A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a co-op, provides academic credit for structured job experience. Co-op education plays an important role in helping college students to make the school-to-work transition and prepare for their future careers.

There are a few universities in the U.S. offering co-op education formally, many are in the north and many are schools with strength in STEM education. Almost all universities in Canada offer a co-op option to their academic programs.

• Read the co-op education page at Rochester Institute of Technology (which has been offering a college co-op program for more than 110 years) to learn more about the arrangement of their co-op education programs, the differences between co-op and internships, work/study schedule for co-op students, and their employer partners.

  • Read one of the popular co-op education presentation slides provided by the RIT Admission Office by courtesy.

• Cooperative Education in Canadian Universities by Province, which is provided by Canada’s Higher Education and Career Guide. There are currently 80 schools with a co-op program, with over 80,000 students.

  • The University of Waterloo has the largest co-op program in the world. The program includes 24-month of work experience and is well-known internationally.

  • While our practice doesn’t specialize in counseling students who want to pursue an undergraduate degree in Canada, we still want to point out that Canadian universities could be good choices for STEM-major students who are highly interested in seeking a co-op program in the college.

• A great blog post: Colleges With Co-Op Programs: What You Need to Know on ROAD2COLLEGE. It shares lots of insights on co-op education from a college counseling perspective and also introduces the difference between co-op and work-study, the impact of co-op wages on financial aids (in short, most of the time, no impact!), and different types of co-op programs.

• Big-names for co-op programs in the States. A few universities are especially strong in providing co-op programs extensively for a long time. And they have a strong and close industrial relationship for those co-op education students to find the co-op in the field.

  • Northeastern University (Boston, MA)

  • Rochester Institute of Technology (Rochester, NY)

  • Drexel University (Philadelphia, PA)

  • The University of Cincinnati, College of Engineering and Applied Science (Cincinnati, OH)

  • Many other universities also do co-op education, yet they are generally much more active on the internship side. Note that on the US News Co-op/Internships Ranking, some selective schools are ranked high even they have small co-op programs. The success of those small co-op programs is greatly attributed to their school prestige, but not necessarily the exterior industrial connections of their co-op programs. 

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International students holding an F-1 student visa can work anywhere in the U.S. and can work full time if they are on co-op. This is because it is considered a necessary part of their program and can be done by using F-1 Curricular Practical Training (CPT). Normally international students are limited to working no more than 20 hours a week and it should be on campus only. Co-op education could be a great option for international students who want some real-world industrial experiences before finishing the degree programs.

Please check AmberEd’s International Students - Optional Practical Training (OPT) page to learn more details about requirements on OPT and OPT STEM Extension.

• While using CPT, Optional Practical Training (OPT), and OPT STEM Extension together with a proper plan, one could work full time in the States without applying for an H1-b work visa for up to 11+12+24 = 47 months, PER DEGREE. This is exhilarating news! But why an 11-month CPT? Continue reading.

• The University of Michigan gets a comprehensive resource page Curricular Practical Training (CPT) for F-1 Students. CPT employment for more than 20 hours per week is full-time. 12 months or more of full-time CPT will eliminate the eligibility for OPT. Read the U.S. ICE’s (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) official explanations.

• Read this info page from the Rochester Institute of Technology international students office, and learn details on applying for CPT for co-op education employment.

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