It’s the time of the year again when students rush to edit their resumes, practice their elevator pitches and mock interviews, and wish for a successful COOP season. This year marks the first time I’m doing my COOP cycle with lots of nerves and excitement. I have been working with my COOP advisor and attending different career fairs and workshops sponsored by Drexel to review my resume, elevator pitch, and create networks. Unlike the others, I’m doing all these abroad, dealing with time conflicts and other interferences. So this week’s vlog will be dedicated to my journey of preparing for my COOP season.
Nervous, feeling lost, and excited is what I was feeling when stepping into the prepping process. I talked to my roommate, who has done two COOPs, to get some advice and what to expect in my first COOP. The first meeting with the advisor was smooth. She answered many of my questions and walked through the resume with me for some improvement. After that, I started researching external sources for some other positions while waiting for the SDCD to open. I also researched some companies where I see my potential for working there.
Before, I always thought of doing COOP near Philadelphia, where I could spend an hour to two by the train going to work. But I see many good opportunities outside of the area, especially in Massachusetts. So I worked around my plan of study to find an alternative plan if I go out of state and talked to my academic advisor to sort out some problems. It was a stressful week since I needed to replan my study schedule, do company research, write my elevator pitch, and attend online career fairs. Though some issues are still up in the air, I found some solutions, and things started getting on track.
Before going to study abroad, I was a bit hesitant because I needed to deal with the COOP process far away and might run into some trouble where I needed help from the staff at the SCDC department. Until now, I can assure you that everything can be done and kept under control even when you’re not in the States. Time differences are another thing that crossed my mind. Thanks to the short time difference (6 hours ahead), I could still set up meetings and interviews while not interfering too much with my class schedule and sleeping cycle.
Additionally, these are some tips I want to share so that you can feel more confident when studying abroad while prepping for COOP at the same time. Firstly, be aware of the COOP schedule so you can plan what to do before the start of the A round. Another thing is to look over your study plan again and plan out all the scenarios. If you run into any problem, talk to your academic and COOP advisor as soon as possible to find the best solution. Set reminders of interviews or meetings and be aware of the time zone when scheduling them to avoid interfering with the daily schedule. Remember to rest, hang out with friends, and have a balanced lifestyle during the season!
That being said, I will end this blog by showing some photos I took on campus these last few days. Fall is here, and you can notice changes as leaves start turning yellow and falling. I hope you find this helpful, and see you next week. Bis bald!
