I have not needed any specialised support throughout my degree, but lecturers have always been very responsive and helpful. If there’s an aspect of the course, I didn’t understand they were always happy to have a conversation and do their best to explain and discuss the content in more depth to aid with understanding.
I did complete a placement year. I worked at Mackinnon Bruce International, an executive search firm where I recruited senior individuals, in one instance a Chief Operating Officer, for pharmaceutical companies. This gave me a view of the huge range of careers available to those with a background in the Sciences and allowed me to build connections in companies around the world, with my assignments covering the UK, USA, Switzerland, France, and South Korea. It also greatly developed my commercial awareness and sales skills and added to my CV which has been very helpful when searching for grad jobs.
I have secured an internship at HSBC for the summer in Markets & Securities Services, and I’m then moving on to my fulltime role on the Graduate Commercial Leadership Programme at Johnson Matthey. My aim is to build my experience in commercially impactful roles and build my career from there. My Loughborough degree will support this as Johnson Matthey work across a huge range of areas of sustainable science and my degree has covered many of these areas such as catalysis, battery technologies, and pharmaceutical development. This understanding will help me find my way in Johnson Matthey and contribute to the company. While I am not in a technical role, this technical understanding will help me to converse and work with my technical colleagues on projects that require a crossover of teams.
To anyone considering coming to Loughborough I would say go for it. If you have an interest in Chemistry but are looking for something with aspects of Biology and Pharmaceutical development, the course is the ideal crossover.
It’s a very sociable atmosphere, particularly in halls where committees go to huge effort to make you feel at home and help you find friends with similar interests, be that through societies, charitable causes, or social and competitive sport.
Being a part of the Loughborough community, and spending 3 years getting involved in all aspects of student life on and off campus has been my favourite part of my experience.