Pros
Experiences in a large university are largely influenced by the department and college and can vary widely depending on the particulars of your group. So my comments may be quite different than those in other fields. * flexiblity with how you spend your research time * minimal committee work for Assistant professors; efforts on reducing their teaching loads
Cons
* Compared to our peer schools, our teaching loads are too high (4 courses per academic year vs. 3 at peers). At the same time we offer much lower summer support (1/9 vs 2/9 at peers) and somewhat lower base salaries. * At the department level, our key decisionmakers' seem to have an over-inflated view of the deparment's status in the profession. This can lead to counterproductive decisions. We recently decided not to hire a senior person from another school because of concerns about his research; based on his record, this guy would have had the best research record in the department! * Colleagues are "friendly" but not "collegial". Many people rarely/ever come in to their office, there is very little/no mentoring