If it weren’t for strict time management, I’d be in over my head right now more than I could imagine.
For the majority of students going on coop in January, every October means suffering through one of the most hectic times of the entire year. We are overloaded with academic assignments, midterms, coop interviews, part time jobs, and the occasional desire to sleep a few hours. For example, this week I worked 15 hours on my part time job, I attended all my classes, I had two midterm exams, a 1000 word essay to write, and three interviews for coop positions (two of which were out of town and one was over the phone). I am surviving, but my grades are suffering since the amount of studying I do is the only rational thing I can cut time out of. Getting the best coop position possible is the one addition to my overbooked schedule that has eaten away on my ability to focus on my schoolwork.
As I go into my third coop experience, I am wondering why there isn’t more communication between the coop and academic departments. Why can’t the professors slow down their courses for two weeks while students are out on interviews? They could then easily pick up a faster pace afterward to stay on track with their syllabi. Perhaps then, students like myself would be able to obtain optimal coop positions while preventing our grades from slipping.
