<p>Is the coop experience essential to an engineering major who sees himself in the field upon graduation rather than continuing on for graduate school? Stevens Institute of Technology has an extensive cooperative program - does that give its graduates who are looking to work in the NYC area an edge? Thanks.</p>
<p>Bumping for you.</p>
<p>I do think you will get more useful replies in the engineering forum.</p>
<p>[Engineering</a> Majors - College Confidential](<a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/engineering-majors/]Engineering”>Engineering Majors - College Confidential Forums)</p>
<p>Not sure about the Stevens coop program but the one at U Cincinnati gets raves and great placement. I would think Stevens would be similar.</p>
<p>If you have above a 3.0 GPA, you should hav no problem getting a co-op/internship position at a good engineering school</p>
<p>Yes, it is very important. I can give a few reasons. </p>
<p>First, some people who think they might like engineering discover once they’re actually up to their elbows in it that its not right for them. I knew a guy from a top school who made that discovery during a coop at the end of his sophomore year. All was not lost; with his interest in technology unabated (it was the day to day job of an engineer he didn’t want) he shifted focus into marketing and is now a successful executive in the hi-tech area. His summer job manager, incidentally, was played a big role in getting his first job out of college in marketing; even though he wasn’t going to be an engineer he still wanted the guy working for his company because he admired his drive and skill. And even if someone changes majors entirely, isn’t it better doing that at 20 then restarting your career after you graduate college?</p>
<p>Which leads to the 2nd point; a kid with a degree says at an interview “I think I’d like designing products that do X”; a kid with a coop or internship says “When I worked on a team designing X I enjoyed doing …” And spending a few months on the job lets a student see people doing all kinds of job roles performed by people with the engineering degree they are studying for, so they can make a more informed choice about what is right for them. Hiring managers are going to prefer to hire those that have actually been exposed to the job rather than spend his hiring slot on someone that might not like it and leave in a year or so.</p>
<p>And the 3rd point; in a set of job interviews the company meets with the candidate for a few hours over perhaps 2 meetings (college recruitment, then the onsite visit) and has to decide if she/he will work out. With a coop or internship they’ve seen you weeks on end. That’s why almost everyone gets a job offer from the places they interned.</p>
<p>And lastly, for many students money is a factor. Coop & intern positions pay something like $25-30 per hour! A student can earn a substantial amount working during the summer or a semester off of school. </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 program would be the deciding factor.</p>
<p>The important thing here is to get experience whether it’s through co-ops or internships. If you can get a year’s worth of experience before you graduate and have good grades, you will be well off in the job market when you graduate.</p>
<p>Most top engineering schools have co-op opportunities or ties to internship opportunities.</p>