College 3 by 5: Co-op Colleges

by Emily Standish

College 3 by 5: Three Things about Five Colleges 

Here are five colleges across the United States known as “co-op” colleges. Programs at these colleges are specifically designed to give students hands-on, often paid, experience in their major field while during college so they are career-ready adults when they graduate.

1. University of Cincinnati, Ohio,www.uc.edu 

• The nation's largest and oldest co-op program, comprising 3,000 students in forty professional-practice options (UC has 22,000 undergraduates) such as architecture, design, engineering, nursing, music
• Rolling admission deadlines vary by college (see web for details), IB credits accepted
• Numbers: Admit rate: 62%, Mid-range* SAT scores: CR 500-610, M 520-640; Mid-range* ACT score: 22-27

2. Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, Georgia, www.gatech.edu

• Georgia Tech's Undergraduate Cooperative Education Program is a five-year plan for students to alternate semesters of school with semesters of paid work.
• 13,500 undergraduates and 7,000 graduate students attend this “research powerhouse”
• Numbers: Admit rate: 51%; Mid-Range SAT scores: CR 580-680, M 650-750; Mid-range ACT 27-31

3. Kettering University, Flint, Michigan, www.kettering.edu

• Fourteen undergrad majors in math, science, business and applied engineering: 1,850 undergraduates choose co-op positions from among Fortune 500 companies
• Rolling admission, with IB coursework accepted
• Numbers: Admit rate: 64%, Mid-range SAT scores: CR 530-630, M 590-680; Mid-range ACT score: 24-28

4. Keuka College, Keuka Park, New York, www.keuka.edu

• 1,600 undergraduates in rural upstate New York in a liberal arts environment, four 140-hour internships are required for graduation (one each year)
• Rolling admission, IB coursework not accepted 
• Numbers: Admit rate: 74%. This college is test-optional: test scores are not required for admission.

5. University of Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, www.uvic.ca

• One in four UVic students alternate semesters of paid work and school
• Recognition of IB diploma and IB certificate student course work
• Numbers: For US students, minimum SAT composite score: 1740, minimum ACT: 26 

See website for detailed international student admission information

Check out these additional co-op colleges: Antioch College, Yellow Springs, OH;Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA; Northeastern University, Boston, MA;Oregon State University's College of Engineering; Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, NY; or www.waceinc.org.

* Mid-ranges are the 25th-75th percentile scores of the most recent entering freshman class.