Saunders
Student Resources
Undergraduate Co-Op
Ten steps to a successful work experience!
- Co-op is Required for all Undergraduate Business Majors
Co-operative Education is required of all undergraduate business students. Co-op typically occurs during the junior and senior year and needs to be full-time, paid work experience in the student's field of study.
- Beginning the Job Search
Students must complete the privacy statement on Job Zone to begin the process. They can do this through the Co-op & Career Services Office. Co-op employers and job listings are available through the Job Zone.
- How Your Advisors Fit In
FACULTY ADVISOR: You are encouraged to work closely with your faculty advisor early on as you consider options for your co-ops. Your faculty advisor can provide suggestions for appropriate job roles for your major and insights into different industries you should consider.
ACADEMIC ADVISOR: Be sure to check with your academic advisor in the Student Services Office prior to beginning your co-op search to make sure you won't miss any critical courses that may only be scheduled once a year while you are away on co-op. International students must also have an authorization to work through the International Student Services Office and should verify they are eligible for the quarter they are planning to coop.
CO-OP COORDINATOR: Your Co-op coordinator is available to assist you with resume review and interview skills evaluation and can also assist you with getting registered on the Job Zone.
- How Courses Fit In
If you plan on taking any courses while on co-op, you must add them through the normal processes. No more than one course is recommended however. If you do not plan to take courses, it is your responsibility to drop them during the drop/add period. Otherwise tuition will be due and you will receive a grade. No more than two courses may be taken when a student is on co-op.
- Registering For Co-op
Students need to be in good academic standing, and must register before beginning the work. Single Co-op work blocks need to be a minimum of 10 weeks in length. Students need to have been enrolled in the SCB for at least one quarter, usually more, and need to have one academic quarter remaining (12 credit hours) upon their return from co-op.
You need to register on the RIT Job Zone through the Co-op Office by following these steps:
- Go to www.rit.edu/oce
- Click on Students
- Click on Report Co-op or Internship along the left navigation bar
- Log in with your RIT computer account
- Complete ALL information requested
- Click on Submit at the bottom of the form
- Receive your confirmation page
- International Students
- Getting Your Coop Evaluated and Graded
International students need written authorization from the International Student Services Office and cannot co-op until three consecutive quarters of study have been completed. Please visit or contact the office at (585) 475-6943.
At the end of your Co-op, you will receive the message below in your email from oceevaluations@rit.edu. Do not delete this message. Please read it, and complete your evaluation.
"You are receiving this email because you need to complete your Student Work Report for the co-op quarter(s) at the bottom of this email.
PROCESS: Once you submit your Student Work Report and your employer submits the Employer Evaluation, your academic department will review your Work Report. Please spend the appropriate time on this report. It will be accepted or rejected by your faculty advisor based on your thoughtful responses.
Once accepted, your department will then submit an "S" grade for your co-op. Please note, your department may not review the forms and submit your grade until the end of the quarter.
SAVING YOUR WORK: The save feature is not working properly. You can try saving in small sections, but saving your work in Word and pasting it into the form would be better. Submit does work if you complete all sections.
DOUBLE BLOCK: You must submit the Student Work Report and your employer must submit the Employer Evaluation for each individual quarter of the double block. This will allow your department to review the forms and give you an "S" grade for each individual quarter.
PAST QUARTERS: If you are receiving this email for a past quarter's co-op and you have already been given an "S" grade through your department, please reply to this email with "quarter" and "co-op S grade" in the subject. Your status will be updated in the system and you will stop receiving these reminder emails.
REJECTED WORK REPORTS: If necessary, you will be able to correct a rejected work report so that it can then be accepted by your department and you can be given and "S" grade."
- The Co-op Grade
All co-op blocks carry zero credit hours (no tuition charged) and are assigned Incomplete grades if the report is not completed and graded by the end of the quarter. These incomplete grades revert to permanent fails if you do not complete a satisfactory report. Don't let this happen to you!
If you are on a double block co-op you must complete an evaluation for each block. You will not receive a grade if your evaluation is not completed.
- How Financial Aid Fits In to the Grading Process
If you received Financial Aid during the academic year while on co-op, the deadline to have your grade for co-op changed to Satisfactory may differ than at other times. Typically, you must have all grades changed to "S" no later than June 30th of that year. Please see your Financial Aid advisor with any questions about this requirement.
- Congratulations! You now have work experience to add to your resume!