Junior shares co-op experience, emphasizes benefits
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Cooperative education programs, or co-ops, provide students with far greater knowledge and skill development compared to a summer internship, which usually only lasts eight to 10 weeks, whereas co-ops last six to eight months, according to UIC Engineering Career Center Director Rose Coppola-Conroy.
Previous research has proven that co-op experiences allow students to feel more confident and empowered in their abilities, as this experience provides them the opportunity to practice and further develop their technical skills in the field. Experts also note that developing relationships with their peers and supervisors is a worthwhile co-op component.
Students should consider that co-ops can extend their graduation date depending on their field of study.
After realizing that she had the time to pursue a co-op without it affecting her graduating in four years, UIC Chemical Engineering junior Kendall Johnson decided to pursue an opportunity at Abbott. Johnson applied to the co-op program and was placed in their diagnostics division, where she worked on R&D.
For Johnson, her co-op was an enriching and eye-opening experience. She felt she could take a lot more away than an internship and worked on more projects, which gave her more time to network and meet more people.
At Abbott, among other companies, resources are available for employees, including textbooks, trainings, and other materials for learning. Johnson mentioned that prior to her co-op, she knew nothing about biochemistry or immunology, and through the available textbooks, she was able to learn more about these subjects, and that was a confidence boost for her.
“I also didn’t have any prior knowledge in R&D before my co-op,” she said. “I found everything R&D-related really enjoyable.”
“This co-op really gave me that extra level of responsibility and the ability to really use more skills in practice, understand company culture, and get a real sense for what corporate life is like,” Johnson said.
She said that participating in this co-op helped a lot with her confidence, and she enjoyed the corporate work-life balance.
Johnson recommended that students looking at participating in co-ops should look through their schedule to see how it would fit, take advantage of the resources available at the company, and take as many opportunities as they can to network with coworkers, including getting lunch or coffee.
She also reassured other students that getting back into the academic mindset was not difficult after she finished her time at Abbott.
“It was easy to go back to school after my co-op,” Johnson said. “I realized that I didn’t need to be nervous. This is just like swimming or riding a bicycle. It’s okay, get back on the bike. It was almost six months.”