Good Pay for the Area, Terrible for the Industry
Pros
- It's nice working at a large, state university. There was always a lot going on - plays, concerts, events, classes to take, etc. - Pay is good enough for the area depending on your position - Benefits are, generally, really good for the area. - Depending on your role and department, you could end up working with some wonderful, intelligent people - As a large, old university it has this ineffable quality and culture. The campus is beautiful and it feels good to be there (sometimes).
Cons
- Incredibly dysfunctional culture across the school as a whole, especially in recent years. Higher-level admin is completely disconnected from reality and the rest of the school. - Extremely questionable decisions are constantly being made across upper-level administration and major crises are often mishandled, resulting in chaos at the lower levels. - School is currently engaging in overly business-minded decision making. - Depending on your department, you can end up working with horrible people with poor boundaries. You must keep a good head on your shoulders to ensure that you are not taken advantage of. - Terrible pay for the industry, some of the lowest I've seen at a major university. - They wield the benefits that they offer as a cudgel to justify low pay and poor treatment of employees. - Depending on your role, you could get terrible pay for the area - it really depends on the department, school, etc. that you are working for. - Required qualifications often do not match the pay offered - positions requiring advanced degrees can pay less than $45,000 a year.
