Internships Can’t Match Our Co-op’s Career Acceleration.

Outpace Your Peers

The Kettering Co-op experience has the speed, feel, and pay of a real career — because that’s what it is. From your first year, you’ll hone your skills and build a powerful professional network that can lead to exponential academic and career growth. By the time you graduate, you will have 2.5 years of paid professional work experience that puts you miles ahead of your peers — and they never catch up.  

And you won’t do it alone. Our Co-op team will help you find the ideal match, perfect your résumé, and ace your interview. Kettering students don’t push papers or fetch coffee. You’ll become a test engineer, a project leader, and an invaluable team member. What you achieve here propels you faster and further than anything you’ll find at another school.

Duration 

• Co-ops: Complete multiple full-time rotations over the course of your 4.5 years with Kettering, starting your first year
• Internships: Generally a single, finite work opportunity that lasts just a matter of weeks and may or may not offer full-time hours or compensation

Kettering’s Co-op alternates academic terms with full-time work, so you spend about three months on campus in classes and labs, then three months at your Co-op. That means you can focus solely on your courses or work without balancing the two. 

On the other hand, internships usually take place during a summer or winter break or a busy semester. If you pursue one during the school year, you can generally only take part-time positions because of your course load. Once the internship ends, you may need to find the next opportunity yourself. 

Compensation

• Co-ops: Offers paid, professional-level pay, sometimes even benefits 
• Internships: May provide paid or unpaid work experience

While some employers pay their interns, many do not or only offer college credit. But Kettering’s Co-op positions represent paid roles, allowing you to earn an income that can defray the cost of your college experience while gaining invaluable hands-on experience. Earn between $45,000 and $70,000 over the course of your Kettering undergraduate career.

University Support

• Co-ops: Co-op Managers assist students starting before day one
• Internships: Students need to find their own resources

Many universities offer career services to students as they explore their interests and post-graduation options. However, only Kettering has Co-op Managers who connect with you immediately as you go through the enrollment process to set you up for success. Our Co-op team will help you find the ideal match, perfect your résumé, and ace your interview.

Career Preparedness and Outcomes

• Co-ops: Help build relationships and real-world skills, potentially qualifying students for beyond entry-level positions like leading a project team, working in research and development, and even managing full-time employees
• Internships: Provide limited experience, and participants likely start their careers in entry-level positions

Unlike an internship, a Co-op position generally involves a multi-term work agreement with an employer, which means you can take on increasingly robust roles, projects, and responsibilities. At the same time, almost 40% of students Co-op with more than one employer to broaden their industry knowledge and experience.

Many Kettering students seamlessly transition to the company of their Co-op — 80% of Kettering Co-op students receive a job offer from their employer.

Wherever you choose to work after you graduate, you leverage a cumulative 2.5 years of work experience at Kettering, which allows you to launch your career at intermediate-level positions with significantly higher starting salaries than the average college graduate. In fact, Kettering grads earn the highest starting salaries in Michigan.

Is Co-op Worth It? Hear from Our Alumni.

No one understands the power of Kettering’s Co-ops quite like the alumni who have experienced what you will. Their stories exemplify how our immersive model of real-world work experience rapidly develops skills and paves the way for remarkable career opportunities right out of college. 

Kettering alumni Andrew Rudzki ’10, Re’Nisha Newton ’11, Frank DelVecchio ’95, Joseph Neal ’10, and Matthew Schneider ’10 share how the transformative impact of the school’s co-op program helped shape their careers. Now, as co-op partners, they are dedicated to mentoring and training the next generation of Kettering students.