The Civil Engineering Department at Texas A&M University has an ongoing co-op program where the student works for an engineering company during three semesters, while registered for one hour per semester of ENGR 385 (a total of 3 credit hours, one per semester.) The CE program is administered by Dr. Lee L. Lowery, Jr., Room 139C in the Civil Engineering Building, phone 979-845-4395, email: Lowery@tamu.edu. Details on the benefits of the co-op program, what you must do to co-op, dates for initial meetings, companies listed in the co-op program, amounts paid, and everything else you could possibly wish to know about the program are listed at the co-op web site. Dates for orientation meetings are shown on the Career Center Calendar. You will have to look hard with such little print, but look for days which list Co-op Orientation. All students considering the co-op program should first attend an orientation session where any and all questions will be answered, including how much you can expect to make, how many semesters you must participate, etc. You can also email Mr. Brad Collet at Bcollet@cctr.tamu.edu or call him at 979-845-7725. He is our representative with the University's co-op office.
After attending the orientation meeting, you will have to register and fill in a list of courses you need to take to graduate.
To register with the co-op office, go to
https://career174.tamu.edu/FreeSite/newaccount.cfm?site=live
You enter your official email account at NEO, and it will say:
First Time Users
If you are a current TAMU student and this is the first time you have used My
AggieLaunch Site, enter your official NEO account e-mail address, and the
system will send you the instructions and activate an account for you. Your
e-mail address must end in "tamu.edu".
You will then follow the instructions to set up your account by clicking on the link supplied. Later you will sign up for the "Premium $35" but when you only ask for Co-op, it won't actually charge you, at least that's what I am told.
After you get all your personal information entered and submitted, you will be able to go back at any time and change it by going to
http://careercenter.tamu.edu/guides/aggielaunch/
and signing in to your account at the top right corner - Aggie Launch. Then you can click on the link on the left which says generate my degree plan, or something like that. This is the document which tells them which courses you have to take to graduate, and is the only piece of paper that I have to sign for you.
There are many advantages to the co-op program, including the money made, the excellent engineering experience gained, and the fact that you see the material we are trying to teach you actually being used in industry. Co-op students invariably have a greater appreciation of their course work after returning from co-op assignments, and make much better grades as a result. It has also been our experience that co-op students average about $1500/year better job offers upon graduation. The down side is that is delays your graduation, and some students are not well suited to breaking into their studies every semester or so, and leaving the University environment. Average salary for CE students during their first co-op term (2002) was $2780/month, with higher averages in succeeding semesters.
At the current time, there are more co-op job offers than we can fill, so you will have an excellent choice in selecting where you wish to co-op. Civil Engineering co-op students should have a GPR of 2.5 or above, and have completed their CBK and most of their ENGR 2XX or equivalent engineering courses. These are not rigidly enforced rules, because you may well make an excellent employee even if you don't have these courses or grades. However, it is our experience that if you don't have a 2.5 GPR you probably haven't really gotten serious about your education, and we would hate to see you out representing A&M and not being serious about the job. So we ask that if you do not have a 2.5, come talk with us and let's see what your real commitment is. The reason for asking that you finish your CBK and ENGR 2xx classes, or equivalent, is that the more you have learned to do, the more valuable you will be to your employer. Again, we are flexible here, but you should come by and convince us that if you haven't had these classes you can still contribute to the company. In any case, you must ethically tell the potential employer if you do not strictly meet these guidelines.
Once at your co-op job you will be expected to contact me every so often by email, just to keep me informed on how you are doing, what you are doing, and to let me know how you are coming along on your required term paper. You can find general guidelines on what types of term papers are acceptable and other requirements here. Guides on technical writing can be found here. You are also welcome to drop by and view (not copy) other reports that students have written to get a feel for how they should be written, length, etc. You can see Kristi Meadows in room CE 140 and ask her to let you peruse some old reports as long as you do not leave the office with the reports. Your Co-op report may be either a research or a work experience paper.
