My Purdue Co-Op Experience: A Student Perspective

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    For many college students, one of their personal measures of success is to land an internship before graduating in order to gain work experience, helping expand their job market options. While most might envision a 10-12 week summer internship, there is an increasingly popular alternative offered at Purdue. A “co-op”, or cooperative education session, is another form of experiential learning opportunity that usually lasts longer than your typical internship.

    Currently, Purdue sits at #9 in the country for co-ops and internships! Part of what makes Purdue’s program strong is the ability to enter the formal co-op program, which provides students to pursue an Industry Experience Certificate for 3 or 4 co-op terms, or the Extensive Industry Experience Certificate for 5 sessions. One session is one summer, one fall semester, or one spring semester. For incoming freshmen, the co-op program is an important resource to be aware of since taking a 3-term co-op as a freshman can still allow for on-time graduation, whereas a 5-term co-op would only delay graduation by one academic year. For other students who know that they will be finished with their degree within 7 semesters, a co-op session is a great opportunity to spend a semester gaining about 16 weeks of experience in the workforce. Although sophomore students and above planning to complete their degree within 8 semesters typically delay graduation, they also graduate with experience while maintaining their student status.
   
    One beneficial component is that alternating industry experience with classroom learning can help connect their current education with their future career. This may be useful when deciding which specified classes to take as an upperclassman and help students determine more about how they want to plan out the rest of their careers. Another beneficial component is that as full-time students, those participating in co-ops still have access to student resources. Finally, the co-op program is very helpful for students paying for their degree; generating an income between semesters means that co-op students participating in a session can use their income to help pay for the following semester’s tuition and other costs.

    Since being on a co-op means being a full-time employee for a company, most students move to their employer’s location. This presents the unique opportunity of exploring parts of the country where they haven’t been before or working closer to friends or family if West Lafayette isn’t close to home. For my own co-op experience, I worked close to campus and therefore was able to commute. This kept me connected to campus activities, including the Women in Engineering Program. I decided to pursue a co-op after seeing the success it brought many other students, both in their time as Purdue students and after graduation. I also chose to pursue a manufacturing-based co-op, which is very common among chemical engineering students to get a stronger understanding of process engineering. For housing, co-op offers frequently assist with costs by providing a stipend or by providing designated student housing.

    The Co-Op program is managed by the Office of Professional Practice (OPP). They also manage programs such as Global Engineering Alliance for Research and Education (GEARE) and Milestone supplemental courses. For more information about co-ops and to learn more about other OPP offerings, click here! We hope this blog opens your eyes to the wonderful world of co-ops.

Christine Mayo, ChE '26

Recruitment Project Committee


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