Confused about co-op and internships

<p>What are some of the advantages/disadvantages of both options? Currently, I am going to Northeastern which is big on co-op. Although this can be helpful when I look for a job, I feel like I could do better by going to a better school (Top 20) which usually offers internship. </p>

<p>Where would I have a better job opporunity? Lesser school, but co-op or great school, but internship?</p>

<p>No schools that I know of offer internships at companies, you have the do the applying and interviewing yourself and make it your own responsibility to find an internship. In some schools, it's the same way with co-ops. Co-opping is generally a more organized program through your school and you're expected to take a semester or two during the school year to co-op, while generally if you intern it's only over the summer months.</p>

<p>Yes, but in terms of job opportunity, how does this matter? Just by browsing around this site and talking with people, it seems that you generally have a better chance of getting a good job/good pay by graduating from a top school. Meanwhile, coming from an average school you may still land a job, but it won't be as great.</p>

<p>I don't know any companies that scale pay based off of your undergrad school; my old roommate from Carnegie Mellon and my friend from UCI were both offered jobs at Raytheon and were offered the same pay rate (as would anyone from anywhere else in the country).</p>

<p>Also, I think there's a lot of us that question if it's really being at the top school that gets people "better" jobs or if it's that highly ranked schools tend to attract the students that are going to do well no matter where they are.</p>

<p>I'm a sophomore at Boston College and i've heard a lot of great things from the northeastern co op program. It makes it much easier to land an internship because you can work there much longer than someone like me. Some companies only recruit for co ops like northeasterns program (i know this after being turned away at career fairs while inquiring about internships). I think northeastern is a great choice and will give you many internship opportunities in the boston area. Its not all about going to a topped ranked school but rather what you can put on your resume, talk about in an interview, networking etc.</p>

<p>I still don't know what to do, I understand the importance of having co-op/internships in order to get a good future job, but I feel that if I could get into a top school, I would have the same opportunities and more.</p>

<p>Fargofour, how is Boston College's undergrad business school? It could be a possible transfer choice of mine.</p>

<p>BC's undergrad b school is very good. ranked 14th in businessweek. looked as a prestigious school among firms in boston area. great alumni base also. can't go wrong with either. i'd visit the schools and see what you like best and base your decision around that. either one will give you opportunities. just this week, i tried to get an internship with a firm on state street and the recruiter was telling me how they heavily recruit from northeastern and bc. however, northeastern students can work longer hours so they get hired more. of course, firms love this sort of cheap labor especially when they don't want to be paying somebody on salary to complete the work.</p>

<p>yeah, I don't think you could go wrong choosing between BC and NU. Like fargofour said, either one will give you good opportunities. NU has co-op and there are some great companies that recruit business co-op students, while BC has the better reputation and also will provide you with good opportunities.</p>

<p>They're pretty different schools though, BC is outside the city with a really pretty, more traditional college campus, it's smaller, definitely has a lot more school spirit. NU is about 15,000 ugrads, has a different "feel" to it than BC, and campus is nice, but being in the middle of the city it's not that grassy, classic college campus like BC is. It should probably come down to which is a better fit for you.</p>