Does it take that long to prepare for CO OP? Any tips?

immadiamond

Hey Guys

So I'm 2nd year now in my 4th term and considering doing a co op term but reading about it seems kind of, intimidating? I've read that you have to do a lot of preparation for it and apparently if I start now I won't be able to actually start Co Op until my 3rd year right? (isnt 3rd year quite late? worried about that too)

Oh and another thing, I know we have to commit to at least 3-4 work terms but if somehow we start working for one work term and we don't like it, are we allowed to opt out?

The problem for me is that I want some work experience under my belt but I'm still undeclared, so I don't know which co op faculty I should apply too? Plus, with the gpa standards and all...

Any comments will be helpful! I just wanted to know a bit more about this from students who've already done co-op :) Thanks in advance ~

ryan

Technically you could do all of the prep in one term and get a job for this summer. The coop advisers discourage this though, so it probably isn't realistic. So in general yeah you would have two semesters of random hoops to jump through before working your first term. So if you started now you could look to seek in Fall or Spring. One of the good things about seeking in these semesters is there is less competition than in the summer.

Starting in your third year is okay. It comes down to credits really. They would in an ideal world like to see students do at least 3 coop terms. Since you cannot do two coop terms back to back (or so they say) this means it would take you at least 5 semesters to fulfill their hopes. One thing I have heard thrown around by coop advisers a lot is they generally want people to have less than 90 credits. If you have more you can still do it, but again they will be displeased.

I know they say 3-4 work terms, but you aren't actually obligated to complete them unless coop is a requirement for your degree. You can join coop, do one term, and then never do another. That is totally up to you. That said though it is heavily frowned upon to quit a work term part way through. Depending on the circumstances it may impact you eligibility for future coop's.

immadiamond

Thanks so much for your informative reply Ryan! 

Yeah I would think that it would not work out as well if I crammed it all in one term, and it seems they design it so that you do it in 2 terms anyway. Oh, good point!

So far, even though i'm only 2nd year, I don't have many credits actually. Not even 40 now lol. I'm mostly worried if the Co-Op term (considering its a full time job so like 40 hrs a week?) will be so heavy that I can't even take 2 courses...which means I'll graduate way later?

But what you said about not being able to do two co op terms back to back...do you mean like we have to do one co op term, say Fall 2013, and in Spring 2014 we can't continue the next 4 months of the same co op? Or do you mean that once we finish the Fall 2013-Summer 2014 Co-Op, we can't do another in Fall 2014?

I'm assuming it is the latter? And yeah. Most of the co op requirements say I must have to commit to at least 3 working terms. Which sucks if I feel like its not for me...i Have to keep doing it for a whole year?! 

112233

You're definitely not supposed to take any courses during your co op work term. You only have to complete the required amount of work terms in order to get the designation of "with co op" on your degree, but they won't let you do it if you aren't seriously planning to commit to the full amount. Attend an info session, they have tons during the beginning of the semester... So like now :P

perfectdark

I don't know about how it is in other faculties, but with Computer Science there was no minimum terms, you could do two terms back to back no problem(I'm pretty sure you can go up to four), and I was able to take a night class during my work terms(as long as it's ok with your employer). Maybe other faculties are different?

EricJ

I'm taking 2 courses and working slightly reduced (30 hours a week) and I'm on back to back 8 month terms. And I started with 102 credits. I think I've broken all the rules lol