Im applying to Northeastern for the combined Political science/Communication Studies major and while their website claims “Students will also get hands-on experience through Northeastern University’s co-op education program, which pairs students with organizations, corporations, advocates, and campaigns that employ political communication experts.” ive heard that many communication students end up co-oping with the University. Where should i realistically expect to do my coops? Moreover, where might these take place (any chance for DC?) and is there a possibility they will be paid?
I’m not sure where you heard that most end up working for the university - anecdotally a good friend and communication studies major I know worked for The Boston Globe in recruiting and a design firm in SF doing content marketing, both positions paid. They also had multiple offers in NYC.
Check out this list for a sampling. I ran this by my friend, and they knew people who worked with the Boston Bruins, Boston Globe, Chanel, Constant Contact, The Food Network, Puma, Reebok, and Teen Vogue. It’s not just the tippy top co-ops that go to all these places. Amazon would be considered one of the top tier co-ops that are coveted for comm.
https://camd.northeastern.edu/commstudies/experiential-learning-co-op/co-op/co-op-employers/
That comm major knows people working in advertising, some production (harder to find), some research, some journalism, some politics, many others at the Globe, and even people working abroad in paid positions. My comm friend estimated that 5% or less end up at the school, and there is a 100% placement rate for comm including those at the school.
Communications is a very wide field, so it depends on what you want to do, etc. Some areas (like production) can be harder to find positions in, but still not some huge feat. A majority of positions are paid speaking to communications generally. The only field that I know has more consistently unpaid co-op’s are art majors, for more or less the obvious reasons. Within comm, many production co-ops are also often unpaid due to the nature of the field.
For politics, if you work on a campaign you may not be paid, but it likely would be a great experience for PolySci/Comm that would make it worth it. There are plenty of co-ops in DC from what I know, though it isn’t my field of expertise. They are mostly either working with politicians or non-profits. Many of these are also paid. If being paid was a requirement, you should be able to find a position in DC easily enough.
So long as you are involved in the co-op process and keep up with deadlines, you shouldn’t have to worry about co-oping at the school and having options in and out of Boston.
MyD was poli sci at NEU and co-oped with Senator Elizabeth Warren her second year send then co-open in the embassy in Quito for the state dept her third year. Neither were paid however but we felt the senator position was worth the experience. For the embassy she used the $6000 presidential global coop scholarship to cover travel,and expenses, but the embassy provided great housing. She got hired right out of college working for a congressmmeber in DC. She had coop offers from political organizations, and the MA governors office for a variety of positions. She also did a non co-op internship at the MA attorney Generals office on housing issues. There’s lots of state and city political positions on Boston.