Harvard Business School Reviews

Pros

If you know what you are doing, you can turn this role into a big value-add for your career. Statistically speaking (looking at previous RAs), this is highly unlikely.

Cons

From an academic perspective, a lot of HBS faculty are far from stellar, very different from top notch academic departments elsewhere. This isn't to say there aren't exceptions, obviously. However, odds are you will be working on second- or third-tier academic work. I also echo other comments here around having professors who contributed zilch to a case be placed ahead of you as authors (because, yes, you're at the bottom of the totem pole, despite technically being the lead author). The feeling of being a back-office worker pervades the institution. One time, I wanted to show a friend the library, and was told that RAs weren’t allowed to bring guests in (who on earth came up with that rule). When you go to Spangler to buy your lunch, you will be reminded that “staff,” the umbrella term for RAs and non-faculty, have to pay taxes for their meals, while students do not. Your card access will be very restricted, granting entry to the building you are working in and Baker Library only, making it difficult to get into other parts of the campus even when your work requires it. Amongst RAs, the culture is one of meekness, lack of big-picture thinking, and muted ambitions. In general (there are exceptions), there is a weird sense that no one really wants to be an RA, but are just doing it as a stepping stone in their careers or because they didn't know what else to do. There are also truly disappointing feelings of envy and secretiveness about people’s next steps. One RA hid which graduate programs he was accepted at, others feel jealous when someone gets a good job and is leaving sooner than expected. All-in-all, if you are/were a top student at another elite school, do not be fooled by the Harvard logo. You have nothing new to learn here. Be confident and apply to that graduate school straight away instead of thinking to yourself “HBS would look good on my resume and the letter of recommendation would help me out a lot.” If you are going to get into a top program, you will get in regardless. Likewise, if you are thinking “I could leverage this experience into a great position in industry,” I highly recommend that you do that straight away instead.

Pros

Vacation time, hours, medical care

Cons

Lower salaries than in industry