I decided a year in industry was a great way to gain significant experience

I was abroad when I applied to university so I had never visited Sheffield before accepting my offer to study Biomedical Science. When I was applying, it was the superior statistics that convinced me that the University of Sheffield was a top place to study - UK number one for medical research, top five for biological research, and one of the top students’ unions in the country.

To my relief the reality of life at the University of Sheffield has been even better than the Sheffield I’d studied on paper. The university creates a strong platform for students to strike a really positive balance between study and student life, which is ideal.

I had no intention of doing a placement year when I started on the Biomedical Course. However, after a number of talks in second year from guest speakers and some previous year in industry students I did some further investigation.

Like many students I had no idea what job I wanted to do after graduation and I didn’t like the idea of stressing about that all through third year when I had plenty to stress about already!

My placement was with Covance, a global contract research organisation. I worked as a clinical project administrator and my role was to provide support to various clinical trial project teams. It was a massive learning curve and I learnt a lot about clinical trials and the pharmaceutical industry.

Rosie Malone

BSc Biomedical Science with a Year in Industry

I decided a year in industry was a great way to gain significant experience, boost my CV and also give me a year to think about what I want to do after university.

For me there was no real downside, just lots of great opportunities. Once I had decided to apply for placements, I got a lot of support in creating my CVs and cover letters from the department and the university careers service.

My placement was with Covance, a global contract research organisation. I worked as a clinical project administrator and my role was to provide support to various clinical trial project teams.

It was a massive learning curve and I learnt a lot about clinical trials and the pharmaceutical industry. The working environment was really supportive and I had a great group of people to work with.

There were four other placement students at Covance and as a side project we got to work together organising different office events for a local charity, which I really enjoyed.

On my year out I completely reassessed what is important for me in a future career

Rosie Malone

BSc Biomedical Science with a Year in Industry

I found my placement year invaluable as it gave me year to really think about what I want out of my future career. It gave me a chance to assess myself and my strengths and therefore will bring me a step closer to finding my perfect job.

The internship also gave me some real experience of a typical workplace and I will feel much more confident in my own abilities when interviewing for future jobs.

The connections you gain from a year in industry are also really valuable because most of the people you work with have gone through the same tricky step from university to work. They passed on some really good insights that will help me make a smooth transition at the end of university.

On my year out I completely reassessed what is important for me in a future career. I’ve now decided that I want creativity to play a larger part in any future job role.

Having discussed this change with some lectures and some previous Biomedical students from Sheffield, I am actually going to be applying for a masters in Medical Art which I hope will lead to a role in medical illustration or something similar.