Co-op dates!!!!!

<p>1.) As long as you have taken the classes that you would have taken at Northeastern freshman year and first sem sophomore year, you should be able to go on 3.
2.) Northeastern is a 5 year school so if by junior you mean “middler” then probably 2. </p>

<p>Sorry to steal your thunder Emily but I’m at home and bored. Correct me if I’m wrong.</p>

<p>haha, steal away. </p>

<p>Has nothing to do with being motivated… has to do with time and co-op restrictions. You’ll have to do a semester of class before co-op, you can’t do 2 co-ops in a row, and you can’t do a co-op your last semester of school. </p>

<p>Redsox is right on both scenarios… Entering as a “middler” (3rd year), you’d be able to co-op Spring of middler and Spring of junior, but that would be it.</p>

<p>I’ve been looking for a way to maximize the amount of time I can spend with my friends and family in Germany. Could neuchimie/Emily2007 have a look at this?</p>

<p>First year: Fall & Spring Class, Summer I off, Summer II Class
Second year: Fall Class, Spring & Summer I Co-op, Summer II Class
Third year: Fall & Spring Class, Summer I off, Summer II Co-op
Fourth year: Fall Co-op, Spring Class, Summer I off, Summer II Co-op
Fifth year: Fall Co-op, Spring Class</p>

<p>I was also hoping to have as many co-ops as possible in Germany.
Also: I’m majoring in BNS and I know Emily is too. What did you do on your co-ops? Where did you work? How much did you earn?</p>

<p>So to do that, you’d have to switch co-op cycles. It’s totally possible and one of my friends just did it. It’s not really a big deal, but you have to let people know and adjust your financial aid, etc.</p>

<p>The main thing I’d be concerned about with that schedule is the summers… Taking summer II classes after your first year is very unusual, and although I can’t think of any reason why they wouldn’t let you, most people don’t do it (unless its a dialogue). The other summers off (after middler and junior year) are fine IF you are sure you can graduate in time. Some majors make it so you literally never have classes you want in the summer, and some (most) only offer electives. However if you need a bunch of electives for your major and you pack your regular fall/spring schedule with core classes, make sure you have room to take the electives without doing summer.</p>

<p>Honestly, you shouldn’t stress about this now. Don’t force yourself to take a summer off if you’d rather have a more relaxed schedule and spread the courses out. And don’t force yourself to do summer 2 courses and end your summer early-- for most Northeastern students this is literally the last “summer break” they’ll ever have. Plus plenty of students know they have room in their schedules and decide while on co-op to just keep working summer 2 and not take classes. You never know what you might feel like doing, and there is no reason why you have to figure it out now.</p>

<p>As for doing as many co-ops possible abroad, it depends. Usually you’ll hear that you need to do a domestic one before going international, but some people get out of that and just go abroad (especially if you’re an international student going home). But keep in mind that international co-ops are limited, competitive, and usually unpaid (or only paid with a small stipend). If you really really want to work in Stuttgart, and we only have two co-ops in Berlin, you’ll have to set up a co-op yourself, which isn’t an easy process.</p>

<p>In Germany summer break is only 6 weeks long, so I think I’ll be fine with having just May and June off.</p>

<p>That schedule looks fine. Doing classes summer II is a frosh isn’t the norm, but I think they let you do it. Like neuchimie says, you’ll have to switch “co-op cycles”, but I did it and it literally is just emailing your co-op advisor saying “I won’t be going on co-op this semester, I will be going in X semester instead”. She’s also right that you don’t have to worry too much about it now. Lots of people wind up moving around their schedule, as a BNS major you have plenty of flexibility.</p>

<p>I only did 2 co-ops, both were at brigham & women’s hospital doing lab research. All brigham positions pay around $11/hr, which is a little on the low side for BNS jobs. People who want higher payer jobs usually apply for biotech co-ops, which pay around $15-19/hr, but these are usually more competitive and taken by students on their 2nd or 3rd co-op. I’m not aware of any BNS co-ops in Germany, but you could probably set one up yourself, it would just take some extra work on your end.</p>

<p>How much help does the school offer students in figuring out the logistics of this?</p>

<p>co-op advisors offer plenty of guidance. Really, once students get here, they have no problem working out logistics.</p>

<p>It all seems way more complicated than it is… we just answer these questions because we know that a lot of incoming freshman wonder about these things and are anxious about it, but in reality it’s not something to stress about or even think too much about. It all works out pretty easily in the end.</p>

<p>Do any people go for more “behavioral” / psychology oriented co-ops, or are these possible?
And I did look it up on NU’s site and found one in Bremen and one in Hannover, so unless I looked it up wrong, there are programs in Germany. (Come to think of it, both were at universities, so maybe they were just universities you could do a study abroad at. or it’s in a research lab at the university)
I will be doing a one month internship at a clinic for neuropsychology in Munich this summer (working with people who have brain damage from strokes/tumors/accidents. I’m sooo excited!), so if I like it there I’m going to ask if I could do a co-op.</p>

<p>Does the co-op system of NEU really give a student that much of an advantage? I feel like if it did, it would be known around the country much better than it is… let’s say I wanted to go to medical school and I’m going up against kids from tier 1 schools (considering neu to be tier 2). would I really be a better candidate because of a year of an internship-like thing? Rather than the kids from other schools who might be doing an internship as well just in a shorter time?</p>

<p>First off, an internship in a shorter time is different than co-op. It’s shorter, usually unpaid, and isn’t nearly as structured as a co-op program.</p>

<p>And the program is known around the country… </p>

<p>If you want to go to a big-name school, then go to a big-name school. But plenty of people get into medical schools from Northeastern.</p>

<p>I am having the same concern as NYsoccer, actually. I understand that co-ops are longer and paid, but I want to be able to use my work experience more for deciding what I want to do. I want to be able to intern/co-op for a business in the public sector, the public (preferably federal government) sector, and with a non-profit. I feel like co-op is more geared toward putting you on one track and keeping you on that track with the 2nd (and potential 3rd) co-op, but I could be wrong. What if you decide you don’t like what you’re doing?</p>

<p>I am weighing Northeastern’s CBA to GW’s School of Business, and am unfortunately forced to put money into the argument. Any guidance?</p>

<p>Some students discover during their first coop that they need to change majors. For example, someone planning on being a CPA gets a coop job with a Big 4 CPA firm and comes to the realization that they cannot stand accounting. Maybe it’s the nature of the work itself or talking with career CPA’s on the job. They realize that they need to change career plans. Better to find that out sophomore year rather than after you graduate and start a career position.</p>

<p>I have talked to many people about the role of the co-op and how it factors into the equation. Several people have told me about situations where the student, even after being sure of their major, went on a co-op and found out they hated it and changed majors and it all worked out in the end. I know of one specific instance where the student went in as a criminal justice major, went on the first co-op, realized he hated it, switched to engineering and still managed to graduate on time-the school was very helpful. </p>

<p>My son is going in undeclared so he will probably use the co-op as a way to find out what he wants to do-it was one of the reasons he chose NEU.</p>

<p>If the COA is very different between schools I certainly think that is an important factor. I don’t think any school is worth going into high debt for if it can be avoided. </p>

<p>I won’t get into the “tier” discussion. I only can tell you that NEU seems to be willing to work with kids who want to graduate in 4 years and want to go to graduate school, med school or law school. I think you can fulfill your experiential learning requirement in ways besides co-op.</p>

<p>I know for my son co-op was the deciding factor.</p>