University Industrial Placement Student - Synthetic Chemistry Review
at AstraZeneca
Placement (10 Months+)
Chemistry
Macclesfield
Review Submitted: June 2025
Overall Rating
4.9 /5
The Overall Rating is the average of all the ratings given in each category. We take those individual ratings and combine them into one final score!
5/5
-
Overview of Role
4.8/5
-
Skills Development
5/5
-
Support and Guidance
4.8/5
-
Company Culture
5/5
-
Overall Experience
5/5
-
Future Career Prospects
Overview of Role
Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.
As a chemistry student I spend roughly 60% of my time in the lab doing practical chemistry. The remainder is spent writing up experiments, doing analysis, and presenting work in either project or technical meetings. Meetings are frequent and allow me to stay up to date with the wider goals of my chemistry.
Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?
Responsibility increased over the year. As I became more comfortable with the lab I was given genuinely important tasks which fed into scale-up strategies for our API.
Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was
5/5
Skills Development
Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?
Significant development to practical chemistry skills and planning/evaluating my own experiments, as well as using new equipment. Interpersonal and presentation skills have also grown.
How would you rate the training provided during your experience?
4/5
How would you rate your development of industry-specific skills during the experience?
5/5
How would you rate your development of personal / soft skills during the experience?
5/5
Please rate how these skills have helped you in your career development
5/5
Support and Guidance
How much support and guidance did you receive during your placement / internship?
I worked very closely with my supervisor and manager. Wider support from the department/company was less helpful but still present.
How would you rate the support and guidance from your line manager?
5/5
How would you rate the support and guidance from the wider team?
5/5
Company Culture
What was the company culture and general atmosphere like?
Open, inclusive and supportive. No expectation to stay late or work outside the 9-5.
How would you rate the inclusiveness of the culture?
5/5
How would you rate the social opportunities?
4/5
How would you rate the diversity initiatives?
5/5
How would you rate the charity, sustainability and corporate social responsibility (CSR) initiatives?
5/5
Overall Experience
To what extent did you enjoy your placement / internship?
This has been a really valuable bridge between university study and industrial chemistry. I've learnt a significant amount about both lab and plant-scale chemistry, and been supported throughout.
Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship
5/5
Please rate how your experience met your expectations
5/5
Future Career Prospects
Please rate the future employment prospects at AstraZeneca
5/5
Recommendations & Advice
Would you recommend AstraZeneca to a friend?
Yes
What advice would you give to others applying to AstraZeneca
Be open - treat any interviews as a discussion rather than a test.
