<p>There are schools out there such as Waterloo, Northeastern, Georgia Tech, RIT, Drexel, and Kettering that offer a program called cooperative education which many students at these schools participate in. In addition many other schools offer this program though it is not as popular.</p>
<p>For those of you out there who are not aware of this, cooperative education is a program where students alternate work and school semesters in usually a 5 year program. Some semesters may be spent in school and classrooms while other semesters are spent in the workplace doing something that people in the student's chosen majors do after college. </p>
<p>There are so many positives to this program that I don't get why it isn't more popular:
1) You get paid during the "work semesters" which can help pay off those high college costs that you will have to pay during the school semesters. Most people go to school for 4 years and work 1-2 years and you don't have to pay tuition during the "work semesters". I know that engineering majors at Northeastern get a starting salary of $11-15/hour.
2) You get work experience on your resume. Most students that participate in co-op end up having 12-24 months of experience. When employers look at your resume, you may have an advantage having work experience in your field (1-2 years of it) over somebody who has had zero work experience.
3) The majority of co-op students (unless the company thinks that they are terrible) are offered a job by the company that they work with after graduation so you are at least guaranteed 1 job offer after college.
4) You can find out if your major is right for you. If you choose a major but find out through cooperative education that what the jobs in that major involves is not quite what you want, you still have time to switch your major. It's better to find something you want to do during college than find out that you don't like your job after college.
5) You can apply what you learn in the classroom to the workplace and vice versa. Book-learning is great but you will learn more if you actually use what you learn and use it in the real world.</p>
<p>Just some of my thoughts, interested in hearing what you all think about co-op.</p>
<p>Co-ops involve finding a place to work. Which is hard in this economy.</p>
<p>I don’t think that it’s true. I was told during a visit to Northeastern that all co-op students found a place to work this year except 1 or 2 students who were very picky and insisted on finding a position in southern california haha</p>
<p>the reason is that co-op students are cheaper to hire than a college graduate. You don’t have to pay a co-op student too much. That’s one of the reasons my dad’s workplace hires many co-op students.</p>
<p>I went to GaTech. It has one of best voluteering co-op program in the country. About 30% of its student involved co-op program. Here is my observation.</p>
<p>1) If economic is good, most students can easily find job after college. It is no need to spend extra year in college.</p>
<p>2) Most co-op students came from middle or poor family background and worry about job market. It is good way to earn extra money and get some experience. Wealthier students don’t want to do that.</p>
<p>3) Most co-op program involved engineering or management major. Rarely Liberal art or Science can get involved in co-op program.</p>
<p>4) It disturbs the flow of class. If one does co-op program, one may miss one semester or two and one could easily have different classmates when he/she come back.</p>
<p>On the positive side, if one has degree came from Ga Tech and have one year of co-op experience, one can always get a job even in deep recession.</p>
<p>Coops/internships don’t seem as common in the US as in other countries. I know they are a big deal in Canada, where the majority of engineering students at big-name schools participate.</p>
<p>What is your thought on coop (a number of small work terms dispersed through the five years of schooling) vs. internships (12-16 months straight after the third year)?</p>
<p>Most internships are three month and/or six months interval. Rarely there are one year+ intership in US.</p>
<p>In general, it is easier to get co-op job since there is no experience expected. In internship, there is additional requirement (prior experience, certain GPA). Since there is less committment on student’s side, employee tend to pickier. </p>
<p>Of course, many co-op students at Ga Tech just work two co-op terms and then quit after that.</p>