Summer Student Review

I found this internship very enjoyable for the most part. The team was very welcoming and friendly which immediately made me feel comfortable asking for work and asking for help. The only slight downside is the occasional lack of work, which is to be expected for an intern. On the whole, I really enjoyed my time at BW, including both the work and the social side of the office.

This is difficult as a Summer Student because more often that not the work you're doing is simply taking something off someone else's hands that they would have got round to at some point anyway. Having said that, as a team member and an individual I felt very valued. The work I was doing was never going to add massive value, but I certainly felt appreciated and welcome.

Excellent. Supervisor and team members were all very supportive and approachable. This is something that is true throughout the office and I'm certain I did not just get lucky with my team and supervisor, everyone is very supportive. The guidance was also very good - the work can sometimes be quite involved and its a fine balance between trying to work things out for yourself and having people explain things, but when I asked for explanation it was always forthcoming.

Difficult as it varied hugely from day to day. Firstly I was never asked or expected to work longer than my contractual hours - in fact I was actively encouraged not to. I occasionally found that I did not have enough work to fill my hours, although we were given 3 projects to do during our time there which helped to fill time. Having said that, client work I always going to be more interesting and it can feel a bit of a waste being in the office all day working on your personal project.

About as much as expected. As a general rule at the firm nothing gets done without peer review and checks, so within that framework it is easy to feel as if you have very little responsibility at all. Having said that, I was given total responsibility for all of the work I did up to the checking stage - I certainly didn't feel as though I was being watched over to make sure I did not make a mistake.

Hopefully very well. The main thing is confidence - I will now be able to go into an actuarial grad position knowing I have experience and a certain level of knowledge. In terms of my degree, the help is likely to be limited as the maths in an actuarial job is very practical compared to a quite theoretical degree.

Friendly, enjoyable atmosphere. There were several social events during my time at the firm, and it was very much a get involved type place. It was also very important to everyone that no one worked to hard, and everyone helped each other out when necessary.

No complaints other than a slight repetition in training.

Difficult in 8 weeks, I think this is more aimed at people who worked for a firm for longer. Having said that, members of the team were more than happy to spend time explaining concepts and calculations to me so that I could progress and improve my ability. Also, people were keen to go through calculations that they had checked for me to show me where I'd gone wrong.

Very appealing. I would love to come back and work with the same people in the same job. The only slight concern I would have is with respect to a conversation that was had at one team dinner about the experience that students gain. The company has grown massively in recent years and it now seems to be a very slow career progression because of the size of the firm.

Yes, excellent. There were lots of people wanting to go out and socialise and they were very keen for me to come along.

I lived at home so can't really speak to that. In terms of socialising, its probably London prices less a bit, so maybe £4.50, £7 club entry, etc.

Limited. Plenty of pubs and restaurants but no nightclubs.

Yes lots, we had a football tournament with the other offices, charity events, a golf day, and many socials all within 8 weeks. It seems that Barnett Waddingham is very keen for its employees to organise and take part in events of this sort, which contributes to a very non-corporate friendly environment.