Note: This article is aimed at Medical Students

Curious about internships in Medical School? Look no further, here’s a personal insight on how to get one from a fellow medic.

Introduction 👋

Internships are not for medical students. Or so they say. Between lectures, placements and a heavy workload, an internship can feel unnecessary, unfamiliar, or even out of reach. Valerie Enyonam, a 4th year medical student in the UK, proves otherwise as she managed to secure not one, but FOUR internships!

This article offers a more personal approach by exploring each internship Valerie secured, the application process and the biggest lessons learnt along the way, all for your benefit.

What is an Internship and Why do One🤔

First things first, let’s get our definitions right. An internship is a brief period of work experience designed to give one the opportunity to gain insight and build skills in a field of interest. They vary in length, with some being a couple of days, weeks or even months. Additionally, some can be paid and some aren’t— it all depends.

People are interested in an internship for multiple reasons: to gain experience, discover if a specific career path is right for them, or to get paid. For Valerie, her initial reason was the latter. After earning just over £2000 after 3 months of work during the summer, and then discovering a friend had earned significantly more than that following a summer internship, Valerie knew that something had to change.

In her words, she thought to herself “I’m a medical student, the course that you do, the stats that you have, I also have that.” This was her starting point: recognising that she had the potential and ability to secure a good internship.

The Big Four at a Glance🏆

As medical students, you may think an internship has to be clinical, but that isn’t always the case. If you’re interested in finance, HealthTech, Data Research or even Management and Consulting, there is a chance an internship in such fields may be out there for you.

In Valerie’s case, she had the opportunity to explore fields in medicine and beyond, giving her the chance to really see what each sector offered.

So, what were these 4 internships about❓

1. Health Data Science Black Internship Programme (HDR UK)🔬

This is a paid internship programme designed to support aspiring Black data scientists by gaining real-world experience, training and mentoring in health data science.

Valerie’s Role: Worked as a Research Assistant Intern on a Parkinson’s gait analysis project.

Duration: 8 Weeks, 9-5 schedule

Task: Involved learning python to build a “digital twin” for quantifying disease progression, replacing subjective assessment with objective data. This project also involved using motion capture data and machine learning techniques to carry out research.

For Valerie, learning python was initially very daunting, especially since she had no prior experience. Fortunately for her, she was able to learn it independently.

“Medical Students are good at learning” Valerie says, and it’s a statement you may agree with! Medics are constantly taking in large amounts of information and in a way, this teaches them to become better and smarter learners, which can make steep learning curves more manageable.

To find out more about this internship, visit: https://www.hdruk.ac.uk/study-and-train/health-data-science-black-internship-programme/

2. Candesic Internship🔎

Candesic is a leading specialist healthcare, pharma & life sciences and medtech management consulting firm.

Valerie was able to apply for this role through LinkedIn, so if you’re curious about internships and don’t have a LinkedIn account yet, this may be your sign!

Valerie’s Role: Market Research Intern for a commercial due diligence (CCD) project. CCD is an in-depth analysis of a of a business’s market position, customer dynamics, competitive advantages, and growth potential. (1)

Duration: 4 Weeks, 9-5 schedule

Tasks: Conduct competitive analysis for a client’s care home business plan. It also involved making over 100 stakeholder calls to gather information about a company’s market.

To find out more about internship opportunities at Candesic, visit: https://candesic.com/careers/

3. IBM Internship:🪙

International Business Machines (IBM) Corporation is a large global technology and consulting company.

Taking a year out from studying medicine to pursue an intercalated degree in Business Management from Imperial College London gave Valerie and edge in her application and served as a massive advantage.

Valerie’s Role: Business Analyst Intern

Duration: 12 Weeks, 9-5 schedule

Tasks: Involved contributing to strategic advisory projects, and automating product development lifecycles with AI agents to speed up feature implementation timeline. From the business aspect, she carried out a lot of market research and generated some Key Performance Indicators (KPIs).

