research assistant

teaching assistant

graduate researcher

graduate assistant

assistant director

Boston University

Being a research assistant at Boston University initially seemed like a promising opportunity to engage with cutting-edge studies and to build a strong foundation for my academic career. Unfortunately, the experience fell short of my expectations and left much to be desired.

Communication and Organization:
One of the major issues was the lack of clear communication from the supervising professor. Tasks were often assigned with vague instructions and minimal context, making it difficult to execute them effectively. Additionally, feedback was rare and, when provided, was not constructive, which stifled my growth and learning in the role.

Work Environment and Support:
The lab environment was not as collaborative as I had hoped. Senior researchers and other assistants were often inaccessible, busy with their own projects, and not open to questions or discussions. This isolation made the day-to-day tasks monotonous and unengaging.

Workload and Expectations:
The workload was another point of contention. I was often required to work long hours without adequate recognition or compensation. The expectation to prioritize lab work over all else, including my studies, was unreasonable and detrimental to my overall well-being and academic performance.

Opportunities for Growth:
I had entered this position hoping to gain meaningful research experience and mentorship. Unfortunately, opportunities to truly engage with the research process or contribute in a meaningful way were limited. The role was more about performing routine tasks than about engaging critically with research questions or contributing to publications.

Overall Experience:
This position might still be suitable for someone who can navigate a high-pressure environment with little guidance. However, for those looking for a supportive, communicative, and collaborative research experience, this particular role at Boston University might not meet your expectations. The experience has taught me the importance of a supportive mentor and a collaborative team in academic research, which I will seek out in my future endeavors.








A typical day at work involves traveling to the designated elementary school at which I work. I administer and score a number of psychological assessments to kindergartners and 1st graders, as well as collect their saliva samples for research. In addition, a lot of my work includes scheduling with teachers, obtaining extra information for my bosses, managing data and attending group meetings once in a while.

I've learned a lot about the importance of consistency and precision in research. I also learned that research can be very repetitive, but fun! I also learned how to effectively communicate and work with co-workers, bosses, and teachers/schools, as well as how to work alone and manage my own schedule.

The management is alright. Very friendly and hands-off, but quick to help with any situation when needed. Sometimes my work involves "cleaning up" after the management, but I understand that conducting a study throughout numerous states can be messy! 

My co-workers are very nice and helpful. Even though we all work at different schools in distinct districts, we work as a team and support each other when needed (e.g. traveling to provide extra study materials to those who do not have enough). 

The hardest part of the job is traveling to work with all the research equipment! The materials are quite heavy and traveling to work takes almost 2 hours! 

Of course, the most enjoyable part is working with the kids! I get along very well with them. 

Working as a caller at Telefund, Boston University is a job that requires excellent communication skills, a positive attitude, and a passion for fundraising. As a caller, you will be responsible for contacting alumni, parents, and friends of Boston University to solicit donations for various fundraising campaigns.

Your main duties will include making outbound calls, engaging with potential donors, and providing them with information about the university and its fundraising efforts. You will also need to build relationships with donors, answer their questions, and handle any objections they may have.

To succeed in this job, you will need to have strong communication skills and the ability to persuade others. You should also be able to work independently, be comfortable working with technology, and have excellent attention to detail.

The job of a caller at Telefund, Boston University offers a flexible work schedule, competitive pay, and the opportunity to develop important skills in fundraising, communications, and relationship building. Additionally, you will be part of a team of like-minded individuals who are dedicated to making a difference for Boston University and its community. If you are looking for a rewarding job that allows you to make a difference, then this could be the perfect opportunity for you.

f you logged onto Facebook and saw that the Tori Kelly page recommended the UTLA parking across the street, it would've saved you quite a bit of headache. Only $5 parking and there was plenty of spots, even for those that arrived late.

The church itself is massive, beautiful in design and has 3 levels I believe but I could be wrong. Maybe 2. My only gripe is that if you had to use the ladies room, good luck. Only two stalls on each floor. That being said, it's a very small price to pay for a magnificent concert experience in this historic church.

Concert goers: Acoustics...my goodness, the acoustics sent chills down my spine. Paired with the angelic voices of Tori and her background vocalists, it made for such a spiritual experience that I was in tears, especially for one song in particular. If you are a petite 5 footer in flat shoes, you will not see a thing if people are standing, which people did the entire time. It is typically General Admission for shows so get there early if you want prime seats. The only time you'll be able to see anything is if people take their seats, which they did not. Again, plan accordingly, shorties.

No A/C so layer up as it gets warm in there with all the bodies. Obviously, if you come here for church, your experience will be different but I'm speaking from a concert standpoint. Definitely a beautiful experience this past Saturday!

[...] was a great place to work, but the position was simply too complex for someone of my experience level.
The position was of Office Manager, but the correct term would be Executive Admin.

