Cooperative Education Opens Doors for Students :: Journalism Journalistic Essays

Cooperative Education Opens Doors for Students As the college application deadline draws nearer, high school seniors across the country will make their final decisions as to what handful of colleges and universities will receive the applications they rigorously spent their autumn weekends working on. Each year students consult different college prep tools to aid them with their continual search for the â€Å"right† school. Whether it city versus suburban, large versus small or public versus private; high school seniors today have a schmorgous board of options for furthering their education. However, a trend in education that is growing more popular in recent years, perhaps most notably at Northeastern University, is cooperative education. Northeastern was ranked #1 in 2003 among institutions that require students to combine classroom learning with real-world experience by U.S. News and World Report. Cooperative education, more commonly known as co-op, is emerging as a poplar way to stay ahead of the competition while in college. Started in 1909, one of the first co-op programs in the United States, Northeastern has a unique program that alternates periods of classroom learning with period of â€Å"real world† working experience outside the classroom. Students work full time in fields that are related to their future education pursuits and these are usually paid jobs. The co-op job allows the student to try out various jobs while still an undergraduate. The typical Northeastern student graduates with as much as two years of on-the-job experience already on his resume. Katie McDonald, 19, a sophomore at Northeastern is currently going through the process of beginning co-op. McDonald, who is a nursing major, will start her first job this January at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. â€Å"At first I was shocked at the whole process of interviewing and finding a job. Freshman year I looked forward to it, but once it came I was a little overwhelmed. Once I got started with it though, I found the process relatively easy. Now that I have interviewed and have a job I am really excited to begin,† said McDonald. Although students aren’t guaranteed a job every co-op period, known among students as â€Å"No-op†, there are faculty advisors who stay in close contact with employers to develop and maintain interesting salaried positions. Finding a co-op job, similar to any competitive job hunt, depends upon the candidate’s qualifications as compared with others, the current needs of the organization, the specific demands of the position and the job market in general.