My son is a junior in Mechanical Engineering. He has a 3.87 GPA and has managed to secure internships the past two summers (in our home town). He is now exploring the possibility of a co-op, but we have some big concerns. A co-op would require him to take at least a semester off, delaying his overall degree plan. It has always been his plan to use the Fast Track problem to complete his MS in 5 years. We are concerned that skipping a semester, or two, for a co-op might make it difficult to complete this plan. As parents who pay for his entire education, part of our concern is the additional or extended financial burden this may have on us. My feeling is that he should continue with his degree plan and finish while his brain is geared towards school. Its easy to get out of the school grove. We want our son to have a well rounded education and work experience, but we also don’t want to be paying for his school forever.
If he’s already had two internships I don’t see why he feels the need to also do a co-op. I agree, he should finish education at this point, or at least settle on another summer internship.
Are the internships not in his field nor with a company that offers jobs in his field? or locations he’d prefer? Or is he not engaged in his internships (aka making coffee - yes, I actually had a coffee making/phone answering internship myself back in the day,ugh!) Does the co-op really provide a different experience? If not, skip it. If he just wants to try something else, a possible way to do that is to have a late start date with a future employer and take some time off to ‘explore’ many employers let you pick your start date after you graduate.
Fast Track + internships in his field every summer (if possible) seems like a good choice. That way he graduates in 5 years with an MS and has work experience. My older son was offered a job by the company he interned for in the summer of his Junior year. Starting salary was based on past work experience (number of internships). He had interned at different companies since the summer of his freshman year and he started above the average salary that UT reported for his engineering major. So internships help with starting salary and you graduate on time.
With that high GPA your son can probably get multiple internship offers in his field (Junior and Senior year) allowing him to experience different work environments. Graduating with an MS and 4 years of internships your son should have excellent job prospects.
(Maybe consider co-op only if he really wants to work or gain specific experience at a company that does not offer internships)
Thanks for the input. The summer internships my son has had were within his field. One was a little more “business like” and the other was strait engineering work. We encouraged him to get experience on both sides. Although they were great internships, he really doesn’t want to work for these places after graduation.
The co-op’s he is considering are directly within the field he want to work. He’s an ME student and he really wants to design cars. These co-ops would be with 2 of the major auto makers.
Things certainly have changed since my wife and I graduated from college. We worked internships, but no one would have recommended working a whole semester and putting your school on hold. Too many of us wouldn’t have returned to finish our degrees. I get the experience factor, I just think we are now encouraging kids to extend their schooling and potential their debt.
My son decided not to do a coop. He is also a junior with two internships already. He will likely intern for that same company again this summer but turned down a coop offer from them for this semester. I think they need to finish their degrees. Maybe I’m just old, but I don’t really see the point either.
I co-oped back in the day and yes it set me back. If he co-ops two terms it probably does set him back 2 terms. What is the job going to pay? If he makes enough to cover all of his expenses then the reality is it is net neutral in terms of cost. Then you need to ask is the experience worth it. So, in the automotive industry if you are working for one of the big manufacturings they are two main paths. Manufacturing and Design. Which path is he interested in? Would it be worth co-oping to experience both sides to see which one he prefers? An extra few semesters is not going to matter in 20 years. I agree you don’t want to add any additional debt so you have to understand that side of the equation.