Cooperative Education Program

Yes. The salary survey is updated annually.

Approximately more than 200 students enter the program each semester. The number of students per major varies.

The students receive the list of companies coming to campus to interview and they research these companies by reviewing their websites and by reading reports submitted by previous co-op students. Then they decide what companies to interview with. As long as there is space on the schedule and the student meets the company’s criteria (such as a minimum GPA), he or she may interview. We are an academic program and our employers are our teaching partners. The process of interviewing is a developmental experience. These students are among the best and brightest on campus.

The individual interviews last 30 minutes. We adhere to a tight time schedule as we have more than 1000 student interviews over the three day interviewing event. You create the interview schedule when you register for Interview Days. Companies may elect to come two of the three days and they may elect to create multiple schedules depending on the number of majors or assignments they need to fill.

Yes they do. It is not unusual for a student to talk with 6 to 10 companies over the three days.

We require that companies delay offers until after 5PM on the last day of the interviewing event. The week after the interviews is a time when students receive offers and often have second interviews. The students take that week to explore their options. We encourage students to make decisions before the deadline whenever possible so that our companies may extend other offers to other students in a timely manner. Companies may not require students to accept or decline offers earlier than the deadline set by the program.

You can provide any information you like. Our most successful companies provide a good detailed position description for the students to review when researching the companies.

Many companies establish relationships with the various colleges on campus. They attend student chapters of professional organization meetings or present to honors organizations. Some companies even sponsor undergraduate research projects.

The minimum GPA to enter the program is 2.5, but you may establish a higher minimum GPA if you like.

At a minimum, engineering students must complete their General Engineering classes before entering the program. Mechanical engineering students must successfully pass ME 2010 (Statics & Dynamics) and chemical engineering students must enter the program no earlier than second semester of their sophomore year.

You extend the offer directly to the students and the students are required to let us know of all offers they receive. We can monitor what is going on and help encourage them to make their decisions in as timely a manner as possible.

When you decide who will receive an offer, go ahead and make it as soon as we allow you to do so and set up site interviews as time allows. It is important that the students are not asked to accept an offer prematurely. The companies that make offers on Friday and Monday are in the best position to be seriously considered by our students. Companies that come in with later offers tend not to fare as well because students have maxed out their time for second interviews or may have already made a decision. Once the student accepts an offer, it is binding and the student cannot change his/her mind to accept a later offer.

The longer you wait the less likely it is that you will find a student, but you are required to hold off extending an offer until 5PM on the Friday following Interview Days.

No, students must complete their freshman year before entering our program. Bridge students are freshman at Tri-County Technical College and do not bridge to Clemson until they successfully complete 30 credit hours there. In addition, Engineering students must successfully complete General Engineering and have declared their major before entering the program, so a Bridge student may bridge to Clemson but still need to complete General Engineering courses.