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Drexel University has a similar program requiring five years to complete. However the co-op's are for six months at a time which is infinitely more useful to bo

by dkhenry 12y ago

Drexel University has a similar program requiring five years to complete. However the co-op's are for six months at a time which is infinitely more useful to both the student and employer then more frequent shorter co-op's.

peeters 12y ago
There's always a balance to be struck. Very often, students will do 2-6 terms in the same place. The difference is that the part that exceeds 4 months only happens if it's a good fit for both student and employer. Compare that to some places that do an entire 16 month co-op at once in the middle of your program (e.g. McMaster). I've heard horror stories of people knowing in the first 3 weeks that they were going to hate working there, but were basically obligated to work there for another 15 months to get credit. You can put up with almost anything for 4 months. That, and it's much easier to schedule classes to be shared by non-coop students and coop students when the terms align (non-coop do 8 months school, 4 months summer, etc).
aianus 12y ago
How does that work given that standard school terms are 4 months long and the lcm of 6 and 4 is 12? You'd have to bunch up consecutive co-ops or else have dead time to resync with the rest of the school. Edit: fail math x2
- dkhenry 12y ago
  At Drexel the school terms are three months. So each co-op is two terms. The normal cycle is two three month school terms one six month co-op.
boyaka 12y ago
University of the Pacific had the six month co-op 5 year program as well (was required in my time but I believe there are some alternatives these days). My manager in my first internship would actually hire from our school and Waterloo, normally 3 from Waterloo and 2 from our school. He made an exception the year I went and we ended up with just 1 Waterloo and 4 from my school...thankfully for me! I became good friends with the Waterloo student working in our department. The interns throughout the company (a few other Waterloo students, some other schools too) would hang out together at lunch every day. Another Waterloo student rotated in while we were there as well. The four of us from my school lived in an apartment in the same complex as the Waterloo student, who had three Waterloo roommates working at different companies. We got together for quite a few activities and dinners outside of work and got to hear stories from their friends about the other companies they were working at. I agree that six months is a lot better to really get involved in the work and accomplish something, but the short duration internships certainly kept them on their toes. Also, as stated elsewhere in this thread, they do have the ability to double up their time at one of their positions. I was pretty envious of the huge amount of connections they have and the fast, relentless pace of their program, but not so much of the fact that they have no breaks!
cabinpark 12y ago
And that's why they have 8 month co-ops in addition to 4 month co-ops.
- dkhenry 12y ago
  That makes much more sense. Expecially if you can do a four month stint and then extend it. Then your not stuck at a bad job or you can really get involved and learn.

by dkhenry 12y ago

peeters 12y ago

There's always a balance to be struck. Very often, students will do 2-6 terms in the same place. The difference is that the part that exceeds 4 months only happens if it's a good fit for both student and employer. Compare that to some places that do an entire 16 month co-op at once in the middle of your program (e.g. McMaster). I've heard horror stories of people knowing in the first 3 weeks that they were going to hate working there, but were basically obligated to work there for another 15 months to get credit. You can put up with almost anything for 4 months. That, and it's much easier to schedule classes to be shared by non-coop students and coop students when the terms align (non-coop do 8 months school, 4 months summer, etc).

aianus 12y ago

How does that work given that standard school terms are 4 months long and the lcm of 6 and 4 is 12? You'd have to bunch up consecutive co-ops or else have dead time to resync with the rest of the school. Edit: fail math x2

dkhenry 12y ago
At Drexel the school terms are three months. So each co-op is two terms. The normal cycle is two three month school terms one six month co-op.

boyaka 12y ago

University of the Pacific had the six month co-op 5 year program as well (was required in my time but I believe there are some alternatives these days). My manager in my first internship would actually hire from our school and Waterloo, normally 3 from Waterloo and 2 from our school. He made an exception the year I went and we ended up with just 1 Waterloo and 4 from my school...thankfully for me! I became good friends with the Waterloo student working in our department. The interns throughout the company (a few other Waterloo students, some other schools too) would hang out together at lunch every day. Another Waterloo student rotated in while we were there as well. The four of us from my school lived in an apartment in the same complex as the Waterloo student, who had three Waterloo roommates working at different companies. We got together for quite a few activities and dinners outside of work and got to hear stories from their friends about the other companies they were working at. I agree that six months is a lot better to really get involved in the work and accomplish something, but the short duration internships certainly kept them on their toes. Also, as stated elsewhere in this thread, they do have the ability to double up their time at one of their positions. I was pretty envious of the huge amount of connections they have and the fast, relentless pace of their program, but not so much of the fact that they have no breaks!

cabinpark 12y ago

And that's why they have 8 month co-ops in addition to 4 month co-ops.

dkhenry 12y ago
That makes much more sense. Expecially if you can do a four month stint and then extend it. Then your not stuck at a bad job or you can really get involved and learn.