I’m a rising senior and have about 2 semesters and change left to graduate. I started off college not really knowing what I want to do, so I am a little behind in terms of graduating. If I push through fast I can graduate after Spring 2020 (5 years). My major is Electrical Engineering and my GPA is 3.85.
That being said, I have no company experience. The only thing I have is campus involvement. Some things I have done include:
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Internationalization Project (selected by faculty to do grant-funded project and visit in Europe)
Student Assistant
Peer Mentor
That being said, I am offered a CO-OP with a fairly good company, but it might not be exactly what I want to do. But, it is really close to me and pays fairly well. However, they want the normal 3 rotations so that would extend my graduation significantly.
Do you think I should take the CO-OP? Should I do all 3 rotations?
With the the global economy slowing down and people saying another crisis may happen, I feel it might be a good idea to get practical experience w/ a company under my belt, but I have no decided fully.
My vote would be to do the co-op. Delaying graduation for work experience is a good trade off as long as it doesn’t impact your financial aid. Usually it doesn’t but I would double check since you aren’t on track to graduate in 4years
In my opinion, graduating late is only an issue if one or both of the following occurs: (i) It increases the total cost until you get your degree, and in addition you cannot afford it or would take on too much debt; (ii) You really don’t want to do it. Otherwise, life is not a race and there is no problem at all with graduating in 6 years.
On the other hand, having some coop experience is a big deal when it comes to finding a job after graduation. This will help you regardless of whether you end up working for the company that you do your coop with or if you end up working somewhere else.
As such, I agree with @momofsenior1. I would be inclined to do the coop unless you have a really major reason not to.
By the way, if you start off with no idea what you want to do, and you end up graduating in 6 years with a 3.85 GPA and coop experience in a very employable major that you like, then you are doing very well. Getting a bit of research experience plus a trip to Europe sounds pretty cool also.
@DadTwoGirls It doesn’t really affect the cost of the degree. The only reason I want to do the CO-OP is to get experience with a company because I do not know how hard it will be to find a job. I do not necessarily like the company or the engineering they do.
Thanks for your input
It really doesn’t matter that you graduate later…you will have that much more work experience when you graduate.
Even if you don’t like what they do…you make like the people you work with or learn what you do want to work on or what you don’t like to work on or what type of work you like… the more theoretical or the more hands on. You may find you love working in an office or would rather be outside. You make learn you like working as a team or more independently. You may find you like working directly with customers or would rather be in the background.
By doing a coop you will have people that you can use for references.
