UCSF (University of California, San Francisco) Reviews

Pros

The work benefits society - it's not about making money
Good pay and benefits if you have a job

Cons

Budget cuts and lack of state funding = reduction of services and jobs

Pros

Benefits, collegial, scholarly, friendly, family-OK

Cons

glass ceiling, bossy professors, prima donna faculty

Pros

Great Faculty, exciting work environment, strong collaboration potential, brilliant people

Cons

Coursework is a little boring

Pros

Achievements of labs and prestige of the University

Cons

Everyone here works really long hours and work/life balance is scoffed at as something to be considered in other lines of work, not science.

Advice to Senior Management

My advice would be to focus on brining the immense resources to bear on improving access of labs to core facilities.

Pros

UCSF is a great place to acquire a foundation in research and a recommendation for an advanced degree application.

Cons

The terms "professional development, work/life balance, and departmental transfer" are not used at this institution.

Advice to Senior Management

The majority of scientists and doctors lack management skills. Unlike students, employees require career advancement and payment for time worked.

Pros

-Great health benefits, lots of time off
-Great retirement pension plan if you stay there for the minimum of 5 years
-If you have a good manager, I'm sure it could be a great place to work. Your career is basically in the hands of your manager and how assertive you are about getting a promotion or a raise.

Cons

There was a lack of leadership in my specific department. Research your division, the managers, as well as the faculty to know what you will be dealing with. There are complicated rules that will limit your promotions and salaries. Make sure you are aware of the policies before you accept a job offer.

Advice to Senior Management

Please value your employees more. Please promote your employees more. Continually hiring new people is expensive, and it's bad for business.

Pros

The people who work here are are passionate about the research they do and/or clinical care they provide to patients and it is exciting to be a part of this community;
Having UCSF as a place of employment is great to have on your resume.

Cons

Due to budget (and therefore personnel) cuts, the workload has become overwhelming and unsustainable. Management expects exempt employees to work hours beyond what is reasonable and staff are burned out and depressed. To add to the sense of disgruntlement, there have been no pay raises for non-unionized staff for four years.

Advice to Senior Management

This could be a great place to work, but management needs to be realistic about what their employees can and should be expected to do - and to respect the importance of the need for employees to have time for their personal life - and to find ways to reward employees for their hard work if pay raises are not a possibility.

Pros

Having a family - this is one of the best places to work. They really value employees and have a lot of perks to show that. I like that my schedule is flexible and supported.

Cons

Some of the paperwork can be overwhelming. However, things have gotten a lot better and the system seems to be running a little faster and smoother in the last year. The pay and pay freezes may not be the best but the other perks make up for it.

Advice to Senior Management

Keep up the communication - it is very much appreciated and valuing your employees.

Pros

Top researchers in respective fields work at UCSF

Cons

University consists of little fifdoms and staff are not treated consistently across the University.

Advice to Senior Management

Develop consistent application of HR policies across all units

Pros

They have the best graduate program in this country which makes me very competitive when I am looking for a job.

Cons

There are no undergrad programs and almost no campus. So the employers do not always have recruiting activities on campus.

Advice to Senior Management

Be more attractive to employers and should create more industrial job opportunities for PhD students and post-docs. Hold more career affairs.