During medical school, some people may have dreams of working corporate but they have no idea what corporate is. But I’ve got to see that in depth, every element of the different paths I could have taken besides medicine. -Valerie

4. Sky Internship:🌐

As many may know, Sky is one of Europe’s leading entertainment and connectivity companies. How Valerie got this internship is quite different from the others, as she didn’t even apply!

What she did apply for was The Black Heritage Undergraduate of the Year Award, and she emerged as the winner! The prize? An internship with Sky.

This was an amazing opportunity to contribute to financial planning and commercial analysis at one of the UK’s leading media and entertainment companies.

Valerie’s Role: Media and Commercial Finance Intern

Duration: 3 Weeks, 9-5 schedule

Tasks: Rotated through Marketing, Business and Finance, and Journalism to explore career paths.

Insights: This experience gave her insight into corporate marketing and what it really entails. It also showed Valerie how this field can at times be quite slow due to extensive approval processes, something that made her reconsider if corporate marketing was the right fit after all.

Looking back, a memorable moment from this experience was being in the room when Sky news announced the new interest rates of bank of England! For Valerie, this was one of the most valuable internships she’d ever done.

To find out more about The Black Heritage Undergraduate of the Year Award, visit the link: https://www.undergraduateoftheyear.com/awards/black-heritage

Application Strategy and Insights📩

Now, you may be wondering, “what does the application process actually look like?” Internship applications can seem daunting, but it’s usually not as complicated as we make it out to be. Application materials vary depending on the type of internship one applies for, but can usually entail:

🎯 A well-polished and tailored CV

🎯 A cover letter

🎯 Letter (s) of Recommendation

In addition to these, there may also be short answer questions such as:

  • Why are you applying for this internship?
  • What skills do you have relating to this role?
  • Give an example of a time when you worked as part of a team.
  • Have you had any previous experience working in a lab or in research?

Sometimes, there are different stages in the application process and further assessment tests or interviews may be required.

Additionally, it is important to always check the Eligibility Criteria for every programme you apply for! This is essential because if you’re not eligible, your application will likely be rejected. Some internships may be targeted at students in a specific year at University or from a specific location or background.

Generally speaking, the take home message is that every internship programme can have a different application process. It isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach.

From Valerie’s personal experience, each internship application required different skillsets. For example, she strongly felt that being a medical student largely supported her application to intern at Candesic. However, regarding her internships related to consulting and business, she believes that showcasing an interest in the field was more helpful than just having a specific skill.

For example, one of the ways she showed an interest in business was through her role as the President of the African-Caribbean Society (ACS) at her university. She simply treated it as a business venture and her role was centred on making money for the society. 💵

Rejections and Setbacks❌

Today, we can celebrate Valerie’s success story and how impressive it is to have secured these internships, especially as a medical student. The truth is, that is only one side of the story, and perhaps the side that is easier to tell.

But were there rejections, setbacks and challenges faced along the way? Absolutely. Valerie was not exempt from this and she faced many rejections. What she didn’t do is let that stop her: she persevered and kept her applications going. 💪🏽

As a matter of fact, Valerie initially applied for the HDR UK internship through The 10,000 Black Interns Scheme as both companies were in a partnership. Unfortunately, her application wasn’t successful. However, she realised she could still apply directly to the company through the HDR UK website which as you now know, was successful!

Despite it being cliché, the lesson from this is to truly never give up.

💡If you get rejected, keep going. Even if it’s March and you don’t have an internship, keep going. – Valerie💡

Advice to Medical Students ✅

For medical students who are interested in an internship, here are 5 pieces of advice from Valerie that could support your application:

