I'm a college senior choosing between full-time RA positions for next year rn. Specifically, I can continue to work with a professor whose work I really enjoy and with whom I have a fairly good relationship, and a position at a "good" Fed branch.
I've been told by others that this professor is "famous" (in the top 100 of Ideas/Respec ranking thing for the last-ten-years one), but I sort of hate my undergrad institution and the surrounding city. Not in terms of academic merit, or the people, just the environment. Working at a big city for a few years sounds incredibly nice in comparison. Also, since you are working for one professor and not with a larger team of recently graduated undergrads, staying at this job can be a little isolating, and part of the reason I'm taking a two-year break ish from academia is to do some mental health cleanup anyway. The letter of rec that would come out of the Fed job would probably be weaker than a letter written by this professor.
I've been waffling a bit between what my intended field will be in the future as well, so that's not a huge dividing point. In terms of pay, time, etc. they seem similar. The professor job will probably have more interesting work associated with it. I also go a bit back and forth about whether I want to apply to a Top School, but in the end it comes down to funding issues that I'll probably encounter, so I think I will still have to strive for that.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you guys in advance.