We received incredible feedback from our interns including tips and details on how they made the best of their summer internship experience. Read on and discover the real-world impact and opportunities of our summer interns. Do you think a BMS internship may be right for you? Applications for 2024 summer interns will be accepted this fall.
Details on Our Intern Program
Our summer internships last 10 to 12 weeks and run from approximately June through August. Then, fall co-op positions run from July through December. As an intern, you will have the opportunity to work in any of our functional areas and at BMS locations across the US from California to Florida and including Puerto Rico.
Looking back, last year we had 358 interns and co-ops from 135 different colleges and high schools from 29 different states and Puerto Rico. Students worked across 19 general functions, from Cell Therapy, to accounting, to Worldwide Patient Safety. There’s a lot more to BMS than you might have imagined. About half of our interns and their managers were also able to volunteer close to 500 hours of brainstorming and ideation to help 16 non-profits through BMS’s Skills2Give Program, where interns are matched to volunteering sessions by their skill sets.
Hands-on Internships at BMS
Getting hands-on experience ranks up there as an intern’s number one goal and that was certainly the case in 2022 for Mary Kromer, an Intelligence Studies and Cyber Security major from Mercyhurst University in Pennsylvania. Mary got to work with BMS’s Corporate Security Intelligence group in New Jersey.
“I was feeling a bit nervous before starting the internship,” said Mary. “Would I know what to do? But really, my experience with the team was great, and everyone was extremely helpful in teaching me.” The same goal was voiced last summer by rising senior Devin Golla, a Chemical Engineering major at Columbia University in New York. “I was most excited to gain hands-on lab experience with new analytical tools and techniques that I had never used before,” she said. “I wanted to learn more about these experimental methods so that I could get a better sense of what research was like at the industrial level, to help me get a better sense of what kind of work I might like to do long-term in my future career.”
Partnering but Independent Work Too
Devin interned with Early Method Development and Characterization which is part of the Biologics Analytical Methods group in New Jersey, where she was expecting to be exposed to a wide range of projects and hopefully aid in the running of experiments. But she was pleasantly surprised by how involved she was able to get with the method development process.
“I was able to run a number of my own experiments independently,” she said. “As well as learn how to analyze the data and how decisions about how to move forward are made. The team helped me access resources to develop new knowledge.”
Both Devin and Mary expressed their surprise at the generosity of their BMS teammates. “Everyone was willing to take the time to help me learn new skills,” said Mary. “They welcomed me with open arms, and I was happy that I could apply my classroom learning in the office.”
“From taking me on impromptu tours of different labs, to having discussions with me about grad school, they were great,” added Devin. “It really gave me a feel for what a future in the field of biopharmaceutical research could look like for me!”
Tips for Future Interns
When asked how future interns could make the best of their internship experience, both were adamant about thoroughly engaging with teammates and mentors. “Build your network by getting to know the people you work with,” said Mary. “And be confident. Don’t be afraid to showcase your skills during the interview process.”
“Try reaching out to as many people as possible at BMS in as many different positions as possible,” Devin explained. “Ask them about their career journeys to see whether you can picture yourself doing what they do long-term. It also introduced me to new and interesting careers I never would have known existed.”
A BMS internship is a win/win proposition. And a career at BMS will include the most interesting work of your career; work that transforms patients’ lives, and the lives and careers of those who do it. If this sounds like the type of experience you are looking for, we hope you seriously consider applying during September through November for our next cohort. You'll find details here on internships at Bristol Myers Squibb.
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