Student Comments from the Eli Lilly Trip

I believe that the trip to Eli Lilly was a great experience for everybody who went. The tour was informative, but the question and answer section was the highlight of the trip. It is very hard to make career choices, especially when you haven't seen any of the options. I believe that this trip pointed out the benefits, as well as the potential downside to working in industry. Overall I think that it was an invaluable experience that I would undoubtedly recommend for any undergraduate majoring in biochemistry.

The Eli Lilly trip was a great experience. The panel discussion was wonderful and very insightful. I thought the historical tour was geared more towards outside visitors and not potential workers in the research sector. However, the tour of the facilities gave a good feel of the size of the company and the tour guides were excellent in answering questions. It was also nice to interact with other biochemistry students outside of the classroom. Overall it was an exceptional experience that I would recommend to any other student thinking about a career in research.

I really enjoyed the Eli Lilly trip, and feel it helped me to distinguish between industry and academia even more. The panel discussion was most helpful, and I feel that the two panel members did a great job of answering questions honestly and concisely. Our guides really knew what they were talking about and seemed very enthusiastic about it. This trip helped me to confirm my choice for a future career, and was a positive experience.

I found the trip to Eli Lilly to be extremely informative and interesting. The tour and guides provided invaluable information. The tour gave me new options to consider in my future planning. I would like to thank everybody who contributed to putting this trip together. From Biochemistry club, Dr. Suo, and the people at Eli Lily who hosted the tour. I think that future students would be interested in similar opportunities.

I wanted to extend a warm thanks to all the ambassadors and panel members who took time out of their busy workdays in order to teach us fledging scientists about Eli Lilly, its history, and its future. I can honestly say, I learned much more than I thought I would about the company’s standards for treatment of employees (e.g., consideration of the needs of its female workers and its overall goal to take care of the worker “lifetime employment”) as well the care and consideration that Eli Lilly takes for making its products. Of course, days could have been spent wandering all of Eli Lilly’s buildings and speaking to even more research scientists, but for the time we had at the company, which was considerable, the experience was quite rewarding. I am very appreciative that Eli Lilly takes the curiosity and potential of the younger generation so seriously as to provide a program such as the one in which we participated.

I very much enjoyed the field trip to Eli Lilly. It was very informative and answered many questions I had about the choices in my future. The trip also answered many important questions that had never even crossed my mind.
Hitherto, I had only seen one side of Biochemistry- academia. School is where I am learning Biochemistry and the only Ph.D. people with whom I converse are people who have chose the academic route. It was fascinating to see another very different route that is just as probable an option for me. Moreover, the industrial route has always, for one reason or another, been the route I see myself choosing. It pleased me to hear that, even through the business decides what project the lab will work on, the senior scientist and the associate scientists work together as a team to decide how to accomplish the ultimate goals. Contrary to what I had believed, however, it was interesting to hear that the project on which the Ph.D. graduate does his thesis may not relate at all to the project he will be working on in the company. Much more goes into who is hired.
I now feel much more informed on my approaching decision of careers in the future.

I really enjoyed the tour of Eli Lilly. I really thought it was interesting that there is an entire history section in the building. Going into the replica building and learning how early drugs were manufactured was informative and one of the better parts of the tour. Being a group of scientists there could have been more viewing of labs and facilities integrated into the trip. The panel discussion was nice, I understand that one person was missing which is unfortunate because it is nice to hear from the scientists working there and discuss industry with them. Overall I thought the trip was fantastic and gave a good history of the company and what it stands for.

The trip to Eli Lilly in Indianapolis was both informative and interesting. As a prospective scientist, the panel discussion and tour provided us with a candid glimpse of what one might expect from a career in industry. The tour guides at Eli Lilly were cordial and hospitable, and I would recommend the trip to anyone pursuing a career in chemistry or biochemistry.

I did enjoy the historical part of the tour. I found it very interesting. The panel discussion at the end I found to be very helpful. It was really useful to hear opinions about the company from people who work for Eli Lilly.