<p>I heard of engineering schools offering a co-op program, but is this better than just being a full time student? I heard if you take a co-op program, your expected graduation year increases and your not making a large amount of money. Also, when you take a co-op program, do you forfeit taking classes for a whole semester or can you wedge in enough classes along with the internship to keep yourself very busy?</p>
<p>Wow. I don’t know who you’ve been talking to, but if this is the advice you’re getting from your pals then they just don’t have a clue. </p>
<p>Probably the single most important factor in getting a good job out of college is relevant internship or coop experience. While true for the average college grad, this also holds strongly in engineering since people working in the field know the classes in college are almost nothing like the day-to-day work. They don’t want to hire someone who is going to leave after 6 months because it wasn’t what they expected or wanted.</p>
<p>Not only that, they told you something about “not making a large amount of money”? According to the Drexel website, one school with a coop program, the average engineer earns over $17K for a six-month coop, so that’s roughly $17/hr. I guess that’s pocket change to your pals, but many college student find that income quite substantial & welcome. </p>
<p>BTW when you do a coop you work full time. Trust me, your employer will keep you busy enough. No classes, and anyway its often in a different city far from college.</p>
<p>To sum up, I’ll go so far as to say that if I was deciding between a school that had a strong internship/coop program and one that didn’t, the school that had one is where I’d go.</p>
<p>I generally agree with the previous poster – however, at many top schools that offer a coop program, only 33% to 50% of the students take this (there are exceptions, though).</p>
<p>Georgia Tech has a large and highly respected co-op program. Read through their website to learn more about the program works. They have a good list of FAQ.
[Georgia</a> Tech :: Division of Professional Practice :: Undergraduate Cooperative Education Program](<a href=“http://www.coop.gatech.edu/index.php]Georgia”>http://www.coop.gatech.edu/index.php)</p>
<p>thanks GRITS im actually applying there, but i cant find the answer to my question of how much time will it take for me to graduate if i do enter a co-op program. wont it take much more time to graduate if your working every other semester?</p>
<p>It’s a 5 year program.</p>
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Seriously, if you aren’t capable of using the web to find the answer (try typing “engineering coop programs years to graduate” into google and just about every link I saw has the answer) then you should probably focus your interests outside such programs. While they have great benefits, they also demand much of the participants especially in self reliance. In some ways its like finishing college at 19 because you’re living on your own in another city, probably in a place you had to find on your own, working full time at a technical job, etc. In other words solving a lot of things on your own. It just doesn’t seem like you’d be ready for this in 2 years if you are buffaloed today over things like figuring out how long it takes to finish a coop program.</p>
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<p>If the co-op / internship is longer than a summer session, you would normally take a quarter or semester off of school. Yes, you would graduate “late” (unless you would otherwise graduate a quarter or semester early due to starting advanced with AP or college credit), but you would still only be in school for 8 semesters or 12 quarters if you otherwise made normal progress.</p>
<p>Co-op / internship experience is normally beneficial when seeking jobs at graduation. The calendar delay by itself may be slightly beneficial or detrimental, depending on economic and industry cycles.</p>