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Harvard University

Is this your company?

It's a great place for resources and the resume, but mentorship as a grad student is on average poor. - Anonymous employee Harvard University Employee Review

4.0
Aug 9, 2011
Anonymous employee
Recommend
CEO approval
Business Outlook

Pros

An advanced degree in academia from Harvard is without question prestigious, and the resources to focus on just about anything are available. Even if you have a poor time here, that little bump on the resume might open a few doors. Your peers are uniformly intelligent and interesting.

Cons

If you are truly interested in mentorship from a professor, this is not the best place to be. Professor's attitudes range from the arrogant to quite friendly, but almost all of them will not have the time to truly mentor you (with some exceptions). If my entire entering class had attended a lower level institution, I imagine more of us would be going into academia after our degrees. Finally, those smart peers can be a spectacularly unsupportive environment if you're susceptible to that kind of thing. Again, it's not malice, but everyone feels a little insecure about their standing, and that can undermine a lot of interactions.

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Pros

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Cons

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2.0
Jun 30, 2026
Recommend
CEO approval
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Pros

Great Union and benefits for non-profits/higher ed. Wonderful colleagues outside of leadership!

Cons

GSD Development and Alumni Relations (under current leadership) is an incredibly toxic work environment. I didn't realize the intensity of the toll it took on my until after leaving, and I am not one to leave a negative review, but as they are hiring for several positions currently, I wish to share words of caution with applicants. Cons: - Absolutely not a safe space for anyone who is Black, brown, trans, queer, working-class, or disabled - 100% top-down direction. No room for personal exploration, initiative, or creativity. - Minimal guidance from leadership - Frequent pivots, even in the late stages of projects - Petty, immature talking behind your back by leadership - No upward mobility unless the Associate Dean or Dean like you - Deeply disingenuous comments, reflections, and feedback from leadership - Complete lack of transparency on direction, goals, etc. - Small mistakes are made cornerstones of performance evaluations, while leadership routinely missteps. Leadership never takes accountability. - Top-down policy decisions, completely lacking detail, thought, and care outside of legal ramifications - Ever-changing in-office requirements

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