Is there a list of schools that have really strong Co-ops?
Schools that are known for this?
Northeastern?
RIT. Engineering majors have required 12-14-month co-op (typically two separate positions that take 1 semester + summer), so takes 5 years to graduate.
Drexel. Engineering majors have choice: “one co-op option (4 years, with a single six month cooperative education cycles) and a three co-op option (5 years, including three six month cooperative education cycles). At present over two thirds of our students select the three co-op option.”
Those are the 3 in the northeast that I’m familiar with : Northeastern, RIT, Drexel. Northeastern and Drexel students do 3 6month co-ops (18 months) while RIT does 2 coops (14 months) - though some students will do multiple co-ops at RIT in a single co-op session (2 4 month co-ops). At least that’s what our tour guide was going to do.
All are 5 year programs. My daughter is an CompE major at Northeastern. The coop program is phenomenal.
The University of Cincinnati, the University of Toledo and Kettering University all have mandatory engineering co-op programs. Cincinnati’s is the oldest. As others have mentioned Northeastern is known for it’s co-op program. Other universities such as Purdue have strong Professional Practice offices and good opportunities for co-ops. They are not mandatory however, and therefore the class sessions being sequential can require some work to get scheduled. Many universities will support students who wish to co-op. Where my D is co-oping their are students from Purdue, U of Cincinnati, U of Louisville, U of Missouri and perhaps some others. I’m sure there are many universities that are strong for engineering co-ops. One university that I know does not encourage or support co-ops is Vanderbuilt.
Purdue does have a lot of Co-op opportunities.
Just about any respected engineering university has plenty of co-op opportunities. The only real question is whether or not a students wants to attend a school where a co-op is mandatory or where it is optional. There are advantages and disadvantages to both options.
I assume the Co-ops do not have to be in the city of the school. The school I am thinking of is Texas Tech which is 5 hours away from Dallas/Ft. Worth. Texas Tech has many students who want to work in oil. But would it still be a good school for someone who does not want a career in that area.
Co-ops can be all over the country (or world in some cases). I got my BS at Illinois and had friends doing internships and co-ops on both coasts, up north, down south, and just generally all over the place.
Generally, the more well-respected the school is, the wider the variety of co-op and internship options for students there. I always suggest searching to see if your school of interest has information online about its career fairs (especially engineering career fairs if they have a separate one). Look at the companies recruiting at the career fairs and you will get a decent idea of what companies tend to specifically seek students from that school.