Undergraduate Tutors

NOTE: Applicants should review instructor contact preferences here before contacting any instructors about tutoring for their classes.

Where to find Tutoring for CSE Courses

To learn more about accessing tutoring resources for CSE courses, please check the syllabus for your specific CSE class and/or reach out to the instructor for further information about how to get in contact with the tutors/TAs for the course. Each course operates its tutoring structure differently, so your course syllabus and resources are the best way to learn more about accessing CSE Tutors.


You can also visit the JSOE IDEA Engineering Student Center.

About Tutoring

Description and Duties

An undergraduate tutor is an undergraduate student that assists the instructor by providing tutoring to individual students or small groups of students who require additional help. Actual duties for a particular course may vary and will be defined by the supervising instructor. Typical duties may include:

  • Attend lectures and lab/discussion sections, where applicable
  • Hold office hours and review/problem solving sessions, as needed
  • Participate in review sessions using written content/slides generated by the instructor
  • Proctor and grade exams
  • Answer student questions related to course material transmitted via email, asked in person, or posted in an online forum, e.g. Piazza
  • Meet regularly with the instructor
  • Attend Instructional Assistant meetings, i.e. tutor and TA meetings
  • Other applicable duties as assigned by the instructor

 

Benefits

Tutoring is an excellent way to improve communication and people skills, to learn to work in groups to set and accomplish goals, and to learn teaching skills that will be beneficial for future internships or jobs in academia or industry. Additional benefits:

  • Tutors play an important role in providing a quality education for other undergraduate students and achieving the educational goals of the course.
  • Tutors work closely with faculty who can become mentors and references.
  • Amazon, Apple, Google, Microsoft, and Qualcomm, to mention just a few, have told us that the tutoring experience on a resume is highly valued, both for internships and for post-graduation job placement. 
Minimum Requirements

In order to apply to be a tutor, a student must:

  • Be an undergraduate student at UCSD. If you are a current graduate student or going to be a graduate student during the quarter you are applying for, you will not be deemed eligible and your application will not be reviewed.
  • Have a minimum cumulative GPA of 3.0
  • Have earned a minimum grade of B in the course (or its equivalent) to which they are applying
  • Have completed at least two quarters at UCSD by the start of the quarter for which they are applying
  • Enroll in CSE 95 the first quarter of being a CSE tutor.
    • If your first quarter of tutoring is in the summer, you will asked to enroll in CSE 95 when you hold your next CSE tutor appointment.
    • If you have taken DSC 95, you will not be required to enroll in CSE 95.
  • Be on campus to work the first day of the quarter through when eGrades is closed for initial submission. See bold note below. 
    • Note: the first day of the quarter does not always coincide with the first day of instruction.  Please review the calendar here. You must be available no later than the date that corresponds with "___ Quarter begins"
  • Be a registered UCSD student with fees paid
    • For the summer, students are required to either have been enrolled in the previous spring and/or the following fall. Students who have graduated are not eligible to tutor.

For Winter 2025, instructional assistants will be expected to be physically present on campus January 2, 2025 to March 25, 2025. Please do not apply if you cannot adhere to these dates. 

PLEASE NOTE: Remote work is allowed for some courses but only if you reside within the United States. International remote work is never allowed and illegal. 

Application Process & Timeline

Application Process

  1. Determine if you are eligible to serve as a tutor by reviewing the minimum requirements above.
  2. Review instructor contact preferences here.
  3. Review your planned academic schedule for the upcoming quarter to help mitigate scheduling conflicts. If you are a first time tutor, you are required to attend the class you tutor for, as well as CSE 95. 
  4. Apply online. The link can be found at the bottom of this page, and it is updated quarterly.
  5. Thoroughly complete the online application, including your course preferences.
  6. Submit application prior to the priority deadline.
  7. Instructors review applications and indicate hiring preferences.
  8. Applicants are notified roughly according to the schedule outlined below. Applicants are only notified if they receive an offer. We do not send out notification that you didn't receive an offer.
    • Please note that a verbal offer or offer via email from an instructor does not constitute an official offer of employment or any other type of employment contract. The only official notification is via the IA System.
    • Instructors indicate hiring preferences, but the CSE department makes the ultimate hire. An instructor promising you that you will be hired is not a guarantee of employment. If hired, you will receive an email with a link to your appointment letter in the IA System.
  9. If you are selected for a position, you have seven days to respond to accept or decline the offer via the link in the email.
  10. If this is your first time serving as a tutor, you will need to complete new hire paperwork before the start of the quarter and enroll in CSE 95.
    • Please note that if you are not able to complete new hire paperwork prior to the start of your appointment, your offer may be revoked.