  1. Trackr (formerly known as Bristol Tracker), SEO London and LinkedIn are very useful when searching for internship opportunities. Use them religiously!📝
  2. Understand that each sector has different application timelines. ⏱️This can help you plan when to apply as you have an idea of what to expect and when. For example, academic internships tend to open from January onwards and finance Internships tend to open from around August to October. Please note that this can vary.
  3. Remember that being a medical student is an advantage!🩺 Getting into medical school is highly competitive, so you are likely to come across as organised, smart and determined. Medical school interviews also prepare you for corporate interviews which can be helpful to know if you reach that stage in the application process!
  4. Whatever internship you apply for, you need your own corresponding experience. For example, you could have a passion project in MedTech which will likely help you stand out if applying for a MedTech internship. Alternatively, you could decide to sell flashcards or start tutoring for example, both of which would be great additions to your CV as long as you tailor it to the role you apply for. ✍️
  5. Join university or national societies!🌟 If you’re interested in Consulting, maybe try out a society like 180 degrees consulting at your university. Interested in policy? You could try being part of the **British Medical Association (**BMA)! This not only helps with your CV, but shows you have a genuine interest in that field. Also, you could meet friends outside of medicine and get even more support from people who have more experience with internship applications in a specific sector.

How Internships Help Map Future Career Pathways🛣️

If you’re a medical student who’s curious about possible clinical and non-clinical career pathways, an internship is a great way to help explore your interests. Here are some ways an internship can be helpful:

  • Discover Diverse and Niche Careers: For those who may be interested in pursuing a career in research, Global Health, Digital Health or even Management, an internship can provide you with hands-on experience and equip you with skills that are necessary for such careers. You get the chance to really see what’s right for you early on.
  • Networking: An internship can definitely help expand your professional network. Being able to work alongside other students and experts in their fields can open doors for mentorship, collaborations and even more opportunities.
  • Further develop Soft and Hard Skills: Hard skills are technical and quantifiable skills that are required to do a job, while soft skills are personal characteristics that influence how you interact with others. (2)

Medical School teaches us how to do a lot of things, but it can’t teach us everything because realistically, what does? Through internships, especially non-clinical ones, you can get a better understanding of fields like health economics, medical affairs, Data analysis and build skills that are necessary for these disciplines.

Valerie’s Biggest Takeaways💡

How have these experiences shaped Valerie as a person?

These internships gave Valerie the chance to expand her skillset, and also learn a lot more about herself. Reflecting on her experiences, she mentioned how they also exposed some of her flaws which was a huge learning curve for her:

  1. Challenge with listening: Being in a workplace where you’re constantly in meetings, listening is naturally a very important part of how you can conduct a project well. However, she noticed how often she zoned out at times and struggled to listen for long periods of time. Now that she is aware of this trait of hers, she can be more intentional with improving and becoming a better listener.
  2. Taught her more about her dynamics in a team: Her experiences helped her realise she would need to work on becoming a better team member, which is a good thing because she can start improving earlier in hopes of becoming a more competent individual and future doctor.

Moreover, when asked what her biggest takeaway from all her internship experiences was, Valerie’s response was simple yet powerful:

✨“My internships have allowed me to appreciate medicine more.”✨

Her internships helped her understand corporate settings better and experience what having a desk job is like, hence allowing her to appreciate how fascinating being a doctor truly is.

Check Out More Internship Opportunities🔎

To discover more about Summer Internships for Medical students, do check out one of our previous Articles, “Top Summer Internships For Medical Students”. The link can be found below:

Top Summer Internships for Medics

It is important to note that not all internship opportunities are advertised. Sometimes, taking the initiative to reach out to people on LinkedIn, sending cold emails, and asking those around you for help is another way to actively seek out an internship. 🚀

Summary📌

In conclusion, medical students are in no way exempt from internships as it helps with exposure to many different sectors. This can help medical students become multifaceted and gain experiences that shape them into better future doctors.

To anyone reading this that ends up applying for an internship, best of luck!🍀

If you’d like to discover more about Valerie, or have any questions at all, you can discover her through her socials below:

Tiktok: @valerieenyonam

Instagram and Youtube: valerie.enyonam

LinkedIn: Valerie Fiamavle

References

(1) https://ecomplete.com/insights/what-is-commercial-due-diligence

(2)https://www.oxfordcollege.ac/news/soft-skills-vs-hard-skills/

Reviewed Valerie Fiamavle

Medical Student