Pennsylvania State University

Date: Jun 23 2005
Major: Biology (This Major's Salary over time)
The study of graduate biology at Penn State was quite an experience. I will give the positives first. There were some very bright and dedicated professors, especially among the more highly regarded academics. However, the treatment of graduate students was a complete scandal. Teaching assistants were placed in a position where they were routinely cooperating with some highly innapropriate behavior. As an example, students would often tell teaching assistants to give them a better grade, or they would do everting in their power to get them in trouble. Because of the manner in which things were run, this was usually effective. If you did not cooperate with behavior along these line, you had a political problem. The teaching assistants were managed by a woman who worked every angle on the teaching assistants (Diane Burpee). She would even order the teaching assistants to tell the professors how great she was. If you didn't play her games, she would do everything possible to have you fired. It was a completely revolting job. I have never seen management as bad as that of the biology department teaching assistants. The graduate students constantly complained to each other about the place, but the lines of communication between them and the professsors were down. Also, though some top bioinformatics people are at Penn State, they are locked in bitter political and ideological disputes with top people at other universities. I have spent considerable time as a student in my life, and I never experienced anything like the Penn State biology department.