• Current Employers
• Examples of Co-op Positions
• Job Search Process
• Finding Experiential Learning Opportunities
• Obtaining Clinical Skills
• Student Faqs
• Student Handbook

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:

• 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 and medical school may be able to list authorships of research publications and may have letters of recommendation signed by renowned and respected leaders in medicine and research.

The Co-op Program offers you, the student, opportunities to:

• Clarify short and long term personal, educational, and career goals;
• Explore jobs in academic research, biotechnology, and clinical medicine;
• 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 Experiential Education course during your freshman year.

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 one of the Life Sciences (biology, biochemistry, behavioral neuroscience, or environmental sciences.