Cooperative Education Program (co-op) at RIT

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It's me again today I'm gonna talk to you about Coop. Coop is amazing in my opinion and that's actually the reason our I. T. Became the school I went to. You might be wondering what is coop? Well coop is paid internship related to your major depending on what program you go into. So as an engineering student we are all required to go on 48 weeks of coop. So I'm at our I. T. Technically as a student for five years but I'm only paying tuition for four of those years. Your first coop since you're sort of green don't have the experience that's typically a little bit less. Uh For example the highest coop Hourly rate within my program was I think $38 an hour the student was paid. Our I. T. Actually has a coop prep class that you take in your second year right before you go out. Whether that be for the summer the fall or the spring of your third year for coop. So whether that be indeed linkedin, it's the students job to find the coop, your advisor or academic advisor department might reach out to you and tell you about future jobs, but it comes to the student to actually be the one applying and securing the job. The general layout of coop, if you're in a five year program is preparation class in your second year and then you could start working the summer after your second year. The block whether it be a spring or fall block for coop depends on your program. The fact that coop is built into our program is fantastic. You could go to a four year schools elsewhere and make yourself your own coop blocks. Technical questions usually don't come till later in your coop search or full time. Really depends how established that companies co op internship program is my first job was with the company that hires are 80 students all the time. So they provided a housing stipend as well as providing a list of all the incoming students will be working their and their contact information as well as a list of apartments in the area that students had lived up before. I also think I have a really unique opportunity from our I. T. My last coop was for a company that's actually based out of the UK. So I lived in England for a few months where I was working. So I learned how to go through that process which tell me how many students go through a Visa process maybe as a student to travel and study abroad. But I was actually working abroad which I think is even the better combo because now you actually have money to spend on the weekends and go explore. So Coop gets to show you different parts of the country, but also lets you travel a bit if you stay connected and want to travel. Being a student who now has a full time job and it's not going to classes, I will say is a little strange, but you learn to love it. No, we do not typically take classes when we are on coop. Some students might elect to take a class here or there, but it's usually discouraged because part of the co op experience is actually learning what it's like to work post graduation. So you'll make a good amount of money more than minimum wage and probably more than if you had just a typical student job. A lot of students with the money that they earn uh do come out positive. So you don't lose money on coop, even if you are having to pay for all of your utilities, food, housing, uh and transportation to and from work. So practically students will save up to help pay for their tuition and for their expenses when they come back to school, students will also put it into savings and students will also use the for fun money. So you might go out and call up and say, all right, my first month of coop money, I will save whatever is not spent on my monthly bills. So it's really spent on whatever the student wants. I also think CoOP provides a confidence to the students. You can't build confidence in the workforce while in the classroom, people in the classroom or your classmates who are about the same level as you are and your professor versus while you're out on coop, you're going to be working with a mixture of uh, people in different parts in their career path. I would definitely say COop has helped me figure out what I want to do post graduation, which you can't really get just sitting in a classroom. What's also great about coop is you learn different material while you're on the work site than once you learn in class, but you do use what you learned in class at the work site and everyone has a different cup experience. So I thought that when they asked me questions I would be referencing that one coop particularly. So the reason that Coop attracted me to our I. T. Was the opportunities that I would get through it. So before I came here I thought Coop will be a great time to try different industries. I have to stress it's just as important to learn what you don't like when you're on coop because coop is as short as three months when when you're graduating you're probably looking for a job that you'll be in for at least two years. My recommendation for students who are coming to our I. T. And we'll be in a co op program is to definitely try everything. So just the experiences that you get while on Coop can definitely help you secure your full time position afterwards. It was fun to talk to you about Coop as it is my favorite part about our I. T. I've loved all my experiences and I hope that you guys will too.