Pros
-Very flexible work environment -Awesome, knowledgeable colleagues -Great stamp on your resume for young aspiring researchers -RAND publishes a lot so you’ll have the opportunity to be a coauthor which is a boost for grad applications -Interesting research projects that have real world implications -Great for self-starters and motivated post grads
Cons
As many have mentioned, the coverage situation forces some people to take on uninteresting (terrible) projects but have great coverage opportunities. If you’re looking for research experience outside of defense, good luck! Unless you were specifically hired for a unit(health/education), it’s difficult to find work outside of defense. And based on my experience, some projects have questionable methodologies and research motives. You’ll have to spend some unpaid time to develop skills (eg programming) or meet new researchers to get coverage. Schmooze your way to great projects and choose your project leaders wisely!! Accept that you’ll probably accept bad apples just to enjoy the good ones. Be a self-starter and plan out what you want to achieve within the 3 years time frame RAs are restricted to.