Graduate Study in the Sage School

Teaching

Teaching experience is required for the PhD in the Sage School, and graduate students normally receive part of their five-year funding package in the form of teaching assistantships. Sage School teaching assistants typically assist a professor in a lower-level undergraduate course, lead one discussion section per week for about 25 students, and are responsible for grading the work of those 25 students (a commitment of approximately 15 hours per week on average over the course of the academic year).

Advanced graduate students typically have the opportunity to teach their own course on a philosophical topic of their own choosing in Cornell�s First-Year Writing Seminar Program. First-year writing seminars enroll a maximum of 17 students and emphasize the development of writing skills within the context of discipline-specific subject matter. Graduate students often find teaching first-year writing seminars especially rewarding.