Your Co-op Experience

Our renowned cooperative education program — also known as co-op — allows students to take this even further by integrating up to three six-month, full-time professional work experiences into their academic schedule. Each co-op included in your schedule provides new opportunities to not only explore potential career paths and build a larger professional network, but to also gain additional experience and build a more impressive résumé before you graduate. You can also choose to participate in more specialized co-op opportunities to further enhance your experience, including an International, Research, or Entrepreneurship Co-op.

Our co-op program prepares students to excel, and we offer a variety of academic calendars that allow students to participate in up to three different co-op experiences:

Three Co-op Option (Five Years)

Available to most majors and programs, this option includes three individual six-month co-op experiences beginning in the start of a student's second year, providing an additional 12 months of professional work experience.

One Co-op Option (Four Years)

Students who choose the One Co-op Option will begin a single six-month employment experience in their junior year over the fall/winter or spring/summer terms.

We encourage our Dragons to include as many co-ops as possible within their academic plan. By maximizing the number of your co-op opportunities, you will further expand the scope of your education and become a more valuable asset to potential employers. If you elect our Five-Year Program, you can integrate two additional co-op experiences into your academic calendar — for the exact same tuition price as our Four-Year Program. Even better, the majority of undergraduate co-op positions are full-time and paid, and those that are both carry a median six-month salary of over $21,000.

Additional Co-op Options

A limited number of academic majors offer specialized co-op schedules beyond the fall/winter and spring/summer options listed above.  A No Co-op Option is also available for a select number of majors. The specific co-op options offered in a major can be viewed on our Undergraduate Program listing.

The Same Tuition Cost

The total tuition cost for the 5-year and 4-year programs is the same; however, living expenses and fees will differ considering the length of the 5-year program. It is important to note that students pay tuition only during terms they are enrolled in academic classes; students do not pay tuition when on co-op.

View more information about costs and financing

Select Co-op Employers

Co-op Locations

Co-op employers are located in 31 U.S. states (plus Washington DC, Puerto Rico, Remote, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Multiple Locations) and 18 countries. Many organizations eagerly embrace and nurture the fresh perspectives, drive, and dedication that are typical of a Drexel student. This chart provides the location distribution of last year's students.