Become a Peer Tutor

Peer Tutors are UC students who are interested in providing one-on-one academic support to their fellow students. Tutors are recruited from colleges across the university to provide assistance in a wide range of courses. The Peer Tutors’ primary roles are:

  • Facilitating tutoring sessions with UC students online or in-person, based on student preference
  • Attending all scheduled tutoring sessions on time and be prepared to assist students as required
  • Providing a safe space for students to learn and make mistakes using strategies learned through the Peer Tutor training workshop
  • Attending trainings as required to continually develop tutoring skills
  • Maintaining a professional attitude about matters such as class standards, grades, and other student complaints
  • Modeling appropriate professional attitudes and behaviors to all UC staff, faculty, and students
  • Acting as a representative for the Peer Tutoring program across campus

Peer Tutors are NOT required to be subject-matter experts in every course they tutor, as the main goal is to be an approachable and relatable problem-solving partner to the student. Training is provided to support tutors in working with the student, using the student’s resources and open resources (like the Internet), to find the answer to a question when tutors do not know the answer themselves.

Competitive Peer Tutor applicants will have:

  • Earn and maintain at least a 3.0 University GPA and 3.0 Term GPA each semester
  • Earned at least a B+ in courses wishing to tutor
  • Strong interpersonal and communication skills
  • At least one full semester at UC
  • Available to tutor in-person at either Clifton or UC Clermont campuses (virtual-only exceptions may be made, particulary for supporting online courses or online programs)

Unlike many other subject-specific supports such as Supplemental Instruction (SI), Supplemental Review Sessions (SRS), and Learning Assistants (LA), the one-on-one nature of the Peer Tutoring program allows Peer Tutors to work with multiple courses, often in back-to-back tutoring sessions. All current Peer Tutors work with more than one course (for example, MATH 1021 and 1061), and students comfortable working with multiple courses are prioritized in the hiring process. In their application, students should indicate ALL courses that they are comfortable working with and qualified to support (B+ or higher, or another equivalent qualification).

The Peer Tutoring program specifically seeks tutors in the following subject areas:

  • Accounting
  • American Sign Language
  • Business Analytics
  • Biology
  • Chemistry
  • Economics
  • Finance
  • French
  • Mathematics
  • Physics
  • Psychology (Research Methods/Statistics)
  • Spanish
  • Statistics

Students wishing to focus on only one specific course are encouraged to explore other Learning Commons subject-specific positions like those mentioned above.

Students wishing to tutor English (ENGL) or English as a Second Language (ESL) courses are encouraged to apply for Academic Writing Center positions.

Students wishing to focus only on Information Technology (IT) courses are encouraged to connect with the IT Learning Center. The Learning Commons does not hire IT-only tutors.

Peer Tutors enjoy flexible scheduling options. All new Peer Tutors choose at least seven hours per week within Learning Commons open hours (see below) in which they will be available for students to book appointments. 98% of Peer Tutors have all-hybrid availability, meaning students can book appointments with them either in-person or online based on student preference. Peer Tutors are also able to change their schedule at any time throughout the semester, provided at least 8 days’ advance notice is given, though having a weekly consistent schedule is generally preferred.

Given the popularity of in-person tutoring, applicants desiring to work online-only will only be considered if positions cannot be filled by hybrid tutors.

Scheduling options for Peer Tutor availability vary based on the desired tutoring modality:

  • UC Clifton campus (French Hall West):  Monday-Thursday 9am-8pm and Friday 9am-4pm
  • UC Clermont campus (Jones): Monday-Thursday 9am-7pm and Friday 9am-4pm
  • Online-only: Monday-Thursday 9am-8pm and Friday 9am-4pm

Peer Tutors only clock in and are paid for the appointments scheduled with them, not for their full availability. This means that, if a tutor has 10 hours of availability throughout the week and students have only booked 7 hours of appointments, the tutor will be paid for 7 hours of work and will not be required to report to work during the availability not scheduled with appointments. Peer Tutors always know their appointment schedule at least 24 hours in advance.

Applicants who advance to the interview phase of the consideration process will be required to submit at least 1 reference and are encouraged to submit 2 references. 

The one required reference is strongly encouraged to be a University of Cincinnati Faculty member who teaches/taught one of the courses you are applying to support. For example, if you are applying to tutor for CHEM 1030 and MATH 1062, at least one of your references should be from a faculty member who teaches one of those courses. 

Recommendations from fellow students will not be accepted, unless they are graduate students who have known the applicant in an academic capacity (instructor, TA, project advisors, etc.). Instructors from other institutions will be accepted on a case by case basis.

Once you have reviewed the position responsibilities and qualifications, visit the Student Employment webpage and apply. You are able to select more than one position you want to apply for within the application, but you should not select all positions.

Questions? Contact the Learning Commons Front Desk at learningcommons@uc.edu.