Internships or COOPs -- Why?

Texas A&M University
Department of Computer Science

Bart Childs

January 6, 2006

CPSC COOP Home Page

The Cooperative Education program is described in Why COOP?.

The COOP program is not an intern program. Some of the differences will be described in this document.

• Experience is an important differentiator in all hiring processes. I recommend COOP but if that is not reasonable in your situation then internships are recommended and if that too is not reasonable then part-time jobs or volunteer work helps.
• The three classifications of work in the previous item have decreasing levels of mentoring and direction. There is merit to being able to work on your own but until you are an established professional mentoring generally increases your effectiveness and efficiency. Mistakes are minimized, wrong paths are closed more quickly, and the experience of others is a great learning experience.
• The COOP program is intended to be a three term process. The first term should be soon after reaching upper level. The student should return to academics and select the most beneficial and challenging courses that will lead to more challenging positions in later work terms. Internships are normally associated with summer terms and multiple terms are rarely planned.
• It is not uncommon for internships to be decided upon at the last minute and therefore there is not a careful plan for mentoring and development of the employee. The COOP positions require a good faith agreement be signed by the employer as to the expectations and mentoring plans. It is unusual when a COOP's main work is being a delivery person or glorified copy machine operator.
• The COOP credit for three successful work terms done on an alternating work/academic basis can be used for one technical elective. Credit for internships can be used for free electives.

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