Internship and Research Impacts on Biology Students’ Aptitude for Postgrduate Success
College
College of Arts and Sciences
Department
Biology
Abstract
In recent years, there has been frequent discussion concerning whether undergraduate programs are adequately preparing students for their respective careers or postgraduate endeavors. Internship experiences are being explored as one form of preparation. In one study, business alumni rated previous internship experience as having better prepared them for their careers compared to academic curricula in measures that are frequently valued by employers, such as relationship building and creative thinking. Furthermore, a recent study demonstrated that resumes with internship experiences had a 14% increase in the rate of interview requests for business positions. Internship experience has been demonstrated to benefit students across a variety of undergraduate disciplines with varying demographics. At Winthrop University, biology students are not required to participate in internships in order to graduate; however, they can earn course credit for internships within their curriculum. Therefore, this survey study was completed to determine if senior biology students at Winthrop University felt like they had obtained skills associated with post-graduate success and whether this was correlated with previous internship experience. The hypothesis was that students with internship experience would report a higher comfort level with soft skills and therefore, better career preparation. These results were then compared to student demographics to see if there was a significant relationship.
Honors Thesis Committee
Courtney Guenther, Ph.D.; Darren Ritzer, Ph.D.; and Cynthia Tant.; Ph.D.
Start Date
20-4-2018 1:00 PM
Internship and Research Impacts on Biology Students’ Aptitude for Postgrduate Success
West 219
In recent years, there has been frequent discussion concerning whether undergraduate programs are adequately preparing students for their respective careers or postgraduate endeavors. Internship experiences are being explored as one form of preparation. In one study, business alumni rated previous internship experience as having better prepared them for their careers compared to academic curricula in measures that are frequently valued by employers, such as relationship building and creative thinking. Furthermore, a recent study demonstrated that resumes with internship experiences had a 14% increase in the rate of interview requests for business positions. Internship experience has been demonstrated to benefit students across a variety of undergraduate disciplines with varying demographics. At Winthrop University, biology students are not required to participate in internships in order to graduate; however, they can earn course credit for internships within their curriculum. Therefore, this survey study was completed to determine if senior biology students at Winthrop University felt like they had obtained skills associated with post-graduate success and whether this was correlated with previous internship experience. The hypothesis was that students with internship experience would report a higher comfort level with soft skills and therefore, better career preparation. These results were then compared to student demographics to see if there was a significant relationship.
