Coop or not, alas, that is the question

[Guest Paulchemguy]

Hello everybody!

 

I can't decide whether to do coop or not. I tried to find some some posts on the cons/pros but I couldn't find any. That's why I'm making a new thread.

 

I thought of doing it cuz it might get me reference letters and that I will have more experience to talk about. Also, it can also serve as a backup in case I dont get in and want to find work.

 

However, I'm doing summer lab stuff right now and don't really find lab that appealing so I probalby shouldn't even contemplating life in the lab. So, I'm thinking coop wouldn't work that well as a backup anyway. In addition, maybe with my summer lab stuff, it might be as good as coop. And I might as well get reference letters from the summer positions anyway.

 

But anyhow, I need some advice, guys! Do you think summer lab positions would be enough to find a job after grad if I don't do coop? Also, will Coop help my med application in terms of my experience? Do most people in med don't have coop experience?

 

Any advice will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[Guest WoollySheep]

At my school, at least, the bio co-op program is garbage, so look into what (if any!!) positions are available for your field. You might find that the co-op positions are the same summer lab jobs you're doing right now... except if you're in the co-op program you have to pay them something like $500 in tuition and write a "this is what I did this summer" report at the end... a waste of time and money. But a school with a good co-op program will have a wider variety of positions available that might help out with networking and finding a job later on.

[Guest Snew]

Hey,

 

I am just fininshing up a BSc in Microbiology and Immunology at Dalhousie with Co-op. I am writing the MCAT this summer and applying to Dal in the fall. Here is my experience with the program.

 

My academic advisor tried to tell me not to do co-op, giving me the reason "it will delay your entrance into medicine by one year". In my opinion, so what? Co-op has given me some great jobs and great experiences to talk about in my interview. Without co-op, I wouldn't have gotten my job working in an Alzheimer's disease medical research lab, which was available exclusively to co-op students. And as a result of the networking I did at that job, I secured my current summer position working in a lab in British Columbia with an NSERC.

 

Another good benefit is that co-op jobs tend to pay well. If money is a problem for you (it is for most university students) then co-op is appealing in the respect as well. However, you are not always guaranteed a good paying job, as the better paying jobs are typically with pharmaceutical companies. University research jobs don't pay as well becuase, well, in general university researcheres are poorer than big biotech companies.

 

However, there are definitely drawbacks. You do have to pay a workterm fee, which varies by school (At Dal it is 300$, but at other schools I hear it can escalate to even 500$ or 700$ per workterm! And you have to write a rather large workterm report at the end of each term. For microbiology at Dal, this is the equivalent to a mini-honours thesis and requires a good chunk of time to write. Also, one of your academic terms must be interrupted to work, so the program does take longer (4.5 years, I finish at Christmas 2005) than a conventional BSc. If you want to apply as soon as possible, then this may not be the best option for you.

 

You can weigh these options and decide what is best for you. It gave me good experiences that I can talk about in an interview. It is also a source of a reference letter if you get to know your supervisor quite well!

 

A note of caution though. I also took co-op becuase I thought that I could secure a job after graduation if I didn't get into medicine. Jobs in the biotech industry are few and far between right now, and you typically have to have a number of years experience to get hired. I was interviewed by Merck Frosst, and they said that they only start hiring scientisits at the master's level.

Just things to keep in mind!

 

Good luck!