Co-ops and internships are part of college experience, but few underclassmen actually realize what they involve. Cabrini has an excellent co-op program for students that will help them carve a path for the rest of their lives.
Nancy Hutchison, director of co-op and career services, said, “The difference between internships and co-ops is that in co-ops one would go to school for a certain amount of time, go to work for a certain amount of time, then return to school to repeat the process while internships are more loose. People tend to become confused as to which is which so here we use the names interchangeably.”
The program is 16 years old and is considered a course that is worth two to six credits. Most co-ops are fail/pass oriented, however English and communication and religion majors are given a letter grade.
There are 1,300 employment opportunities contained on the co-op database. There is usually between 30-70 students a semester who are participating in a co-op. Fifty-nine percent of the students that go into a co-op are offered future employment beyond college.
“Ninety-nine percent of the time it is very simple to get the job you are looking for,” Hutchison said. The process is easy as well. You need to at least be a first semester sophomore and you need a grade point average of 2.0. You need to fill out an application and resume, and select your job. A brief report on the co-op is required after the co-op is complete.
