Columbia University Reviews
Updated May 20, 2022
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Found 3,515 of over 3,939 reviews
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
- "Columbia and the Business School are great to work for because of the benefits and the people." (in 298 reviews)
- "Salaries in the teaching and research tracks are low compared to private industry; many positions depend on grant funding." (in 194 reviews)
- "I have seen on more than one occasion, staff members completely stop doing their jobs with no serious repercussions (b/c the managers don't want to deal with the strenuous process of terminating someone)." (in 26 reviews)
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of Columbia University and is not affected by filters.
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- Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
good working environment, good community
Cons
the salary is too low for student workers.
- Current Employee, more than 10 years★★★★★
Pros
Working in an environment of higher education allows you to learn about topics that interest you with a large library system at your fingertips. The employees are diverse and with the campus' expansion, there are opportunities for career advancement. Since the onset of the pandemic, employees have been afforded the flexibility to continue telecommuting or do so on a hybrid basis. Tuition exemption is a great benefit if you're looking to finish up study towards a BA or start a Master's program of study. The University's location in Morningside Heights is also easily accessible by the 1 train to 116th or the A, B, C, D, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 trains to 125th street (the latter option requires a short ride on the M60 crosstown bus which stops right at the campus' doorstep)
Cons
Salaries are not as competitive as they could be and there are no bonuses for most staff members. Benefits are competitive with dental, medical, retirement and tuition benefits but the cost of living in NYC increases every year with inflation and, sadly, salaries are not increasing enough to meet the demand.
Continue reading - Current Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
- Top notch research - Generally happy work environment at Zuckerman Institute - Good balance of experimental/theoretical PIs who collaborate well - Excellent professional support e.g. grant writing, networking with famous professors - Generally friendly administration - Easy to walk or take public transit to work
Cons
- Postdoc housing is a scam, don't count on it - Even if you get postdoc housing, they give you very short notice to find a place and then kick you out after 3 years - Pay is much too low for NYC cost of living, expect a low quality of life and do not plan to have kids as a postdoc unless your family is rich - Crappy benefits e.g. expensive health insurance that doesn't cover anything, no retirement benefits, limited support for finding and affording childcare, useless support for finding housing - Significant hidden costs, e.g. NYC city tax costs ~$2000/year just to live here, food is very overpriced in NYC - Postdocs are unionized, but the union is not very effective, e.g. raises are 2.5%/year which is less than inflation - This poor compensation feels very exploitative for such a wealthy university e.g. President Bollinger makes $4.6 million/year and Columbia is the 2nd largest land owner in Manhattan
Continue reading - Current Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Pros
The benefits are great. Dependent care allowance provided by the employer. Various health insurance options. Except dental. They went from PPO to HMO and now it limits your choices.
Cons
The communication from Departments like Cufo Human Resources, and IT are horrible. No effective communication or decision making. The salary is so low especially if you have been here for a while. They don’t increase your salary. During 2020 there was a hiring freeze and no salary increases but in 2021 they provided little to no increased even with great performance evaluations. Overpay vendors but pay to long standing employees is terrible
Continue reading - Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
Flexible working hours. Ability to work remotely via server.
Cons
PI may contact me at odd hours.
- Current Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Supportive work environment, nice mix of long-term and new employees. Beautiful campuses - good shuttles services Robust training (systems, policies, etc.) making on-boarding and learning as seamless as possible in a remote/hybrid environment. Sincere interest in retaining talent - generous benefits, leave policies, 403b contributions and especially, tuition policies including dependent scholarship.
Cons
Hard to think of too many. Columbia and all its affiliates - are a large and complex organization. This requires a learning curves for all roles just to acclimate.
- Former Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Pros
Stable, secure employment, great benefits and vacation, discounted tuition for first 2 years and then free tuition after 2 years. Many folks who work there have been there for many, many years. Beautiful campus, caring coworkers.
Cons
Extremely slow to to follow through on raises and promotions (every dept must go through main CU HR to complete), not very competitive pay, dinosaur when it comes to understanding media landscape, and a history of being The Man basically. Every school or center has its own operations but then is expected to adhere to/communicate with central CU, and it gets very murky. Not uncommon for capable people to take on extra work not in their job descriptions, which does not get acknowledged, and hiring is exceptionally slow.
Continue reading - Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
health benefits and remote work
Cons
unable to take vacation when i want
- Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
environment is very good for a new grad
Cons
salary is low, not much opptunity to promote
- Former Employee★★★★★
Pros
Had lots to offer for career growth and let me set the pace
Cons
Starts off a little slow
Columbia University Reviews FAQs
Columbia University has an overall rating of 4.1 out of 5, based on over 3,939 reviews left anonymously by employees. 84% of employees would recommend working at Columbia University to a friend and 64% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.
84% of Columbia University employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Columbia University 3.8 out of 5 for work life balance, 3.8 for culture and values and 3.9 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Columbia University to be career development, coworkers, benefits and the cons to be culture, management, compensation.
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