Arizona State University reviews

Limited and unclear routes to promotion. Variation between campuses in the quality of instruction. Always a push to teach more and more students.

I worked as a graduate student in the Chemistry/Biochemistry department. They make you teach for getting your salary. Most faculty either have very poor or no research funding. Only about 4-5 faculty out of 30 really have the money to pay for their grad student's salary. Grad students are involved in both teaching and research and almost each and every activity of the department. Yet they are very poorly paid. Its like having to do two separate jobs. This leaves very little time for research. Most faculty are not considerate towards grad teaching assistants and they expect them to do almost all of the grading/ lab instruction work. They forget that a graduate students primary job is research. I would suggest that prospective graduate students apply in other grad programs at ASU such as through the biodesign since you get paid directly for research and you do not have to do a second job.