Merck Internships

The most intriguing aspects of my internship with Merck Research Laboratories - Boston were the opportunities in both research experience as well as insight into the industry. I was excited to be challenged by a new, unfamiliar research-oriented environment and to represent the College through my professional work.

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Apply early, take the time to network while you are there.

My internship with Merck held great relevance to my future as I hope to focus my graduate studies in pharmacology. Researchers at Merck are continually making great strides in drug discovery and it was indescribable to be involved in such cutting-edge research. As a student majoring in biochemistry at Emmanuel, my experience interning with a pharmaceutical company that has contributed so much to human health was priceless. I was able to not only learn new concepts and ideas as a student, but also practice what I was learning in a professional environment.

I interned at Merck & Co. on a vaccine brand. My project involved examining a certain type of consumer behavior that had been observed, and determining whether there were any marketing actions that could change that behavior. (I know that sounds really vague, but there’s only so much I can say about it on the internet). The project was a great learning experience for me, because it touched a lot of different areas of the brand, so I got to work with a lot of people on the brand team and in market research. The issue I was looking at is also something that effects a lot of healthcare brands, so I also got to do external research and talk to people across the company about my project.

Around Week 3 I felt like I was starting to understand the issue broadly, but didn’t feel any closer to solving it for my brand. Eventually, I decided I needed to do some primary research to find out what consumers were thinking about the brand, and hopefully discover why they behaved in certain ways. With the help of the market research team and their vendors, I designed a focus group study. I’d had no experience with market research at all, but since I’d done so much pre-research, I knew what I wanted to find out. Watching the focus groups was probably my favorite part of the whole summer.

I had learned so much that I struggled to keep my deck to a reasonable length - for my final presentation. Despite getting it down to about 30 slides from 50, I still ended up leading a 1.5 hour discussion on a Friday morning. That’s a good thing though, because it meant the team was very interested in what I had to say! In the final week, I presented a much shorter executive summary to the leadership of the internship program, all the other interns, several MBA alums, and one high level executive sponsor who happened to be very interested in my topic and asked me a lot of tough questions. It was nerve-wracking, but I knew my stuff!

I honestly can't think of anything. Loved the internship.

Network not only with current employees, but with your fellow interns. Great place.

Worked on researching medication patterns for seniors.
- Great company with supportive culture.

-Some work was redundant.

Great place for pharmacy students. Awesome company.