Summer Internship: Journey to Boston Scientific

Before business school, I worked as a project manager in the medical IT world. For most of that time, I traveled and implemented electronic health records at healthcare organizations across the country. Eventually, I found myself wanting a position that required a little more creative problem-solving and strategic thinking which is how I wound up in business school at Carlson, concentrating in marketing.

Merritt(right) with friends at a Gophers Game

I wanted to get into the medical device space and there is an abundance of medical device companies within the Twin Cities and Carlson has strong ties with many of these companies. Last September, a week into classes and with the GBCC’s recommendation that I begin networking right away, I began reaching out to Carlson grads at the various med device companies in the area to set up chats. While I thought that I would not be enjoying the networking aspect of the business school, I quickly realized how wrong I was – I loved meeting with folks one-on-one and learning about their journey, their motivations, their experiences, their future outlook, etc.  I learned how people are willing to make time to talk to a student about their experiences and, as equally as important, willing to provide names for other professionals to speak to about their experiences.

As I spoke to Boston Scientific employees, I was immediately drawn to them – they were fun, intelligent, hard-working, humble, and very team-oriented. Having spent most of my life as an athlete, the focus on their team-oriented approach to problem-solving really stood out. I specifically remember one employee saying that at Boston Scientific when your teammate succeeds, you succeed. That stuck with me.

Boston Scientific interns relax at Pyscho Suzi's

I am starting week five at my summer internship at Boston Scientific and it has been a fun, informative, and busy blur. Here, I am trying to soak up the new medical terminology, get a grasp on the medical device technology, and meet as many folks as possible. Everyone I have reached out to has readily made the time to help me with my project or to share their story. In the last four weeks, I have attended sales rep training for the products I am working on, participated in numerous intern gatherings (where I was able to meet employees across multiple divisions), spent an afternoon at Valley Fair (Boston rented out the theme park for the day for their employees), attended the Everyone Makes an Impact day (employee appreciation event where we hear from patients about how BSC’s products affected their lives), and dove head-first into my summer project. I am looking forward to diving deeper into my project, an upcoming visit to a hospital to see Boston Scientific’s technologies in action, and further intern events. 

Carlson intern's(Merritt and Stefanie) at Boston Scientific golfing on a Sunny day.