postdoctoral fellow

research assistant

graduate researcher

program assistant

research coordinator

Northwestern University

This is written for primarily postdoctoral candidates and then graduate students. Your experiences will vary wildly but unfortunately as a whole Northwestern University should be understood as a big business with a great deal of pressure from the top down at all level for grants to be produced. The Principal Investigators (PIs) of the labs, especially early career faculty, are under enormous pressure to succeed as measured by bringing in large grants and publish to attain tenure. That pressure often is not handled well by many PIs and the environment is not supported of PIs let alone the working gears of research centers: postdoctoral and graduate researchers. While as a graduate student you will ironically have more power in your projects by having a thesis committee to hold accountable your PI to meet timely bench marks in advancing you, this is not the case for postdoctoral researchers who are often overworked and their data put in other people's papers without fair acknowledgement, which then leaves many trying to attain another novel angle for their work. While most PIs are not this way, it is all too common and more indicative of early career PIs. Older, more established PIs, especially in larger labs, will not mentor you. They just won't be around or have the time. My strong advice is to know very well your prospective PI and their personality before committing to anyone, regardless of where you might go. Northwestern University seems great on paper, but you should know there are many very dissatisfied with how the institution is run and its people are treated. 

I was  hired as an adjunct professor - Northwestern Medill’s part-time Integrated Marketing` Communications (IMC).  Having  never taught before, I was pretty much on my own. There was very little guidance or support. The Associate Dean did not attend any of my classes nor did he check in during the quarter to see how things were going. He seemed distracted and was clearly disinterested. 
I was told my class was being eliminated from the curriculum because average student feedback was 4.3 on a scale of 6.  Besides  coming from a small sample, there was no attempt to discuss feedback results with anyone -including how my initial class could be improved. Whenever  I had a question, I was referred to someone else for the answer. 
Overall,  I’m convinced Assoc. Dean and part-time coordinator didn’t really know what I was teaching.  I think they were enamored with the title of my class and the book I wrote, but never fully understood its content.  Perhaps  my experience was  an anomaly.  However, it should be  pointed out that many of my students complained regularly (and vigorously) about the IMC’s part-time program. Biggest complaint was that cost was too high for what was being  received. Many complained that there is too much emphasis placed on agency work.  Many regretted not having enrolled at Kellogg.  All in all, a regrettable experience - and very surprising from a school with Northwestern’s reputation.  I do understand things were different (and better} under IMC’s  former administration. Hopefully, administrators will gain the necessary experience needed to make IMC the department it used to be.

I enjoyed leveraging the skills I already possessed in a new environment.  I came from a mainframe environment to a web based environment.  It was such a great experience.  

This job contained allot of firsts for me.  First job in a University environment, first time working on a web based application, and the first time I worked in a job where private and public funding was obtained by the efforts of research scientists, which was also a first, for me.  I learned so much about what it actually takes to create and validate surveys (assessments), in a scientific setting.  It was great fun.

A typical day at work meant interracting with people inside and outside of the organization, in the creation of social sciences research studies, which are surveys that reveal how a patient feels (anger, anxiety, depression.....), in relation to specific medical conditions (cancer, diabetes.....).  It was really meaningful work.

The hard part of the job was that the system had already been created, and was being used by end users all over the world before a business analyst was brought into the project.  It was like stepping into the middle of a dysfunctional marriage, where both husband and wife are really amazing people, but most of the good stuff that makes a marriage work is missing.  The system would have worked so much better, if all the right players had been present in the design phase.

A typical day at work was to file the music library, schedule studio performances, and lessons. Make the flow of the ensemble easier by making sure music folders were ready. Occasionally, get in touch with guest performers and attempt to make them feel welcome and prepared. I prepared for them their official Northwestern flyers and a reading materials for the students to learn about the on coming performer. In addition, about two times per week I had to meet with students to give them lessons on their Saxophone Technique and try and answer and questions they may have.

I learned so much from this experience. I basically learned the ins and outs about running a music studio. I had to learn on my own to get in touch with publishers, solo performers, and composers.I learned the things I need to know as a musician outside of music because part of teaching, or playing there is always an administrative portion to it.

The management was great. My manager was my teacher and advisor. We had a great relationship and he would always let me know what was needed of me.

The hardest part of the job was trying to balance school and work.

The most enjoyable part was the learning. Knowing that the experience was making me a better more resourceful and knowledgeable musician outside of music.

Northwestern University is a wonderful place to work, learn and grow as a person. Pay is not as high as reported or expected (or very competitive), but what you "lose" in salary, you gain in experience. Although there is very little room to move up your role, there are a great number of professional development programs, and more in the works, that can boost your performance, morale and overall well-being. 