I was all too happy to have been offered the position though, as I learned a great deal such as finance, liaison, database management, project management, Human Resources, Reception, and many many other skills, and knowledge, such as understanding of corporate hierarchy, how to use outside resources, and all aspects of corporate payroll.

In the end, my specific set of skills was insufficient to compensate for the set of skills being requested.
An average difficulty of the position would be the assignment of a project that more experienced workers had been unsuccessful in, or projects left abandoned and/or defunct.

Other than that, the environment was great, all my managers were very hardworking and understanding and professional.
The most enjoyable part of the job was coming into work everyday, because despite knowing that each day was going to be extremely difficult, I knew that I was growing very very quickly, guided by staff of extremely personable professionals.

A typical work day involved a lot of desk work (i.e. organizing and distributing paperwork, filing, scheduling). However, we would often have to travel to different areas around the greater Boston area to distribute our surveys in order to assess housing quality for tenants in low-income neighborhoods. This was an excellent learning opportunity because we had to manage our own communication with the tenant mangers in order to coordinate when, where, and how we could gain access into each building. We also had to communicate with the tenants themselves at times and encourage them to complete the survey (which was occasionally very difficult). However, my manager was very supportive and tried to make our tasks as reasonable as possible. She went out out of her way to make sure that traveling to each location was convenient by allowing us to use the company Uber account rather than having to rely on public transportation. The workplace environment was also very supportive. People were always willing to help me upon request. I really enjoyed learning about how the data we were gathering would be used to improve the lives and living conditions for the people we were surveying. It made me feel like the work we were doing was worthwhile.

So typically, you won't get in facilities side job opening unless you know someone as they have an old in-house system with seniority involved.

When you do get in the work environment is tainted with this "Seniority over all" Mindset. Generally there is no respect, this is reinforced by pushing boundaries and management abides by this invisible rule too.

If you do your job and don't mind being watched even though you're doing an exceptional job, this company is for you. There is no team building is some of their areas, so I would say it's inconsistent too for what to expect.

Most co workers and management are likely to be hostile or unfriendly for being leisurely, however it's okay for them to sit around unsupervised..

The work is easy, but can be unreasonable depending on the area assigned, and you are expected to work from beginning until end by management. This is not the reality behind closed doors, but that depends on your co-workers and if they're reasonable or not.

Overall, it's an okay job and it helped me pay my bills. Just don't expect any professionalism, or mutual trust. Some of the guys working here have been around since the dinosaurs.

I was hired to contract for one of the colleges at BU. I was available immediately and they needed someone to start ASAP and agreed to all of my stipulations. I needed to be hybrid due to the timely and costly commute and care taking back at home. When the time came for me to go hybrid I was pushed off until I was told no. Then the administrator tried to blame HR which I had emails between the administrator and HR agreeing to my terms. The administrator then tried to blame the dean and failed to communicate in a timely manner with my recruiter. Nobody ever took any accountability in management or administration and finally they agreed to ONE day a week, a month and a half later.

The job itself was awesome. The people I worked with were pretty much all amazing. The lack of knowledge, communication, and basic human skills from the administration and management in this specific school overall ruined this experience. 

It’s a good place to start when you want some experience for what ever you’re trying to pursue in life. Since I’ve been here, it was stressful at first but after awhile, I got used to the job. Now I feel like it’s starting to drain me because there’s more tasks now and not enough pay. Company always ask for our opinion about how can they improve but I feel like our opinions and concern doesn’t matter because they still make changes whether we like it or not. Work life balance is not flexible especially for people who have children or other jobs. Working here requires you to have your full attention and life dedicated to them.  If you have children or other things going on in life, having a job here as an essential employee is not a good fit for you because you have to work overtime and all holidays including Christmas and thanksgiving. It doesn’t require for managers or supervisors but only hourly employees. There are great employees I work with but the only complaints I have is salary pay, and work life balance. I wish there was an option for us to work part time and not just full time and wish the schedule and hours were more flexible.

My experiences at Boston University taught me the core structures of UNIX & Backup Administration.

I was exposed to a variety of current and legacy systems that needed administration and backup.

I quickly learnt to script in C++ computer language, so as to create individualized scripts per each backup customer our department was hired to backup.

I was also exposed to Linux Operating System during my time at Boston University.

My co-worker were a dream team to work for, with a couple of exceptions off course. I learnt several critical skills from them.

My immediate management was great and got my skill set. Unfortunately his manager did not see my point of view and I was largely rebuffed.

The hardest part of my job at Boston University was dealing with upper management, who did not have a clear understanding of what was going on, in terms of system management administration and backup administration. Upper management just wanted to see performance numbers.

Most enjoyable part of my job at Boston University was working with my co-workers and tackling various problems as they arose.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Research assistant 21 salaries reported	$18.76 per hour
Teaching assistant 12 salaries reported	$18.42 per hour
Graduate researcher 5 salaries reported	$20.80 per hour
Graduate assistant 7 salaries reported	$18.71 per hour
Assistant director 11 salaries reported	$84,695 per year

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