can someone enlighten me a little more re: co-ops

<p>son is choosing between UCLA and NE. Right now is he a business major, leaning towards MIS. We are from California and are flying in to attend "Welcome day" April 22.</p>

<p>Can someone address co-ops a little. In order to graduate in 4 years, I understand that the student has to take summer classes or co-ops -- Do the summer classes, etc cost additional besides the fall and spring semester costs? Do you still pay tuition when you ar off campus doing co-ops? Are co-ops mandatory? </p>

<p>To cut the cost down, son definitely wants to graduate in 4 years. (Does getting high scores - 4,5s - on AP tests help lessen the classes he will need to take?) </p>

<p>Who finds the co-op internship -- the student? Are co-ops done all over the nation, or just in the Boston area. We are from California and I know son would love to find a business type co-op in the Hollywood music industry. (which is one of the reasons why UCLA is more appealing at this point).</p>

<p>Students do not pay tuition while they are on co-op, they only take and pay for the equivalent of 8 semesters of coursework, just like other 4-yr colleges (although a student would have room/board costs during the co-op period). </p>

<p>Whether co-op is mandatory or not depends on the major or program the student is in, it is not mandatory for many majors. I believe co-op is mandatory for the College of Business, but both 4-yr and 5-yr programs are available (Northeastern does have a mandatory “experiential learning” requirement for all students but for some majors this can be met through internships during the summer, community service, volunteer work, research, etc., in addition to co-ops)</p>

<p>The majority of the co-op jobs are in the Boston area, partly because of Northeastern’s long co-op history locally, but they do offer co-ops all over the country as well as overseas. You may want to talk to the co-op advisors for his major to find out whether they typically offer co-op opportunities in the Hollywood music industry. Also, students can work with the school to set up co-ops at specific companies that are not already co-op employers for Northeastern.</p>

<p>During the semester before they begin their first co-op students take an Intro to Co-op course where they meet weekly with their co-op advisor to identify available co-op jobs, submit their applications and interview for jobs. The school does not find the jobs for the students (S was an engineering student and for engineering they posted all co-op jobs online, students selected the jobs they were interested in, the co-op advisor approved their selections and then their applications were sent on to the employer).</p>

<p>And yes, Northeastern will give credit for many AP/IB courses.</p>

<p>Good luck to your S! If he attends NEU would he also be looking at a minor in Music Industry? (that may be a possible way to find business-related co-ops in the Hollywood music industry)</p>

<p>Just to reiterate some of the above:</p>

<p>For the CBA, co-ops are required.</p>

<p>I very easily graduated in four years with two co-ops and know several people (including business majors) doing the same. You just have to be smart about your scheduling and get some of the core courses out of the way with AP/IB credit.</p>

<p>That process for co-ops described above is the same for all majors. Everything is run through NUCOOL and your co-op advisor. It’s a very clear system and doesn’t require nearly as much leg work as getting a post-grad job.</p>

<p>However you can set up your own co-ops if you get them approved. I know a few people who went back home, and one that created a co-op in France. Note that music industry is one of the most likely majors (same as Journalism) to have unpaid co-ops. So many people are desperate to get in, that they could find a thousand interns for free. You could definitely get lucky, but don’t think a paid co-op will be guarranteed.</p>

<p>There is a minor in Music Industry, as mentioned above:
<a href=“http://www.northeastern.edu/registrar/courses/cat1112-acad-am-musc.pdf[/url]”>http://www.northeastern.edu/registrar/courses/cat1112-acad-am-musc.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If he is really 10000% serioius about music industry, he really should consider switching to a major in Music with a concentration in Music Industry, with a Business minor. MMIS is a great concentration and all, but it really prepares students to be business system analysts, programmers, controlling business databases… For example, all of the MMIS majors I know are doing things like granting access to people in Oracle Financials, doing Excel analysis, etc. He WON’T learn technical mumbo jumbo used in the music industry. Plus as a Business major, he’ll have to take a very broad range of business classes (finance, accounting, marketing, etc) which a lot of people get annoyed with. If he really wants to do business but in a music setting, then totally stay with business. But just make sure he reads the class descriptions and understands everything. A lot of people go into a major their first semester and don’t really know what they’re going to be learning. Make sure he looks it up, if he hasn’t already, and is sure that he’ll get what he wants out of the major.</p>