<p>Hello guys! I want to study engineering at a school which has a good career-oriented program. So I want to know more about the co-op programs.</p>
<p>Could anybody recommend some good co-op programs?</p>
<p>Thank you very much!</p>
<p>Northwestern and Northeastern</p>
<p>Wisconsin Madison requires two co-ops, at least for civil engineering. I am unsure about other fields of engineering.</p>
<p>Otherwise, Northeastern usually has the best co-ops.</p>
<p>Cornell, Georgia Tech</p>
<p>The advantage of Kettering University is that half the year you're studying and the other half, you're working. So after 4.5 years, you get a degree in engineering, 2.5 years of work experience, and 45-60K in earnings. The co-op program is their biggest draw and allows them to fulfill the role of developing engineers for a future in their field.</p>
<p>Take a look at Cincinnati</p>
<p>Two of you guys mentioned Northeastern. I know it has the first co-ops in the US. </p>
<p>And I have also noticed Kettering, but how is it's reputation? Can the students there get a well-paid job?</p>
<p>How about Drexel?</p>
<p>I know cornell, georgia tech are very good schools, but they seem a little bit out of my reach....</p>
<p>Drexel's well known for its required co-op program, but many schools out there offer them as options. What you might want to do is try contacting departments at schools you're interested in attending and asking them where they tend to send their co-op students.</p>
<p>The only person I knew in undergrad that co-opped did it with GE, and she said it was totally worth it.</p>
<p>Virginia Tech has an excellent co-op program.</p>
<p>I'd definitely consider Northeastern University.. I have friends here at Northeastern working for Bose, Proctor & Gamble, Staples, etc and getting good experience/money! It was rated #1 for Career Placement by Princeton Review if I remember correctly and is great if you want to work in the Northeast Region ( especially the Boston area). Drexel has a good co-op program too but from a campus life and location standpoint, I personally feel that Northeastern has an advantage..</p>
<p>USNWR apparently lists the Top 10 Co-Op/Internship programs. They don't rank, they just list the top 10:</p>
<pre><code>* Alverno College (Wis.)
* Berea College (Ky.)
* Drexel University (Pa.)
* Elon University (N.C.)
* George Institute of Technology
* Harvey Mudd College (Calif.)
* Kalamazoo College (MI)
* Kettering University (MI)
* Massachusetts Institute of Technology
* Northeastern University (Mass.)
* Purdue University (Ind.)
* Rochester Institute of Technology (N.Y.)
* University of Cincinnati (Ohio)
</code></pre>
<p>Several of those are engineering colleges.</p>
<p>Of those listed GT, MIT, and Purdue are the safe bets for national recognition.</p>
<p>Rochester, Harvey Mudd, Northeastern, Drexel, and Cincinnati are regionally known. </p>
<p>The rest either aren't engineering, or I've never heard of their engineering program, and with 20 years engineering experience, never hearing about Kettering should be troubling.</p>
<p>I know that Berea doesn't have engineering - it has a pre-engineering program. It's a small, no-tuition, work college that caters to poor kids from Appalachia.</p>
<p>I would consider Harvey Mudd nationally known in the engineering world, not regional. I've never even been to the West Coast, and I'm familiar with Mudd as a top program.</p>
<p>About 1/3 of engineering students CO-OP at Northwestern. Here's the website: Walter</a> P. Murphy Cooperative Engineering Education Program - Northwestern University
Below is the list of past employers: Northwestern</a> Co-op Companies, Internships, Academics, Parents and Families, Office of Undergraduate Admission - Northwestern University Note that these are not just where students have gotten their summer jobs; they are those that enter a formal co-op agreement with the school.</p>
<p>The US News Top 10 list seems to reflect more about the participation rate rather than how marketable employers think of the student body for co-op.</p>
<p>
[quote]
I would consider Harvey Mudd nationally known in the engineering world, not regional. I've never even been to the West Coast, and I'm familiar with Mudd as a top program.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>Whether it's a "top school" is debatable (I'm not saying that it's not - I'm saying that there really is a debate how schools without a doctorate compare to schools with a doctorate, since they're judged differently).</p>
<p>I called it regional because when I lived in New England, the Southeast, the Gulf Coast, and the Midwest, we knew of the school, but didn't consider it to be a good school. When I worked in LA, it was a different situation. That's the same thing a school like Rochester, Lehigh, etc. face. They're good schools, but the only people that seem to value them are those local to the college.</p>
<p>On the other hand, even people in Alaska know that Purdue is a good engineering school. </p>
<p>
[quote]
The US News Top 10 list seems to reflect more about the participation rate rather than how marketable employers think of the student body for co-op.
[/quote]
</p>
<p>I can't imagine that they'd just post that. In my experience as an employer working with co-op departments, there is a major difference between programs: how they reach out to employers, the assistance they provide, and most importantly, how they prepare the students (resumes, interviewing skills, etc). Especially when interviewing freshman, you can see a huge difference between some schools in terms of co-op program quality, and frankly, that impacts hiring decisions from those schools. I'm sure they used employer feedback (or a proxy for it) in their determination.</p>
<p>But I wouldn't get too bent out of shape over it. It doesn't really matter how the school is ranked; you just want a school that has a healthy, well designed program. Look at how the department prepares people for interviews, the types of companies that visit, and the percentage of students placed. If all of that looks good, who cares if the program is #1 or #5?</p>
<p>G.P. Burdell,</p>
<p>USN isn't really as sophisticated as you might think. In my book, they are lazy and the quality of their product is very low. The kind of "research" they did is very "high school" and would NEVER be published in any academic journal. It has some values; for example, you get the average assessment scores from other chairs/deans. Though a slightly more sophisticated person would like to see more descriptive stats like standard deviation, median..etc not just the mean.</p>
<p>Alverno College doesn't really have a co-op program; what they have is one or two internships as graduation requirement. So everyone would get some sort of internship there (participation rate = 100%). Yes, they put a school not having a real coop on the list!! USN is that bad! At Kettering University, coop is a graduation requirement (again, participation = 100%). Drexel has a university-wide co-op program. So the participation level is high because not just engineering kids do it.</p>
<p>Or it could be that a school with high participation invests more per student in the professional development department, leading to a higher quality of product per student. There's a latent relationship there. </p>
<p>Bashing a survey because it doesn't agree with your preconceived and myopic view of the world is pointless. Especially when the survey really means nothing.</p>
<p>I was pointing out the fact that the list correlates highly with participation rate. I was also pointing out how it put a school with NO co-op on a co-op list; it's a strong sign that this list needs to be taken with a huge grain of salt. That's a reasonable and logical deduction. It got nothing to do with bashing or my preconceived view (please don't accuse me something that I don't do or I am not; I am more open-minded than you probably assumed).</p>
<p>Can you please tell me how Rose Hulman Institute of Technology does in terms of Co-op? The students there say that its very good and most of the jobs are in midwest because its not known outside of midwest region. I have also been accepted in Purdue. </p>
<p>Its just so difficult to decide. I like smaller schools because the teaching is good and in large schools like Purdue, even though the reputation is good, is it not important first to know your subject well and do good coops? In your experience can you share your thoughts about this please?
Thanks</p>
<p>Somebody earlier mentioned Kettering, and I would also agree it is top notch for career-oriented studies. It is top notch, most people in the state of Michigan consider it not as prestigious as Michigan (but smaller class sizes, co-op experience, small-school feel make it a different animal), but more prestigious than Michigan State. </p>
<p>I know several alumni/current students, and they are all doing well. One is deciding between UPenn and Harvard for MBA, another is working for a top biomedical company, and another is headed towards medical school. I have another friend who worked for his coop at a detroit area auto supplier, and now is working for a candy company in California and has successfully escaped the auto industry's failure. Another guy I know is a project manager in the mining industry. Even though the majority of Kettering students coop in the automotive industry, the ones I know have been able to successfully escape it after earning valuable engineering experience. </p>
<p>The only downside about the school is that it is in a terrible area, and if it was anywhere else Kettering would be doing much better in getting great students and being recognized for its quality. The school seems expensive, but is not. They give tons of scholarships for GPA/ACT, and you make money co-oping too. I would really suggest that you check it out.</p>