Is Columbia University a good company to work for?

Columbia University has an overall rating of 4.0 out of 5, based on over 6,184 reviews left anonymously by employees. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months. 66% of employees would recommend working at Columbia University to a friend and 51% have a positive outlook for the business. The best reviews about Columbia University have been left by employees working as Internship , Research Intern and Data Analyst .

Does Columbia University pay their employees well?

According to anonymously submitted Glassdoor reviews, Columbia University employees rate their compensation and benefits as 3.5 out of 5. Find out more about salaries and benefits at Columbia University. This rating has been stable over the past 12 months.

How satisfied are employees working at Columbia University?

66% 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, 3.6 for culture and values and 3.7 for career opportunities.

What are the top reviewed jobs at Columbia University?

Research Assistant (331) , Teaching Assistant (163) , Graduate Research Assistant (162) , Graduate Student (150) , PhD Student (145) , Postdoctoral Research Scientist (94) , Administrative Assistant (79) , Graduate Teaching Assistant (78) , Postdoctoral Fellow (74) , Associate Research Scientist (72) , Assistant Director (66) , Director (56) , Postdoctoral Researcher (55) , Associate Director (45) , Program Coordinator (44)

What are the pros of working at Columbia University according to real employee reviews?

"Columbia and the Business School are great to work for because of the benefits and the people." ((in 493 reviews)); "The people are great and it's a pleasure to work with students" ((in 317 reviews)); "Flexible hours and in an understanding environment while being able to develop real world skills." ((in 125 reviews)); "Flexibility and good work life balance" ((in 116 reviews)); "The staff is friendly considering it's a large mix of students and senior staffers." ((in 86 reviews))

What are the cons of working at Columbia University according to real employee reviews?

"The pay can be low and slow" ((in 303 reviews)); "low salary very far from my home not much increase yearly not much chances of growth departments are not well interconnected" ((in 268 reviews)); "extremely low on pay and poor management" ((in 107 reviews)); "Senior leadership can be difficult to deal with." ((in 40 reviews)); "If you get a bad manager, not much can be done." ((in 38 reviews))

What are employees saying about Columbia University layoffs in 2026?

Explore Glassdoor’s employee reviews to understand what current and former employees are saying about Columbia University layoffs and their outlook for job security at Columbia University in 2026.

What are the top reviewed Columbia University locations?

New York , Morningside Heights , Brooklyn , Palisades , Washington Heights , Los Angeles , San Francisco , Chicago , New City , Washington , San Diego , Seattle , Manhattanville , Fort Lee , Manhasset , New York Mills , Columbus , Columbia , Jacksonville , Tampa , East Orange , Edison , Fair Lawn , Maplewood , New Brunswick , Newark , Paterson , Tenafly , Princeton , Orange Beach

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Columbia University

Columbia University reviews

4.0

66% would recommend to a friend

(5,439 total reviews)

Lee C. Bollinger

61% approve of CEO

51% positive business outlook

Ratings by category

4.0

Diversity & inclusion

3.8

Work/Life balance

3.7

Career opportunities

3.6

Culture & values

3.5

Compensation and benefits

3.4

Senior management

Columbia University has an employee rating of 4.0 out of 5 stars, based on 5,439 company reviews on Glassdoor which indicates that most employees have a good working experience there. The Columbia University employee rating is in line with the average (within 1 standard deviation) for employers within the Education industry (3.7 stars).

Ratings by demographic groups

Race / Ethnicity

Gender

Sexual orientation

Disability

Parent or family caregiver

Veteran status

Reviews by job title

5K reviews

2.0

Apr 23, 2023

Ivy League image, decentralized realilty

Senior manager

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Treats employees with respect for the most part

Cons

Salaries are on the low side. Benefits are not competitive. Academics are treated like the only visible human resources whereas administrators bear heavy work loads and make things work. The university and medical center are decentralized in the extreme and you rise and fall by the quality of the network you are able to build. If you are good at finding work colleagues who will help you get your answers and the resources to complete your work, you will do well in this environment.

5.0

Apr 22, 2023

Overall strong workplace, but abysmal hiring/payroll processes

Graduate research assistant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

Opporrunity to work with amazing faculty/staff (essential for building your network professionally/academically) Chance to work on research, including data collection, analysis, and report writing (maybe even publish a thing or two!) Work on public health topics that are interesting to you/related to your studies bosses are flexible with your work hours/schedule b/c they know you're a student (esp around exams/holidays)

Cons

hiring process is abysmal, i knew i had the job on June 2022, submitted my documents on August 2022, wasn't officially on payroll until October or novemeber due to delays. Timesheets are still submitted IN WORD FORMAT, so you manually calculate everything, and you have to estimate what you'll work on week2 of your timesheet, because you have to submit before you finish working for that week, so can get annoying if you go under or over what you estimate.

1.0

Feb 10, 2023

So many issues with being paid at Columbia

Graduate research assistant

Recommend

CEO approval

Business Outlook

Pros

I guess there is a level of prestige.

Cons

I have been paid late many times and no one can seem to tell me why it keeps happening. I felt like I was being gas lit, as if it were somehow my fault. For a university with so much money and resources at their finger tips, they treat their employees as disposable.

Viewing 151 - 153 of 5,439 Reviews

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Ratings by demographic groups

Reviews by job title

Ivy League image, decentralized realilty

Overall strong workplace, but abysmal hiring/payroll processes

So many issues with being paid at Columbia

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