so as a parent i think i am finding this more stressful then my daughter. wishing she would get offered a co-op before thanksgiving break and if not that than winter break. she has had 3 interviews so far. one on campus, one by phone and one was in ohio and she drove to the offices. she also has an on campus interview on friday. i just want someone to offer my baby girl something already.
I’m with you DaapMom as far as the worry goes, but it actually went quite smoothly for my daughter. Being from Chicago was great because so many design firms have offices there. She had three interviews, and sngged a position at a Michigan Ave firm located in the Mag Mile area. That was a relief, as are the co-op term charges.
congrats to your daughter balthezar. my daughter felt her interview yesterday went really well. now we play the waiting game to see if she gets an offer.
so she met with her advisor yesterday…most of the companies she was interested in are only looking for upperclass ID students or haven’t even started interviewing yet…ugh
no job yet…she is one of 37 students still waiting for a co-op…we are now aiming to hope she has something before winter break.
Anything where you guys are in Maryland, DaapMom? Are their still firms that haven’t started interviewing yet?
starting looking online last night doing a google search for industrial design co-ops. there are about 30 places she had her portfolio uploaded and viewed but no interviews.
she found a co-op on her own and it is an awesome company. she also found a place to love already. thanks everyone for your guidance and support.
^Any experiences to share? Resume writing tips? Interview tips too?
it was a learning experience that is for sure. her advisor wasn’t very helpful. there was not much communication. they really need to fix the way they do the program. all they have the kids do is upload a portfolio and a resume. they should have the adivsors meet with the kids BEFORE they are sent thru the PAL system to apply to their first batch of the kids picks of businesses. to have my daughter apply to 59 places and she was not being called for interviews. she had a meeting and THEN her advisor said…your portfolio is not strong enough for the places you applied to…you probably can get 10 of these companies out of the 59 possibly look at you you are reaching “too high” for what you are capable of at this time. most of the companies that she applied to were looking for kids with prior co-op experience. THIS SHOULD HAVE BEEN TOLD BEFORE. she met with her advisor at least 4 or 5 times during the process. they only have 2 rounds of sending your portfolio and resume to places. she was one of 5 students out of almost 200 kids that didn’t have anything the last week of the semester. her dad, myself and herself spent thanksgiving weekend doing google searches and had her apply to more that 60 places on her own. she found a co-op on her own. they let you apply to places on your own as long as they do not participate with UC… the place she found is an awesome company and she cannot wait to start working for them in january. the hard part of working out of town for a co-op then comes in the part about finding housing. we found a great place using a website called airbnb where there are families that rent out rooms to students or people traveling around the country.
if your student can make an appt with the career center and see if they have someone that can give your portfolio pointers, resume writing pointers and possibly practice interviewing with you…i say do it.
the co-op program is a great program but there needs to be more communication between the advisors and students before they upload their portfolio into the PAL system and apply for jobs. that is my only complaint i had as a parent…but i was only hearing my daughters side of how the process was going.
I am a current daap student in the same grade as daapmom’s daughter and I just wanted to say her daughters experience is very, very different from what my friends and I experienced. I got an interview with our coop advisor two weeks before portfolios were sent out and Beth was very helpful in giving me encouragement and advice. I had been working on my portfolio since my first semester at DAAP so I didn’t have much to fix but Beth greatly helped me on presentation skills and what to say in interviews. I was told to apply to almost every company on my list of thirty companies and within the first day of sending out my portfolio, I already had two interviews. I had six interviews in all and got a job two weeks in with the first company I interviewed with, which happened to be my dream job.
I know my experience is also not the norm but most students got coops within a month of the send out date. But from what I have noticed, there is no rhyme nor reason with who is chosen for a coop and when they get their coop. There are some less talented students who are chosen immediately and some incredibly gifted designers who didn’t hear till the last week of school. I’ve realized thru the process a lot of the selection process is about who is a good fit for the specific company, both as a person and as a designer.
Daapmom, I’m not sure why your daughter didn’t meet with Beth till after her documents were sent thru PAL but we were told to meet with our advisors early in the semester. Beth is the most amazing person I have met at DAAP and I’m sorry your daughter didn’t have the same experience with her. I know Beth worked far more hours and intensively than her job required of her and many of us believe we wouldn’t have gotten our coops without her guidance and expertise. Congratulations to your daughter for finding her own coop because I know that isn’t a fun process. Where will she be cooping?
i am not saying beth was not amazing…she did a great job. my daugther met with Beth numerous times…before things were sent in round one, during round one, before round 2, during round 2 and even the last week of the semester. as a matter of fact…she even told my daughter i have met with you more than any other student i have assigned to me.