 

Timeline

For Participation In: Application Opens: Applicants Notified of Assignment:
Fall TBD TBD
Winter October 17, 2024 November/December 2024
Spring TBD for 2025 TBD for 2025
Summer TBD for 2025 TBD for 2025

*Please note that all timelines are approximate. Notification is based on instructor selections and the time needed for them to review applicants accordingly. 

Tutor Expectations & Performance Evaluations

Tutor Expectations

Tutors are expected to:

 

Performance Evaluations

In certain courses, tutors are evaluated by the instructor of the course and by the students enrolled in the course via online evaluation surveys conducted at the end of the quarter.

Tutor Hours

Undergraduate tutors are typically assigned 5-15 hours per week for 11 weeks during fall, winter, and spring (55-165 total hours in the quarter). Undergraduate tutors are typically assigned 5-20 hours per week during summer. A summer tutor will be assigned to either Summer Session I (5 weeks), Summer Session II (5 weeks), or both (10 weeks). 

Your appointment letter will explicitly state your hour per week assignment and your appointment percentage. These numbers are averages. For example, a 25% appointment is 10 hours per week, on average. Some weeks you may work 20 hours and some weeks you may not work at all (both cases are rare, but this is to illustrate a point). Do not exceed your total quarterly hours.  If you feel that your faculty supervisor is requesting more time than you have been assigned, please contact the department immediately for a confidential consultation. 

If your instructor asks that you work before the start date on your appointment letter, contact the department immediately.  Do not work before the start date outlined in your appointment letter.

Undergraduate tutors are paid biweekly and must submit time cards via Ecotime. Submit your time cards on time so that you can be paid on time. Be very conscious of your time cards, and be honest and accurate in your time reporting. Record and report actual time worked. Do not report average or expected time worked.  Time cards should only reflect hours actually worked. 

CSE 95 - Tutor Apprenticeship

A 2-unit course, CSE 95 - Tutor Apprenticeship, is required of all first-time tutors in the CSE Department, regardless of past experience. In CSE 95, tutors receive individual and group mentoring and training on how to be an effective tutor. This course helps tutors develop the skills and tools necessary to be effective in their roles. To be eligible to take CSE 95 you must have been offered and accepted a position as a tutor in the CSE Department.

There are no exceptions for waiving or delaying CSE 95. If you want to serve as a tutor, it is extremely important that you schedule your courses around CSE 95. Additionally, a requirement of CSE 95 is that you attend the course you are tutoring for, so you will need to make sure that both CSE 95 and the course that you are tutoring for fit into your schedule. 

CSE 95 is not offered during the summer. If your first quarter of tutoring is in the summer, you will asked to enroll in CSE 95 when you hold your next tutor appointment.

If you have already taken DSC 95, you will not need to enroll in CSE 95.

Employment Information
  • You must accept an official appointment offer and complete your hire or rehire paperwork before starting your work as a tutor. If you are not sure if you need to complete new hire or rehire paperwork please contact the Tutor Coordinator at cse-ug-employment@ucsd.edu.
  • Pay rate for the tutor position is $23.73 per hour and paychecks are issued on a biweekly basis.
  • Undergraduate Tutors employed in title code 2860 are covered by a collective bargaining agreement between UC San Diego and the ASE/UAW. 
  • Names and addresses of all Academic Student Employees (ASE) are released to the UAW each quarter as a condition of employment in title code 2860.
  • See the Graduate Division website for additional information concerning Academic Student Employment (ASE).

 

IMPORTANT NOTES FOR NEW TUTORS

NEW TUTORS HAVE TO COMPLETE THE I-9 ONBOARDING PAPERWORK IN-PERSON ON CAMPUS ON TUESDAY JANUARY 7, 2025. Failure to do so will result in no longer being able to tutor for CSE in Winter 2025. It is a quick 5 to 10 minute meeting in the CSE Building.  You need to bring in original copies from the acceptable documents on the I-9 list attached here. Please start to make arrangements to have those documents in hand in the event you receive an offer. No copies will be accepted and presenting a copy will result in you no longer being able to tutor for CSE in Winter 2025. 

Required Trainings

New tutors are required to complete the following mandatory training prior to working:

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

Submit Tutor Application

By submitting an application, you acknowledge that you have read and understand the information outlined above: Winter 2025 Application - Priority Deadline 10/31/2024 @11:59PM

If you have any questions, please contact the CSE Tutor/Reader Employment Coordinator.