Student Life

The Pros and Cons of Co-Op: Is it Worth it?

The Pros and Cons of Co-Op: Is it Worth it?

As a 2nd year engineering student from UBC (the University of British Columbia), I applied for the Co-op program because I wanted to gain work experience. As I learned more about the program itself, I started wondering: is co-op really worth it?

So I began to research the pros and cons of such a program. I scrolled through endless opinions that were both for and against a co-op. The case for co-op (at UBC and other universities) is, apparently, quite a controversial topic! 

On one hand, people say that a co-op provides a valuable experience that you may not be able to gain otherwise.  On the other hand, many see co-op as simply a job board with some extra support and resources provided by the university. 

A co-op is different from an internship, because a co-op is associated with a degree-granting institution, but an internship is something that you might choose to do as a student on your own that has nothing to do with your college or university.

Question: When is the best time to do an internship or a co-op? 
Answer: As soon as possible! There never a bad time to get those hands-on skills.

In this article, I share my personal thoughts on the co-op program (but some of these ideas might even apply to an internship too).

What is Co-Op?
If you were wondering, co-op stands for cooperative education and UBC's co-op program works like most other college and university co-op programs:
Students alternate between "work" terms and "school" terms;
The college or university finds employers to take on students for their "work" terms; and
Students gain valuable full-time working experience as part of their degree requirements.
So basically you combine work and school but without the hassle of having to juggle the two at once, going out there to look for a job yourself, or having it fit around your school schedule. 

Sounds great, right?

Let's look more closely at the pros and cons of co-op...

Pros of the Co-op Program:
There are a number of advantages to the UBC co-op program and co-ops at other schools, colleges, and universities too. 

Relevant Experience
The first advantage of the program is that the job postings are relevant to your studies and are specifically targeted towards (in my case) engineering students. Using sites like LinkedIn, Indeed, or ZipRecruiter are, in contrast, targeted towards the majority of job seekers and can be quite broad. 

It becomes a hassle to find and organize job postings that are specific to your niche of study. Most jobs posted on these sites are not targeted to students, which further increases the difficulty of hunting down the right jobs. As a result, getting a job through a co-op program is easier and feels less competitive. 

Support System 
The next benefit of joining the co-op program is the resources and guidance the program provides. Many argue that the resources and guidance may not be super useful because alternatives to these resources are widely available online. However, they can still be very helpful as they're trained and experienced in helping co-op students achieve their goals in landing the most relevant job. 

Additionally, the resources the program provides are built upon the experiences of previous cop-op students and are catered towards your major.

Also, unlike an internship, which is often part-time, a co-op job placement is full-time for the duration of the term or semester, so there's no juggling school and work at the same time during a co-op term, which can make it less stressful. 

Cons of the Co-op Program:
Given those advantages, anyone would be tempted to say why wouldn't you do a co-op?

But it's not so simple.

Lack of Flexibility 
The co-op program does not offer a lot of flexibility in terms of schedule. For many majors, co-op only offers 1 fixed schedule for you to choose from, which may not be ideal for any number of reasons. 

Although there is an option to modify your schedule, it often requires too much effort to do so because they require you to submit forms and provide valid reasons (and this means that you're locked into the semesters that work for someone else and that might not work for you; you can get more information about these schedules at UBC here.). 

In general, there can be too much red-tape and bureaucracy with the co-op program in contrast to the freedom you can have by getting a job or internship outside of the co-op program. 

Monetary Costs of a Co-Op
Then there are the costs associated with the program, and there are quite a lot. To start off with, there are workshops and an intake course that prepare you for job applications. This can cost around $250, depending on the university, which for a student who already has multiple expenses to cover, feels quite high.  

There are many training alternatives that have a similar or even better quality that are free. In addition, for each work term you have, you have to pay a course fee of about $800 if you were able to land a job. 

For many who have to pay for food, rent, and other expenses, another $800 further adds to the financial burden. If you take deductions and taxes as considerations into account, it becomes even worse. 

Most co-op programs do have costs associated, so it's worth finding out how much and what they are before deciding on the program! You may end up saving a lot less money than you'd initially think!

So...What Did I Decide?
While a co-op allows you to find relevant work experience in a less competitive environment it can end up being more a lot less flexible and even costly in comparison with the alternative (not joining the program and instead, finding a job or internship on your own). 

I've concluded that I will not work all 4 work terms that are required to earn a co-op designation in my degree at UBC. Instead, I want to work less and aim to graduate earlier. To me, what matters is the experience you gain through the co-op program rather than the designation itself.

So it boils down to how you'd rather spend your time to gain some real-world work experience. 
Do you have the time to put into getting the best out of the co-op? Or do you want to put your time into finishing your degree sooner? 
Do you want to put your time into the bureaucratic requirements of working through the co-op program? Or do you want to put your time into the extra effort of finding work on your own?
For me, the cons might outweigh the pros. For you, it might be different. What is key is to weigh the advantages and disadvantages of a co-op offering in your specific context (this includes considerations like how your schedule will differ from that of your friends who aren't doing co-ops or how the experience can help you secure a better job right after graduation) to make the right choice for YOU!

To read more about finding a job or other professional tips and tricks, check out:
Why You Should Get a Part-Time Job On Campus
Tips for Finding a Part-Time Job for Students
See what people say about working for us at Wizeprep!