Industrial Placement Student Review

Item: Industrial Placement Student at AstraZeneca
Rating: 4.7
Author: Anonymous

at AstraZeneca

Placement (10 Months+)

Pharmaceutical

Cambridge

Review Submitted: July 2026

Overall Rating

4.7 /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!

4/5 - Overview of Role

5/5 - Skills Development

5/5 - Support and Guidance

4.5/5 - Company Culture

5/5 - Overall Experience

4/5 - Future Career Prospects

Overview of Role

Please give an overview of your role and what this involves on a day-to-day basis.

I was an industrial placement student in discovery sciences, completing a lab-based project. My project was split between lab based work and data analysis write up.

Were you given much responsibility during your placement / internship?

I had a defined placement project which I was responsible for producing data for, but also contributed to other projects.

Please rate how meaningful the work you were doing was

4/5

Skills Development

Have you learnt any new skills, or developed your existing skills?

I learnt a lot of new lab-based and analytical techniques, and developed my communication and planning skills.

How would you rate the training provided during your experience?

5/5

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 was given all the support needed and was able to ask for help at any point.

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?

My team was welcoming, friendly, and happy to provide help when needed. I was able to join employee resource groups during my time as well.

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?

4/5

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?

I really enjoyed my placement - it allowed me to focus on a project that i loved for the whole year, and was able to benefit from the guidance of my team and supervisors.

Please rate your level of enjoyment on your placement / internship

5/5

Please rate how your experience met your expectations

5/5

Recommendations & Advice

Would you recommend AstraZeneca to a friend?

Yes

What advice would you give to others applying to AstraZeneca

Believe in yourself and your abilities! The application process will really test you but they are looking for a willingness to learn, not just your knowledge, so you still have a good chance of securing a place even with limited knowledge of the field. I had no experience in pharmacology before my placement but have loved learning it all (even if it was from scratch).