University of Pennsylvania Reviews
Updated May 26, 2022
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Found 3,328 of over 3,659 reviews
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Amy Gutmann
1,125 Ratings
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Top Review Highlights by Sentiment
Pros
- "The benefits are great and allow you to get healthcare from all the university's clinics/practices/hospital." (in 379 reviews)
- "There is always room to climb in carrer positions and you meet lots of great people." (in 169 reviews)
- "Many opportunities to participate in clinical studies and collaborate with clinical scientists." (in 58 reviews)
Cons
- "Starting pay is low and it is hard to move up to higher paying positions without an advanced degree" (in 207 reviews)
- "Parking is expensive; commute can be long depending on where you live; take a while to get hired" (in 41 reviews)
Pros & Cons are excerpts from user reviews. They are not authored by Glassdoor.
Ratings by Demographics
This rating reflects the overall rating of University of Pennsylvania and is not affected by filters.
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- Former Employee, less than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
good, excellent, happy, collaborative, nice
Cons
nothing, absolutely nothing to complain about
- Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
- Great resources and libraries - Philadelphia - Access to ALL departments with excellent faculty - Great people in general - A few good and engaged faculty - Great health insurance - Its Cons are SO many that make you a very resilient person
Cons
- Architecture School Ph.D. program lacks faculty -- mainly engaged faculty in History and Theory -- with solid experience advising students with effectiveness and at the highest level. - Too many prima-donnas, self-centered people, and gossip/games. - Lack of an honest debate and openness to the school at large; cosmetic 'engagement' actions. - Isolation from peer schools and departments. As a Ph.D. candidate, you have to move around and solve WAY too many problems by yourself. - Economic offer for Ph.D. students is bad and non-realistic for a school like this and compared with all Ph.D. programs at Penn. - The Architecture Department's Direction does not value or support the Ph.D. program or students. - Power struggles between faculty constantly trickle down
- Current Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
The lab I work for is amazing. The culture is very inclusive, and I feel my best when I come to work every day. The resources are incredible, and the tuition coverage has also been a great benefit.
Cons
UPenn is a large bureaucracy, so you have to jump through a ton of hoops to get anything done outside of lab. Promotions and raises based on merit that would typically happen pretty quickly at other companies take forever and require lots of follow up. If your PI is good about it, you can get a raise, but there are plenty of research staff who don’t get promoted because their PI’s don’t want to go through the trouble. It’s like Penn doesn’t want to keep talented research staff around by paying them a fair market rate.
- Former Employee★★★★★
Pros
Nice place to work at.
Cons
Low pay for student workers
- Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
The culture of the center/lab is important for quality of work for the same job.
Cons
The pay is lower for CRC as compared with other options in Philadelphia
- Former Employee, more than 1 year★★★★★
Pros
Excellent professional development opportunities and support.
Cons
No cons applicable for this position.
- Current Employee, more than 3 years★★★★★
Pros
I appreciate being part of the Penn Community for professional (academic), social, and infrastructure reasons.
Cons
As with all large, prestigious, and wealthy institutions, the Univerity is often cavalier with its employees in the greatest position of precarity. On more than a few occasions, the university has failed to pay me in a timely manner (sometimes 6 mos at a time) as my contract has fallen between administrative cracks. I am not salaried.
Continue reading - Current Employee, more than 5 years★★★★★
Pros
You really feel taken care of if you're a full-time salaried employee. The benefits are great and allow you to get healthcare from all the university's clinics/practices/hospital. I never experienced pressure to work overtime or mandatory social events outside work hours. Great professional boundaries. Little to no micromanaging.
Cons
You have to be okay with university culture. University systems can be frustrating decentralized.
- Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
Great university with tuition benefits for employers. Great for employers' professional development.
Cons
The working environment is more business but less casual compared to other universities.
- Current Employee★★★★★
Pros
Great place to get exposure to medical analytics within radiology. Really helped my career as an early graduate
Cons
Working academia is not really financially rewarding but you can get a lot of knowledge and publishing experience
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University of Pennsylvania Reviews FAQs
University of Pennsylvania has an overall rating of 4.3 out of 5, based on over 3,659 reviews left anonymously by employees. 86% of employees would recommend working at University of Pennsylvania to a friend and 69% have a positive outlook for the business. This rating has decreased by -1% over the last 12 months.
86% of University of Pennsylvania employees would recommend working there to a friend based on Glassdoor reviews. Employees also rated University of Pennsylvania 3.9 out of 5 for work life balance, 4.0 for culture and values and 4.1 for career opportunities.
According to reviews on Glassdoor, employees commonly mention the pros of working at University of Pennsylvania to be coworkers, career development, benefits and the cons to be culture, management, compensation.
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