Speaking only of my department, there is a lot of flexibility and a healthy respect for work-life balance. Unfortunately, though, management can sometimes cross boundaries and things can get too "personal", but if you establish boundaries early on, they will (usually) respect those boundaries. Open communication is the key.

If you are pretty tech-savvy and have an outgoing, hardworking disposition, you will exceed in any department here. It's not a hard position, but managing expectations and being open to different personalities make it even easier.

Northwestern, or "Northwestern Medicine", as it is now known, has undertaken primary care as a focus, which is admirable.  However, management is no different than in a large corporate office, except for in the following ways: physicians are relegated to factory workers, ancillary staff rights are more highly valued than those who seek to improve the lives of patients, and those with NO clinical experience are dictating to physicians how to practice medicine.  I certainly did not expect someone with an MBA, no MD, DO, or RN degree to call my practice "patient endangerment" if I did not prescribe to all patients requesting C-2 medications like xanax--regardless of clinical setting.  I discourage all primary care physicians from seeking career advancement at Northwestern.  This environment breeds low morale, teaches unethical medical and business practices, and is extremely disorganized with no consistency in staff support (it is a revolving door for physicians, RNs, medical assistants, practice managers, etc).  
The Feinberg School of Medicine is a great place to work, so look there and has separate affiliations to the actual University, not with the Northwestern Corporation, which is more interested in money than lives.

As an experienced candidate and highly qualified alumni of NU with a Master of Science in the field I was practicing, their HR department placed me in a Temporary Staff position.  In their opinion, my credentials were insufficient.  However, I later discovered that they had hired multiple young candidates who were fresh out of undergraduate school and for at least two, their permanent positions were their first jobs ever.  At this point, it became clear to me that their hiring practices were unfair and discriminatory.  While in the position working in research with the All of Us Research Program, I immediately noticed that leadership was incompetent and mean.  Not only did they play favoritism, but one could easily observe what their racial biases were.  Even when I expressed my concerns with Executive level management and Human Resources, it became clear to me that the toxic behavior of upper management was condoned.  Unfair hiring practices within Human Resources was also part of the problem.  Be careful with this administration, especially if you are female,  are experienced and identify as an ethnic minority.  They discriminate badly, and actually get away with it.

Northwestern University, is a great place to work on an athletic grounds crew! At Northwestern there is always a new or project to be done. The people who I work with and who work in other athletic departments make for a great work environment. The hours are great, the pay is more than minimum wage and always room for overtime.  A typical day at work includes, picking up garbage outside at all of the athletic facilities, landscaping, preparing game fields and the stadium as well as arena for athletic events. Move tables and chairs to necessary locations, moving heavy furniture, and building furniture. Working on the athletic grounds crew at Northwestern, I've learned how to better problem solve, pay attention to detail, work as a team, work hard, work in many different weather conditions, and develop leadership skills. The management is executed well, in terms of placing people to do projects that best suite their strengths, or better develop a weakness. The most enjoyable part of the job is the many different amazing people I've met and the relationships I've developed over the years.

As with any graduate school, your experience will vary widely depending on your program, advisor, and department. My advisor demands high performance w.r.t. writing and presentation, but is flexible and accommodating w.r.t. hours and personal needs. Many professors are similar (but not all). Grad school is still challenging, but they manage to make it a little less stressful here than it is at schools of similar prestige.

The Materials Science department pledges a minimum of 5 years financial support to all PhD students, and that makes a huge difference. You still have a lot of work to do, but you don't have that lingering anxiety about immediately losing your job if you fall behind. You have a bit of freedom to seek out extracurriculars and professional development from other university departments. Additionally the culture of this department is relaxed and sociable.

University administration is an organizational mess sometimes, but individually they are helpful and well-intentioned.

I have a support-role in competitive biomed research and it mainly seems to be a grind. There is no strong, positive culture, so the "feel" of one's job largely reflects that of your immediate boss. In my case, my boss does not understand some important aspects of management, so I felt isolated and stressed. While never stated as such all of his minions worked more than 40 hours. In four consecutive weeks, I came in each Sat and Sunday.  That sort of thing.

I hardly knew anyone in the department and had my first conversation with the dept chair 3 years after starting. These and other things have left me with the feeling that you're "on your own". Grant-funded work is stressful enough without these added factors.

I think if you talk to some other employees, you might hear that the so-so salaries are part of the "privilege" of working at Northwestern. 

I found the toughest part of my job to be its social isolation, which ended up festering (I am not a native Chicago-ite). The nicest thing about NU is in the chance meeting of some really nice people who had time to confirm one's humanity.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Postdoctoral fellow 31 salaries reported	$67,556 per year
Research assistant 6 salaries reported	$17.67 per hour
Graduate researcher 10 salaries reported	$44,471 per year
Program assistant 6 salaries reported	$24.67 per hour
Research coordinator 4 salaries reported	$26.25 per hour

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