Year 2: Your First Real Decision

Pick one of three tracks for your holidays: a research attachment, an industry internship, or a deliberately chosen new skill. Trying to do all three shallowly beats none of them well.

If it's research, decide inside-your-school or an external institution (KEMRI, ICIPE, KALRO, university research centres). External placements are more competitive but carry more weight later, apply to both in parallel.

If it's industry, pick a sector now: food and beverage, cosmetics/FMCG, pharmaceuticals, diagnostics. See the Careers page for which Kenyan employers actually hire in each.

Most Kenyan life sciences degrees also require a formal industrial attachment later in the programme, check your department's exact timing and paperwork requirements now so you're not scrambling when it's compulsory.

If choosing a new skill instead, pick something that closes a real, specific gap (a statistics tool, a lab technique, a data/coding skill), not a generic certificate for the sake of a certificate.

Start with your department's attachment/internship coordinator, most have a running list of institutions that take students, even if it isn't advertised.

Apply directly to research institutions and companies you're genuinely interested in (ICIPE, KALRO, university-affiliated labs, or any organization in your specific field), usually via a written application to the relevant office, not a public portal.

Some institutions run a formal attachment track with fixed, calendarable intakes rather than rolling applications, worth asking about at your institution or company of choice if a predictable date matters more to you than casting a wider net. Be realistic though: the most well-known, competitive institutions can be genuinely hard to get into without an existing connection, don't build your whole plan around just one name, apply widely in parallel.

Ask lecturers directly whether they know of openings, most supervise external projects and hear about vacancies before they're public.

Use LinkedIn deliberately: search for alumni from your own department who are 1-2 years ahead, message them specifically asking how they found their placement, not just "any advice?"

Check with your county government and any local hospitals, agrovets, or manufacturers, some placements never get advertised beyond a direct walk-in application.

Whatever you choose, document it: what you did, what equipment or methods you used, what the outcome was. This becomes CV language and interview material later.

Ask your supervisor for a short reference or evaluation letter at the end, before you lose contact. Getting one immediately is far easier than requesting one two years later.

Post a short, specific update about the experience on LinkedIn (not just "had a great time"), name the skill or technique, this is what makes a profile look active rather than dormant.

Keep any raw data, protocols, or work samples you're permitted to keep, useful evidence in a future interview or application even years later.