Pros
- Incredible resources - Very little "red tape" or bureaucracy compared to other research schools - Brilliant colleagues, professors - Great reputation - Excellent fellowship opportunities
Cons
(These refer to being a graduate research assistant) - No benefits (at all). - Extremely low pay; salary is similar to schools like Univ. of Illinois, but with one of the highest costs of living in the country. - Schools is out to make money off of you; mandatory fees for healthcare *even if you provide your own health insurance*; bleeding sponsoring companies for $70k/year, while students only see $30k. - Graduate housing is ridiculous; $1200/month for a studio, when the land is free (donated to stanford), the buildings are subsidized (by donors), and presumably taxes are low (b/c it's a nonprofit). Plus, they won't let students out of their leases; they're locking them into this horrible above-market price b/c they didn't know better before they arrived. Seems ridiculous for a university that's supposed to look out for its grad students.