<p>I have heard that engineering majors benefit greatly from taking part in a coop. Here are some questions that I have that did not get resolved after a lot of researching.</p>
<ol>
<li><p>How are some of those coops (especially within 4 years) fitting in the schedule since engineering curriculum is so tight in the first place? Are they always in the summer? If not, do schools with extensive coop programs have a fractured feel to it with so many kids coming and going, therefore, no sense of community?</p></li>
<li><p>Do coops then required a 5 year commitment for undergrad?</p></li>
<li><p>Coop is the same as a paid internship, right?</p></li>
<li><p>Housing issues?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>Co-op programs vary by school. Schools such as Northeastern and Drexel ahve co-op has the main part of all of their programs, and the schedules accomodate the co-op positions. I believe that both Drexel and Northeastern have 4 year and 5 year options, with the 4 year option having less co-op experience.</p>
<p>I looked into the Northeastern program and only found the first year curriculum and was puzzled how they could fit 2 coops into 4 year (and 3 coops for the 5 year) program. What are they doing different then other engineering programs?</p>
<p>We have looked into RIT for engineering. They have a huge co-op program. Almost every degree program at RIT is a 5 year program because of co-ops. They are in the process of switching from terms to semesters so basically you would do 2 semester long (or longer if you also work over the summer) co-ops. They have been doing co-ops for 100 yrs so they have an extensive list of employers that they work with. You can do co-ops in the Rochester area and stay in your dorm and on the meal plan, you can do co-ops near your home and live at home or if you do a co-op in another part of the country they will try and work with the corporation and help arrange housing. If I remember correctly engineering students on co-op earn about $16/hr.</p>
<p>Tom, I did see that on NU website. Just could not figure out what particular classes are “shaved off” to get all the coops in. Can anyone address if the “fractured nature of the students’ population” exist?</p>
<p>Just doing the math (if it’s all about $$ in your pocket)… </p>
<p>Coop will add an extra year, and you will make $16/hr. Is it not better to finish up in 4 years and get paid as an engineer (which I would think make a little more) for the extra year? </p>
<p>May be go for a masters in engineering (I saw a few programs that you can do with an extra year) and that will really pay off in the long run…</p>
<p>Well, if you need the money to go to college in the 1st place that $16/hr will help with that plus a lot of people get offered jobs at the company’s that they co-op for. You don’t pay tuition during the time you are on co-op so stretching 4 yrs of tuition over 5 yrs time may make it easier to pay for. </p>
<p>The co-op may also help you get that 1st job out of college. Maybe it’s just me but, if I were a company I would rather hire someone who did a co-op job and got hands on experience over one who just went to 4 years of school.</p>
<p>Again, if you can go for 5 straight years and get your Master’s degree too, then more power to you. Obviously everyone has to figure out what works best for them.</p>
<p>We are fortunate enough to have a few full tuition scholarships offers so we are trying to weigh the option of schools with coop and schools without. Hopefully the schools without coop will afford internship opportunities over the summer (they have all said so but I’m not sure if this is just marketing talk or do they truly exist).</p>
<p>I too have gotten the feeling, from attending Open Houses over the last few months, that the new buzz words are “co-op” and “Internships”. </p>
<p>If co-op is something that someone is really interested in, personally, I would go with a school that has an established co-op program (NU, RIT, Drexel, U of Cinncinnatti, etc). they have established relationships with employers, have vetted the employers (no “getting coffee” positions for co-op students), have a larger turnout at their career fairs, support services to help students get positions,etc.</p>
<p>That’s just it, we are not sure how much D is interested in coop. For sure, an internship in the summers if at all possible. Right now, medical school is a possibility (may be even a MD/Ph.D. program) so the 5 year coop program is not attractive.</p>
<p>Engineering co-ops and internships have been around for years. At some schools, notably RIT, the 5th year of study is tuition free (to accomodate the co-op), if I am not mistaken.</p>
<p>I don’t know if they are actually “shaving off” anything. With 4 years of study and 2 coops in there somewhere, I was trying to see how it could all fit (i.e. - Are there labs courses or senior research that is mandatory for graduation for other engineering programs that can be substituted by coop at NE?) . Note that this is the 4 year option, not the 5 year 3 coops option.</p>