If you choose a research paper topic it must be related to your major, but does not have to be directly related to your Co-op assignment. Typical research papers deal with things you worked with on the job. For example, if your company has a new method of applying asphalt on roads, or a new patent on concrete forms, those would be a natural for your paper. The company has an interest in letting people know about its use, and would probably love to have you write a paper about it. On the other hand, if you worked all semester on installing tanks, write a work experience paper. A work experience paper should be an in-depth study and analysis of your Co-op job experience, or some aspect of your experience. Did you install tanks all semester? Write about what tanks are used for, why they must be carefully installed, what problems are normally encountered, etc. You can find out when your report is due by clicking here.
If you choose to write a work experience report, it must be a quality report of approximately 5-10 pages. If this is your first work term, the report should cover the following:
If this is your second or third Co-op assignment, your paper should represent an extension of the first work term report. Identify a particular organization function or activity to describe and analyze. Demonstrate an in-depth study on a topic aligned with your academic studies and/or work assignments. Consult with your supervisor regarding suggestions for a topic and for assistance in acquiring necessary information.
Finally, DO NOT wait until the last second and then pay $30 to overnight your report to me. I would much rather have you email me and request an extension and get it a few days late than to see you blow $30. Send it by regular U.S. snail mail only, and IN NO CASE send me your original copy. Send me a copy only. That way if it gets lost in the mail you won't have to start from scratch. We have had several instances of the "only original wonderful complete fantastic co-op report" being lost in the mail.
Far better and much preferred would be to email your report to me. That is the way the world is going and you might as well get used to it. If at all possible, write your report using Word or Word Perfect. Get your boss to show you where the scanner is, then scan in your figures, or draw your figures with Autocad. Then import them into your Word document. If your company isn't able to transfer documents electronically, then they are getting so far behind they may not be there for your next co-op semester. Help them out. Talk them into letting you buy them a $50 scanner and attach it to their computer. Show them how to use this technology. Get them to buy a copy of Adobe Acrobat to make pdf files from scanned pages. They will love you for it.
If you have any questions please contact me at Lowery@tamu.edu.
If you would like to receive sporadic information regarding the co-op program and available co-op jobs, we maintain a list server for that purpose. Simply go to http://cenotes.tamu.edu, click on the list server button and register. You will receive co-op information by email. Civil Engineering students who are actively enrolled in the co-op program are required to sign up on this list server so we can get timely information to you.
Differences Between Internships and Co-op
When a student interns, we don't really know what they are doing. The company may have them running a Xerox all summer long. We also have no way to verify that they got any real engineering experience during their employment. Thus at graduation a company looking at the student's resume takes somewhat of a chance as to their work experience. We list internships at http://ceinternships.tamu.edu merely as a service to the companies and students interested in summer employment. The student who interns is not registered as an A&M student during this time. They are pretty much on their own, although we are always available to help them and they are welcome to contact us for assistance.
When a student co-ops, the University signs a formal agreement with the co-op company. In this case the company agrees to a specified engineering experience content. Thus at graduation an interviewing company can be assured that the student got some serious engineering experience. It might actually be no more than would have been obtained by interning, but it is guaranteed under co-op. The student remains a full-time student registered for 1 hour of co-op during this time. During a co-op period a Civil Engineering professor keeps tabs on the student, and helps them as needed. The student writes a final formal report which is graded.
A company can hire their student sons or daughters either as interns, or as co-op students. If they hire them as interns, no formal agreement is necessary. If they would like to hire them through the co-op program, they would have to see what is required by the co-op office and sign an agreement with them. They are permitted to hire them to the exclusion of other students.
Companies can find much of the necessary information for this procedure at:
http://co-opweb.tamu.edu/employers/coop/
It gives detailed information regarding what co-op is, how to develop a corporate co-op program, average salaries, etc.
Internship information can be found at: