Working at San Diego State University in Sunnyvale, CA: 1 Employee Job Reviews by Real Employee working in Sunnyvale, CA Area

"Do your research on this one!"

What do you like about working at San Diego State University?

"Lots of things to do on and off campus. Decent benefits package"

Do you have any tips for others interviewing with this company?

"Go in with your eyes open. Talk to the graduate students and lab workers more than the professors. See how many of them have been there longer than they should be. Ask how long it takes graduates to get jobs and if the job is appropriate to the degree. How helpful is the professor. What's his/her dark side like. Does he/she make sense when explaining the reserach. Who funds it. How much finding. What is the industrial application. How lucrative is this field. Things like that. Something to keep in mind is that as a part time employee you are ineligible for unemployment insurance once you graduate. It may take a very long time to land your first job."

What don't you like about working at San Diego State University?

"Expectation inflation and lack of oversight makes a 2 year masters degree go to 5 for some and a 5 year doctorate extend to 8 to 10 - at least in the chemistry program. As a graduate student you are cheap labor. Little to no oversight means professors can pretty much keep you around as long as they want. Myself and most of my peers were in the doctorate program for 7-10 years! There were a multitude or reasons for this. The pay is very low compared to UC. Most of my peers had to get outside jobs to support themselves rather than take massive student loans. Grants are available but not a given as a means of support. Teaching is the only internal means of support other than your advisor or a grant. Constant state budget crises make even this meager means of support uncertain."

What suggestions do you have for management?

"Put some effort to help your graduate students get good paying jobs!! It took me a year and a half to get my first job after leaving state and that was with hundreds of targeted resumes sent out. When I asked Dean Scott about job support for graduate students I was told its up to the advisor, there is NO other support available. If your advisor chooses not to support you then you get nothing!"