<p>Typically, a student doing a co-op takes a quarter or semester off of school. A student finishing school in normal time will still do 8 semesters or 12 quarters, but over longer than 4 years. Of course, some students take fewer or more semesters or quarters to complete their course work.</p>
<p>The student should not be paying tuition to the school while at the co-op job (well, it would be unreasonable to do so; you can verify with the school if you are concerned).</p>
<p>Even when co-ops are not a selling point of the school, or even when there is no formalized co-op program at the school, some students do take a semester off, as if in an extended summer job. Check the school to see that withdrawal and readmission policies accommodate doing so if the student is interested in doing that at a school without a formalized co-op program.</p>
<p>Back in the day, my husband got his engineering degree in a coop program. To be honest, we would not have been able to fund subsequent semesters without the earnings from his coop job. Yes, it added an extra year, but it also gave him extremely valuable experience in the field. He liked his first coop experience and the type of work it offered. He did all of his coop terms with the same company. In addition to his salary, the company paid for ALL of his books for the following term which was a huge help too.</p>
<p>And lastly, they offered him his first job. Since they knew him, and he knew their company, his salary was adjusted to reflect this. The owners of that company were wonderful mentors as well.</p>
<p>Comparing the 4 and 5 year programs for the two semesters:</p>
<p>5 year program: 7 semesters, 2 summers, 3 co-ops
4 year program: 6 semesters, 2 summers, 2 co-ops, and 1 semester’s worth of courses that need to be crammed in somewhere (i.e. overload semesters or summers, coming in with usable AP credit, or taking extra time so that it is not really 4 years)</p>
<p>Note that the summer sessions are assumed to have half the number of courses or credits as regular semesters. Co-ops typically last a semester plus a summer session.</p>
<p>Northeastern charges the same total tuition for the 4 year and 5 year programs, since the same number of courses or credits are taken in school. (Room and board expense and co-op earnings would be different, of course.)</p>
<p>Thanks for starting this thread because I’ve wondered too…</p>
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<p>If true these are big reasons to go co-op, especially if financial aid is not lost (other than that it would take student earnings into account; I mean not lost because it’s longer than 4 years).</p>
<p>OHMom - yes, it is true. I know at RIT that you do not pay tuition during the time you are doing co-op. If you are doing your co-op in the RIT area and choose to stay on campus then you still pay your room and board charges. So, not only are you stretching 4 yrs tuition over 5 yrs but you are also earning money during your co-op time to heklp pay for school.</p>
<p>No classes are shaved off. I went to Northeastern under the five year plan (more common, but they’ve started to push four years recently). I did three six-month coops and had one and a half summers off and eight semesters of classes. Northeastern does summer sessions as well. So my first year was normal, second year I had class fall and spring semester, May and June off, and co-op July through December. Then I had a full semester of class, a summer May/June session of class, and co-op July through December, spring semester, summer session, July through December co-op, spring semester, and done.</p>
<p>Northeastern’s schedule is a bit short on vacation and there are some scheduling differences to accomodate – like our spring semester started earlier than a lot of other schools. You do end up taking and paying for eight semesters of class, though, just like at any other college. A summer session is generally two classes, so the two summer sessions together equal one normal semester. The only cost on co-op should be living expense, which I was able to cover out of my paychecks.</p>
<p>If you are doing the four-year plan with two co-ops, you’d probably just have no actual summers off.</p>
<p>I would absolutely not have my job without co-op experience, and my third job was where I learned the necessary software and got really good responsibility and experience. I do not work in engineering, though, I should mention.</p>
<p>I know someone who’s currently doing his first coop as an engineering major and is actually getting to travel around the world for his company. It’s a start-up and he has a major role in it. I think what people love about co-ops is that there’s more time than an internship – somebody who is full-time for six months can actually get some responsibilities and have follow-through and a real role in a way that’s difficult with interns.</p>