Support from the academics
One of things that stood out for me during my time at Bath was the University’s deep commitment to teaching. This is reflected in the open door policy that all of the academics have. I felt like I could walk up to any academic in their office, at any point in my degree, and ask them any questions I have about work, course content or even personal issues that I might be having. It’s really helped me flourish as a student because I always know I have the support available when I need it and it also really helped me to settle into university.
The Natural Sciences Society
In my first year, as a natural sciences student, I felt like I might be missing out on some of the social aspects that some of the other courses may have because we are quite fragmented in different courses. The Natural Sciences Society were really helpful in bringing us all together and would regularly have socials, such as quizzes, end of semester meals and pub lectures, which were a great way to get to know other students on my course, and I’ve definitely made some friends for life through this!
Placement year
Bath’s established placement scheme was also a factor in deciding to come here. I managed to secure a placement at GSK in Stevenage where I worked as a drug development scientist. My day-to-day activities involved working in the lab where I would carry out experiments aiming to validate or invalidate drug targets for novel medicines for people suffering from Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), which affects millions of people worldwide. It was a really rewarding experience to be working as part of a team in a large multinational company, knowing that my work would be impacting the lives of many people. I also learnt a lot of skills, such as time management, organisation and presenting. I was able to transfer these skills to my studies and I know they will stay with me for the rest of my life.
The experience that I had confirmed for me as well that science really is a passion for me and that I would like to be involved in that industry going forward. Not only did I learn transferable skills that benefited my degree, but also the kind of industry that I want to be involved with in the future.
Support from the Placements Team
The Placements Team were really critical in helping me to secure that placement. They have a centralised placement database where they upload opportunities that become available as they come, and when a student applies for these, they are helped in designing and developing their CV to ensure that they are as successful as possible with their applications. This CV resulted in me getting an interview, which the Placements Team also helped me with. Once I had an interview confirmed, they offered me mock interview dates and practised with me to ensure that I stood the best possible chance of securing this placement.
Advantages of studying natural sciences
Natural sciences at Bath has been an amazing experience because the students and staff really come together to help create an atmosphere where you really feel like you can thrive. Having to study different things at the same time and change your way of thinking is a really valuable skill to have. It is representative of the real world where you may be asked to think about multiple things at one time, so it’s a skill that will put me in an excellent position in the future for any career that I may undertake, and so for that, I’m really happy that I decided to do the natural sciences programme because I’ve learned about a breadth of things that interest me and also learnt the skills that I think will put me in a good position going forward.
