Mississippi State University is home to the second largest cooperative education program in the Southeast, and the 12th largest in the nation. This program offers students the chance to gain work experience toward their major while they are still in college.
On campus interviews for co-op positions will be Feb. 24-26 in the Union Ballroom. Sign-ups for the interviews will be held Monday through Wednesday in McCain 335. Resums are due today.
Students who would like more information can attend orientation sessions on Wednesdays at 3 p.m. and Thursdays at 3:30 p.m. in the library.
The program is open to all majors who have at least a 2.5 grade point average and have completed three semesters.
Co-op positions have no deadlines, but with on-campus interviews coming up, timing is important, said Scott Maynard, associate director of the Career Center.
“There are no deadlines, but the earlier in the semester, the better,” Maynard said.
Students can see which employers will be interviewing on the Career Center Web site and may set up interviews with the companies. Options range from working in Starkville to working in one of the 36 states where the co-op program is supported.
“It really just depends on where the student wants to go,” Maynard said.
One of the short-term benefits of the co-op program is money, Maynard said.
The average salary for a co-op student is $2,400 a month. In addition, many companies provide either free housing or a monthly housing allowance, Maynard said.
Co-op students get the chance to see exactly what they will be doing once they graduate and can decide whether they would like to pursue a career in that field.
Caitlin Baum, a junior computer engineering major, said that the co-op program helped assure her that she had chosen a major she would enjoy.
“It’s helped me to see what kind of things I would be doing once I got my degree,” Baum said.
The work experience gained through the co-op program greatly increases marketability, Maynard said.
Students participating in the co-op program are enrolled in a three-hour co-op class so that they are still considered students.
Maynard said the general schedule involves alternating semesters of work and school, eventually working a summer, spring and fall semester, but there is no limit to how many semesters a student may work.
Co-op students are allowed to defer scholarships to the next school. They do not lose scholarships by skipping a semester of school.
Financial aid, however, may be cancelled out by the income earned while working a co-op job.
One of the things that makes the co-op program great is throughout the semester students get the chance to evaluate their employers and vice versa, Maynard said. The co-op office then uses the information to make sure that each student has the best experience possible.
Elizabeth Brugier, a chemical engineering student working a co-op in Grenada said she feels the co-op experience is an invaluable one to any student looking to improve marketability, and the experience has assured her that chemical engineering is the right choice for her.
“Through three semesters, I get a year’s worth of experience. I establish strong contacts with people who could help me in the future and I get paid like an engineer,” Brugier said.