Placement Student Review

I enjoyed my placement. I was given a range of tasks to complete over the year, ranging from quite basic lab skills to more complex experiments. I can't give it a 10 based on my own preferences; despite enjoying the year I find lab work stressful and therefore did not enjoy the year as much because of that. There was a range of social events during the year too which was excellent, including meals out and pub gatherings, which made a real difference to my enjoyment as it was a way to relax.

This differed based on the colleague. The majority treated me like I was a standard member of the lab team and I got on great with them, and I still keep in contact with them on Facebook. A few others were slightly less friendly, but I think this was more that they were unsure of me as we didn't work together as much rather than anything else, and they still gave me the same level of support and help throughout.

The guidance and support was excellent. My supervisors were easily contactable, by email, phone, or in person, and always offered help when I asked for it. Often they liked me to find my own answers and just check with them that what I was doing was correct, but they never said no to any help I asked for. We had regular meetings to check on my progress throughout the year too.

Most days were balanced well once I got into the placement. As with any lab work there were days where I was less busy and days where I was rushing around, but the majority of the time I had a good balance. I planned my own days once I was independent in the lab, which meant I was able to control how much or how little I did, meaning I was rarely too busy or bored. If I had little lab work to do I was able to work on the assignments set by University for the year too.

Again, this varied. At the beginning I was given very little but that is to be expected as you are being trained! Once I got going I was able to plan my own experiments and carry them out individually, meaning I had a high level of responsibility for my own learning and work. I was also asked to carry out experiments on my own for my supervisor when she was too busy, showing a high level of responsibility.

I do not want to pursue lab work as a career, however I gained lots of new skills during the year that will help in multiple careers. I feel that my lab confidence has increased massively, so even though I won't be using those skills it is nice to know. I feel as though in general I have increased confidence in myself, presentation skills, team work, organisation, time management, research skill, the list is endless. Just through working in the department I have gained so many transferrable skills that I can apply to the final year of my degree and then to my future career as a whole.

Very friendly in both the office and the labs! The office I worked in had a mix of postdocs, PhD students, masters students, and placement students like myself. Everyone interacted and chatted during the day, and you always said 'hello' when you saw each other, even if you didn't talk much during the day. People would bring in snacks too and share them round, so it had a real community feel. The labs had a similar atmosphere. You got to know the people you saw every day in the labs, and everyone was friendly and fun so they were really good to work in.

Very well. It was smooth to apply, the interview was actually quite relaxed, and I found out I got the place very smoothly. When I got there everyone knew what I had to do and the placement was set up nicely, I had plenty of work to do and it was seamless as a whole.

I was given all the necessary training for my day-to-day work, and I was given more in-depth training on certain bits of equipment I might need to use. However, due to the nature of the job, they couldn't prepare me for everything so I wasn't given extra training or development outside of what I needed for the placement.

Unless you're wanting to do a Masters, PhD or tech work you can't work in the lab, plus I want to go into Medicine and not lab work, therefore I don't have a job lined up within the organisation. If I wanted lab work however I would definitely apply to them as they do offer a range of study and work options.

Yes. We regularly went for meals out during the year (birthdays, leaving meals etc), as well as at Christmas. The students also went out round Sheffield quite a lot, so whilst this wasn't something I enjoyed, the options were there. Overall it was a very sociable place to work, but you had the options to use that or not!

Sheffield is relatively cheap, so it was pretty cheap to live in the city and go out. As with all cities there is the option to pay more and get a better house, or pay less to budget, so this is optional. Social aspects in the area are pretty good, though, and it wasn't expensive in the pubs or restaurants around for socialising.

I don't enjoy the nightlife so I rarely used this, however the other students went out multiple nights every week so it was clearly good! There's a range of clubs and pubs, and the majority are clustered around one or two streets so they're very easy to get to and from. They also aren't horrifically priced which is helpful.

The University offered some additional courses, but not loads. In Sheffield there is quite a large range of activities to take part in, plus with us being in the same city as our university we were still able to take advantage of the Union and the activities they were offering.