Undergraduate Program Tour
The Cooperative Education program
Our Cooperative Education Program invites students to gain valuable experience in employment that relates directly to their major and career goals. At the same time, it provides employers with opportunities to evaluate students as potential full-time employees, while having them complete meaningful projects. Participation in this program is voluntary, and obtaining a cooperative education assignment is competitive.
How it works
Students apply to the ECE Undergraduate Office for the program at the close of their sophomore year. The co-op experience begins in the spring semester of the junior year and comprises two phases. The first spans the eight-month period from January through August or May through December of the student's third year at Carnegie Mellon, and the optional second phase spans May through August following the student's fourth year at Carnegie Mellon.
The contiguous eight months of Phase 1, built upon our flexible curriculum, is the unique feature of our co-op. Typical students will thus require 4.5 academic years from matriculation at Carnegie Mellon (but still eight semesters) to graduate. The accelerated students, who will be able to complete our degree requirements in seven semesters, will now graduate in four academic years. These students will only participate in the first phase of the Electrical and Computer Engineering co-op program. We therefore require a minimum of eight months of co-op experience to identify the student as a co-op student on the transcript.
A win-win experience
The Cooperative Education Program proves to be a significant benefit to students and employers alike and is increasing in popularity as the number of participants rises each year. Students have the opportunity to apply the knowledge they have learned to hands-on projects in industry. In the eight months of their co-op, students actively participate in actual company projects. Students return to school with a renewed interest in their studies along with a better idea of their course and career preferences. Additionally, after satiating their thirst for industry, some chose to continue their studies in the Integrated Master's/Bachelor or graduate programs.
Lastly, the co-op provides a potential career opportunity with the participating company. The companies benefit also from the co-op program. It gives them an opportunity to observe students over a sufficient amount of time to evaluate pertinent performance. With this familiarity of student work ethic, employers can make sound judgments in recruiting decisions. Both students and employers alike report that their co-op experience was both productive and beneficial.