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Cornell University

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Cornell University

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Cornell University Reviews

Updated May 30, 2023

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Found 2,742 of over 3K reviews
4.4
87% Recommend to a Friend
85% Approve of CEO

Found 2,740 of over 3K reviews

4.4
87%
Recommend to a Friend
85%
Approve of CEO
Cornell University President Martha E. Pollack (no image)
Martha E. Pollack
511 Ratings

What people are saying about Cornell University

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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment

Pros
  • "The people are great; they are flexible and always there for you to ask questions of.(in 196 reviews)
  • "Great benefits and room to grow within the college depending on your position within each college within the university(in 182 reviews)
  • "Highly flexible hours and workload.(in 99 reviews)
  • "Quite and beautiful campus with a lot of collaboration across labs(in 82 reviews)
  • "Great colleagues with impactful research(in 50 reviews)
Cons
Pros & Cons are excerpts from user reviews. They are not authored by Glassdoor.

Ratings by Demographics

This rating reflects the overall rating of Cornell University and is not affected by filters.

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  1. 5.0
    Current Employee, more than 3 years

    Great place to be

    May 30, 2023 - Graduate Research Assistant in Ithaca, NY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Pay, vacation, and staff support

    Cons

    Hours are long, very mentally taxing

    Be the first to find this review helpful
  2. 3.0
    Current Employee

    Great benefits but pay lags behind the times compared to equivalent roles in industry

    May 5, 2023 - Laboratory Manager 
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Great health insurance and vacation/ leave time. Compared to the alternatives in the area, pay is ok. Boasts a robust internal network, with decent opportunity to move into alternative roles within the University.

    Cons

    No clear advancement "path" for individuals in Technical roles. Pay, flex-work, and expectations can be highly variable across managers in different offices, departments, and schools. The merit-based annual salary improvement plan doesn't guarantee any pay increase. Very difficult to pursue promotions, pay raises, job reclassifications resulting in mostly lateral- movement across departments once you have been in the University for a few years.

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    1 person found this review helpful
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  4. 4.0
    Current Employee, less than 1 year

    Gov Department Research Assistant Role: Decent

    May 26, 2023 - Undergraduate Research Assistant in Ithaca, NY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Pretty routine and simple to understand the role, flexible hours and commitment to projects, decent leadership, and education on what to do and how to do tasks

    Cons

    Mostly autonomous and hands-off during the actual work, hard to really gain an understanding of where this will all be leading me towards

    Be the first to find this review helpful
  5. 5.0
    Current Employee, less than 1 year

    Cornell Team and Leadership Center

    May 24, 2023 - Program Facilitator in Ithaca, NY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Highly flexible hours and workload. Sets out to be an opportunity for learning and growth.

    Cons

    If you don't like being outside or have a condition worsened by the outdoors, I suppose that is a con.

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  6. 3.0
    Current Employee

    Difficult but spurs growth

    May 21, 2023 - PhD Student 
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    There are a ton of very smart, very passionate people here. You'll make great connections with a lot of other people like this and they'll spur you to grow.

    Cons

    It's difficult, and people mostly care about work. So they work long hours and it's not always the most social place.

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  7. 5.0
    Current Employee, more than 5 years

    Great culture!

    May 23, 2023 - Director in Ithaca, NY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Cornell University routinely checks in on the pulse of its staff. It realizes and offers flexible work arrangements post-pandemic.

    Cons

    Ithaca is a beautiful city in the Finger Lakes. Some think it's a bit rural.

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  8. 3.0
    Current Employee, more than 1 year

    Slope Day Student Director

    May 21, 2023 - Festival Director 
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    A rewarding opportunity for students interested in festival planning

    Cons

    The student body is ungrateful and hateful until the day of show

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  9. 5.0
    Former Employee, more than 1 year

    Student Worker

    May 23, 2023 - Student Worker in Ithaca, NY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Flexible Hours for busy students

    Cons

    Sometimes difficult to pick up extra shifts

    Be the first to find this review helpful
  10. 4.0
    Current Employee, more than 3 years

    Decent Place

    Apr 19, 2023 - Postdoctoral Associate in Ithaca, NY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    - I feel like I contribute to interesting and societally relevant research - Cornell has a good environment - Benefits (health insurance, retirement) are good as well

    Cons

    - Cornell, or more broadly, Ithaca NY, are what you make of them - There can be things to do but this isn't an urban area - Can feel remote and isolated in the area even though major metro hubs are only 1-4 hours away

    Continue reading
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  11. 5.0
    Current Employee, more than 1 year

    Expectations exceeded

    Apr 15, 2023 - Informatics Data Analyst in Ithaca, NY
    Recommend
    CEO Approval
    Business Outlook

    Pros

    Open-minded, collaborative environment, fantastic benefits, and growth opportunities

    Cons

    Take-homey pay is on the low end but the benefits make it competitive

    Continue reading
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Viewing 1 - 10 of 2,740 Reviews
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Cornell University Reviews FAQs

Cornell University has an overall rating of 4.4 out of 5, based on over 3,018 reviews left anonymously by employees. 87% of employees would recommend working at Cornell University to a friend and 76% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -1% over the last 12 months.

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Cornell University employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.9 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Cornell University. This rating has decreased by -2% over the last 12 months.

87% of Cornell University employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated Cornell University 4.0 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.2 for culture and values and 4.2 for career opportunities.

According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at Cornell University to be career development, coworkers, benefits and the cons to be culture, management, compensation.

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Glassdoor has 3,018 Cornell University reviews submitted anonymously by Cornell University employees. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Cornell University is right for you.