Students
Introduction to Cooperative Education
Graduating seniors at Northeastern routinely respond to employment advertisements that read "previous experience required," and you may, too. Thanks to Co-op, when you go out into the working world as a graduate, you may already have completed up to a year and a half of paid, professional work.
Northeastern's Co-op program, founded nearly a century ago, is among the largest and most innovative in the United States. The benefits to students are easy to see:
- Students gain the opportunity to gain and improve upon skills and experience that make them sought after employees.
- Students have the opportunity to explore areas of interest and see if they like something "before going out in the real world."
- A substantial number of new graduates who become employed full-time receive job offers from former Co-op employers.
- Students going on to graduate school have numerous work experiences, contacts and professional networks already established.
The Co-op Program offers you, the student, opportunities to:
- Clarify short and long term personal, educational, and career goals;
- Explore jobs in education, business, government, academia and more;
- Integrate what is studied in classes with what is experienced when working;
- Enhance understanding and appreciation for the "world at work";
- Develop job finding, job survival, and career advancement skills; and
- Strengthen your developing identity as a professional in your career choice, working with role models in your chosen field.
How Co-op Works For You
Your Co-op experience begins in the classroom and continues to resonate there long after your co-op job ends. Co-op is intertwined with your studies, beginning with the Introduction to Professional Development for Co-op course that you must take before your first co-op.
As a Co-op Student, you will be assigned to a specific Co-op Faculty Coordinator. Your Coordinator will work with you from your first year through your graduation year as a bridge between classroom studies and career goals, collaborating with faculty and co-op employers to match your interests, talents and objectives to the most appropriate Co-op positions.
In addition, your Co-op Faculty Coordinator will help you develop your resume, will provide training to sharpen your interviewing skills, and will help facilitate the integration of your on-the-job experience with your course work. As your academic and career interests evolve, your co-op faculty coordinator will help to guide you toward co-op experiences that help you achieve your personal and career goals.
Reflection is a vital part of your Co-op experience. When you return to the classroom from Co-op, you will be expected to engage in reflection activities to help you process your work experience.
Please use the links on this page to learn more about the Co-op Program at Northeastern and what it means for students concentrating in Cultural Anthropology, Human Services or Sociology.
Dates of Up-coming Co-op Cycles (dates students will be working/Six-Month Assignments*)
| Spring/Summer I, 2012 (January-June) |
January 2 (Monday) | June 29 (Friday) |
| Summer II/Fall, 2012 (July-December) |
July 2 (Monday) | December 28 (Friday) |
| Spring/Summer I, 2013 (January-June) |
January 2 (Wednesday) | June 28 (Friday) |
| Summer II/Fall, 2013 (July-December) |
July 1 (Monday) | December 27 (Friday) |
| Spring/Summer I, 2014 (January-June) |
January 6 (Monday) | June 27 (Friday) |
| Summer II/Fall, 2014 (July-December) |
June 30 (Monday) | December 31 (Wednesday) |
* In cases in which the proposed end date falls during the week (i.e. Wednesday), the employer has the option of extending the co-op assignment to the Friday at the end of that week.Each student should confirm the actual end date for his or her co-op assignment with the employer, as well as, with the co-op coordinator.