Columbia University Reviews

Pros

Excellent experience in all ways

Cons

No cons to report back

Pros

Great people in general, an amazing University, and some of the most state of the art research being done in academia.

Cons

Co-workers who are uninformed, don't listen, or take informed advice about getting tasks accomplished. A strong desire for the heads of Dept. to "get ahead" versus working with their Department cohorts. Absent leadership that "check in" just for the sake of checking a box with zero follow through. An extremely slow on boarding process A network of individuals who don't communicate their expectations or desires inline with what professional tools are made available to work with. An IT department who continually fail to work with other departments. In essence if it doesn't feel right, abort mission, stay away, and avoid at all costs...even if it looks like a "good fit" at first.

Pros

Opporrunity to work with amazing faculty/staff (essential for building your network professionally/academically) Chance to work on research, including data collection, analysis, and report writing (maybe even publish a thing or two!) Work on public health topics that are interesting to you/related to your studies bosses are flexible with your work hours/schedule b/c they know you're a student (esp around exams/holidays)

Cons

hiring process is abysmal, i knew i had the job on June 2022, submitted my documents on August 2022, wasn't officially on payroll until October or novemeber due to delays. Timesheets are still submitted IN WORD FORMAT, so you manually calculate everything, and you have to estimate what you'll work on week2 of your timesheet, because you have to submit before you finish working for that week, so can get annoying if you go under or over what you estimate.

Pros

Competitive salary and benefits compared to other places in NYC.

Cons

Administration is rigid and unwilling to be open to new ideas. Expect every new hire to be a unicorn and rather burn out staff than to adequately train them. Guidance is rarely consistently applied and you have to tolerate a fair amount of emotional abuse.

Pros

Treats employees with respect for the most part

Cons

Salaries are on the low side. Benefits are not competitive. Academics are treated like the only visible human resources whereas administrators bear heavy work loads and make things work. The university and medical center are decentralized in the extreme and you rise and fall by the quality of the network you are able to build. If you are good at finding work colleagues who will help you get your answers and the resources to complete your work, you will do well in this environment.

Pros

CGEP (Columbia University) is an excellent place to work. The staff is fantastic and the projects are very engaging and timely.

Cons

HR is very approachable but sometimes limited in the ways it can help you.

Pros

Amazing students, world-class institution, decent benefits, pay for lecturers is more or less livable. Good research budget.

Cons

University is an administrative nightmare, no paths to advancement, the job is framed as like a *favor* done to you by the administration to buy you more time in higher education before you inevitably do a hard career reset. Little to no oversight because the university does not care about teaching. No guaranteed office space so you end up doing student meetings in a cafe like you're a TA.

Pros

Colleagues believe in mission of institution. Fairly secure job and industry. Surrounded by some of most cutting edge research, smartest individuals, and inspiring stories. Fairly good work/life balance. Fantastic vacation policy with unlimited sick time and tuition benefits.

Cons

Siloed work environment even between departments within a division - can come out as lack of collaboration. Too many competing priorities. Many managers focused on own success and not growth of direct reports so you'll need to be a big advocate for yourself.

Pros

Plenty of learning experiences plenty of time off free education after a couple of years fair salary and retirement benefits

Cons

some management decisions are confusing

Pros

Good health coverage, lots of green space in the neighborhood

Cons

Low salary making it hard to find an apartment in NYC without roommates (annual salary must be 40x monthly rent)