the qualities you want to see from your UCAs, and integrate them into your response. 

Qualities that we look for in essays include:

  • Communication skills
  • Compassion
  • Responsibility
  • Interest and/or experience in teaching
  • Commitment to a role 
  • Time management skills
  • Takes the initiative to improve upon and/or challenge the status quo, solve a problem, etc. 
 
GPA

We focus on the grade for the course(s) you’re interested in being a UCA for. Don’t worry about GPA or Major GPA.