<p>I am researching schools for my S and want a school that offers a co-op/internship program however, I find myself limiting our search so the college is close to our home. For example, Stevens being close to NYC and NJ vs a Conn or Philly school where he would not want to relocate to. Has anyone experienced this or are the companies that offer co-ops have other offices in other cites that you can transfer too</p>
<p>Lots of schools have co-op programs (summer + semester off of school for an extended paid internship, particularly for engineering majors), though they do not always advertise them heavily to prospective students. A few do build the curriculum around co-ops.</p>
<p>During the co-op program, the student need not be at an employer near the school, though it depends on which employers recruit co-op students at the school.</p>
<p>You can check each school’s career center for co-op information and to see if a list of recruiting employers is available. Or contact the career center directly.</p>
<p>[Could</a> Co-Ops Help Solve Our College Grad Employment Crisis? - Jonathan Masters - The Atlantic Cities](<a href=“http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/09/could-co-ops-solve-our-college-grad-employment-crisis/3205/]Could”>http://www.theatlanticcities.com/jobs-and-economy/2012/09/could-co-ops-solve-our-college-grad-employment-crisis/3205/)</p>
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Is there a reason for this? Are you sure your S doesn’t want to go to Philly or Conn? What about Mass (like Northeastern)? It’s one thing if there is a medical or other reason to keep the student close. Otherwise why limit your search area?</p>
<p>Go with SUNY buffalo</p>
<p>Limiting your search to colleges close to home is a mistake. What are you going to do when the co-op he gets offered is in a different city?</p>
<p>Northeastern (Boston) is known for it’s co-op program.</p>
<p>Otherwise – formal internship programs (at student option) are becoming more and more common. Many colleges offer these. When you visit schools, ask about them if they aren’t part of the formal presentation.</p>
<p>If you’re talking about engineering (and with Stevens in the mix I suspect that might be true), many schools offer co-op programs. It’s fairly common for schools to have co-op programs for engineering majors, even if they don’t offer co-op to other majors.</p>
<p>Schools with established co-op programs have partner employers located all over the country. It’s very common for students to do co-op rotations nowhere near their college. Your son could go to Northeastern, RIT, Drexel, etc., and work co-ops close to home (or far away if desired).</p>
<p>The only school that has really perfected the CO-OP is Northeastern. The rest are hit or miss.</p>
<p>To follow up, I’ve known people that have taken part in coop programs and it is a great experience. Students come out of the programs with valuable experience, low debt due to the good wages they earn, etc. But on the flip side it does require a certain maturity to take part. At age 19 you may be asked to move 1,000 miles away for a job and spend a semester or six months there. You aren’t thrown in completely cold; they generally help finding housing and the like. But if the OP is looking for nearby colleges because the student isn’t ready to move far away then I’d consider that a red flag.</p>
<p>I understand more schools are offering co-ops which is great since I have heard that a lot of students get offers from their companies they worked for. So for instance if you get a co-op in Conn. or Boston and they want to hire you but you don’t want to re-locate after graduation you still need to look for a job. Grant it, you will have that experience to put on his resume but if you get a co-op which is close to home and your school you are at an advantage if they co-op offers you a job you don’t have to make a decision to re-locate since its something he doesn’t want to do. That’s why I was curious if most of the co-ops are big companies that do have other offices in different parts of the east coast. Then he would want to expand his search. His major will be in engineering or science.</p>
<p>many students that have internships also get offers from those companies. After all they got to look at you for an entire summer instead of a few hours as in an interview. A coop school is like having internships on steroids. The work experience is baked into the curriculum, while it can be hard at many schools to take a semester off since the coursework is so sequential. Internships or coop programs that require full-time work during the school year are much easier to get than summer positions; everyone wants the summer jobs.</p>
<p>Even if someone decides to look locally for jobs after graduation, having internship or coop experience is a big plus from the point of view of employers. This assumes, BTW, that the student does well on the job. It is likely that other companies will call to ask, and if the student is looking for a job at one of the companies where they worked while in school it just takes an email to their manager to check.</p>
<p>And not to harp on this too much but I just reread the 1s post and noticed it said
Perhaps your son would be more invested in this if he owned the search; you can advise and assist, but IMHO he ought to be doing the legwork. If he can’t/won’t, well…</p>
<p>“The only school that has really perfected the CO-OP is Northeastern. The rest are hit or miss.”</p>
<p>Not even close to the truth. Today, there are dozens of universities offering great CoOp programs to a significant percentage of their student populations. Northeastern deserves a pat on the back for being one if the leaders in CoOp, and they still offer a great program, but… sorry… the above claim is just dead wrong.</p>
<p>collegenj,</p>
<p>Philly is an hour from Northern Jersey. Connecticut is the same. Are you implying your boy commute from home? That’s the only scenario under which I could imagine them being considered “too far.”</p>
<p>Make an appointment and have a conversation with the placement offices at the colleges you are considering. They can show you where the kids are getting CoOps and what percentage of the kids get them.</p>
<p>maikai,</p>
<p>He will being staying on campus. Both of us have been researching schools and since our schedules are so tight and he doesn’t want to miss school for visits we are limited with tours on weekends. He did reach out to a Stevens rep and we are waiting on a call back. We live in Central NJ so Philly or NYC are about one hour away. He also sent an email out to Drexel. Thanks for all the information. There is so much to know and learn.</p>
<p>And for engineering, don’t forget RIT. One of the largest engineering co-op programs in the country.</p>
<p>NJ residents should not overlook Rutgers:
[Student</a> Guide to Engineering Co-op | Career Services | Rutgers](<a href=“http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/student_engcoop.shtml]Student”>http://careerservices.rutgers.edu/student_engcoop.shtml)</p>
<p>Schools that offer Co-op programs are much more prevalent than not. Rutgers, RIT, and NEU do have co-op programs, like almost every other major university in the country. </p>
<p>Sent from my Desire HD using CC</p>