The 7 Stages Of Searching For A Co-op At Northeastern

Coop at Northeastern is more than just an internship and a break from classes, it’s also a right of passage. While it’s a stressful process, its part of what makes being a Northeastern student special. Keep reading for the 7 stages of searching for a co-op at Northeastern!

1. Meeting with your advisor.

Here’s where it all starts—the exciting, hard-to-schedule meeting with your co-op advisor. You’ll want to hop on Northeastern’s scheduling system ASAP lest you be left with an appointment way late in September or at 8 AM. Prepare to talk about anything from your resume’s line spacing to your life goals.

2. Drowning in a wave of NUCareers.

Sorting through the seemingly billions of jobs available on NUCareers can be the biggest headache in the world, especially since it’s new and has a ton of glitches (RIP MyNEUCool). It’s definitely quite the process narrowing down such a huge pool of jobs into ones that are in a good area, pay well, and actually sound interesting. Those who self-develop a co-op luckily get to skip this step, but on the other hand have to deal with some extra paperwork.

3. A good ole Co-op existential crisis.

Often induced by hearing how some of your classmates have accepted an offer, there’s bound to be at least one moment of “holy crap I’m not going to get a co-op.” When you have three midterms in one week and yet still need to spend a few hours a day doing co-op prep, life can get pretty stressful. Keep calm and focus on the light at the end of the tunnel—which is that sought-after job offer.

4. Interview craziness!

Interview season finally rolls around, and your already busy schedule is looking jam-packed. Between shopping for business casual attire, researching the company you’re interviewing at, and figuring out how to take the T there, interviews eat up a lot of precious time. However, keep your head up high—and definitely wear your coziest pajama pants if your interview so happens to be over Skype.

5. You got an offer!

So you’ve received your first job offer! This stage in the process can either be super awesome or, if things get complicated, super stressful. There’s the ever-present internal debate if you get an offer from a company that wasn’t your #1—do you accept the offer, or take a gamble and hope you get an offer at your dream co-op? Now’s a good time to call your advisor and hear their two cents.

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6. Accept the offer, get lit.

THIS is truly the moment you’ve been waiting for—when you send off that email to your future supervisor accepting the job offer. Break out the champagne and celebrate a little (or a lot), because your life is about to be hell of a lot easier now that you’re done with all the co-op search craziness!

7. Facebook status!

One final, nearly obligatory step is the classic Facebook status sharing your good news. Prepare for an influx of likes that is greater than any other status you’ve posted and lots of long-lost relatives congratulating you on your newfound opportunity. But hooray—you’ve sealed the deal and landed a co-op at Northeastern! Prepare to be rollin’ in dough and having no homework on the weekends.