Hi! My name is Christopher Konsul, or just Chris, and I’m a third year Chemistry and Behavioral Neuroscience double major from Catskill, NY. Last semester, I finished my first co-op at a biopharmaceutical company in Cambridge called Blueprint Medicines, a Sanofi company. I learned many things before, during, and now after that experience and today I hope to share some of those things with you!
Before:
I applied for co-ops in the Spring of 2025 and I remember throughout the process being mostly overwhelmed and doubtful. I had finally found my major, which truthfully I still had doubts about, and I was only just beginning to truly feel assimilated into my college (COS).
Applying for co-ops felt again like having to pick my major, and I remember thinking so far ahead of myself. In seeing all of the possibilities there were and all the paths I could go down, I began to worry about the doors I would close for myself. This is what my friends and I refer to as “the Northeastern Bubble”.
The Northeastern Bubble is the idea that because everyone here is applying to co-op, that it can be so easy to lose sight of all the opportunity we have here at Northeastern because of all those pressures. To pop this bubble, I’ve since truly come to not only understand, but feel how each of our paths can (and will) be different. Throughout the application process, there is much support you can find: your friends; older students; faculty advisors; co-op advisors; your Intro to Co-op teacher; etc. However, the most valuable lesson I learned was to listen to and trust myself. Like picking a major, it is one of the biggest decisions in your world at the time. But as life moves on, the next big decision finds you and it feels the same. Wherever you end up, you are at the center of it all and you can make the best of it. Your path is genuinely your own, and it’s okay to trust that. Always be open to learning from everyone and everything around you, but know that it’s also okay to be deviant and to try something entirely new as long as it’s true to you.
During:
And so I secured my co-op at a biopharmaceutical company doing “proteomics research”. I know you don’t know what that is, and I didn’t either. On my first day, I was so nervous and couldn’t believe I was lucky enough to be nervous about such a great thing [that being co-op]. I had the most amazing co-op, and I contribute that to the people I worked with and to myself because objectively there were many slow days, but there was always something to learn. In being open to new experiences, I learned more than I ever have learned academically, but also personally. Again, the theme of trusting myself came to the surface. In so many ways, I felt like I wasn’t doing enough, or that I should be doing this or that, and I found myself trapped in the Northeastern Bubble. I had become so zoomed in on the world in front of me, and hadforgotten to zoom out and think about the amazing opportunity and learning experience I had surrounding me. Telling high school Chris that he was working 40 hours a week in a fancy lab at a fancy company would blow his mind and would be something he’d never expect. The cliche words that you always hear about “your path being your own” became more and more true day by day. For me, in listening to myself and trusting myself, I learned that there are so many amazing things waiting for you that you can never even begin to expect or anticipate.
After:
I wrapped up my co-op on December 19th, 2025 and went home for winter break to rest up for the spring semester. Looking back at my co-op, I’ve learned that there are some lessons you can only learn in time. Below, I’ve listed some practical advice I would give myself looking back:
- Don’t be afraid to ASK: ask for help; ask to shadow; ask to informational interview; etc.
- You are only there for a short time, learn everything that you can.
- Use your time outside of co-op for you.
- Co-op is a rare opportunity to play “adult simulator”. Do what you’ve always wanted to and begin to frame what your life could look like! Try out different lives!
- Do new things, and do the things that scare you.
- Whether that be at co-op, or outside of co-op, this time in your life is a wonderful opportunity to change in ways you never thought possible, if that’s something you want.
- Make the best of every moment.
- Take note of what you like and don’t like and think about your next co-op.
For my next co-op, I hope to do something entirely different in an entirely different field. This scares me, and I have urges to “play it safe” and go back to the industry I just came from. And again, that’s the pressures of the Northeastern Bubble. I still have to remind myself that whatever decision I make, is the right one, and to trust myself. It is less about the experience itself, and more about what you take out of it. I LOVED my first co-op, but I still have curiosities about other careers, and so I’m choosing to listen to that part of myself and let it live for a day (or 6 months rather). In that way, I am carving a path that is not linear whatsoever, but I am going down one that I can say is true to me.
As Explore students, you’ll find that you never really stop exploring. When people ask me about the Explore Program, I joke that everyone doesn’t know what they want to do and that only ~10% of students at Northeastern are brave enough to admit that to themselves. Your path is your own to carve, and no one can predict the future and what they’ll want in the future. Doubts you have about your path don’t go away on your co-op search, but picking your co-op is just your next big decision, and you have the power to make the most of it. Like with your major, if you lean on yourself, you will never be led down the wrong path.
If there’s ever anything you feel I could help you with (co-op, Explore, Chemistry, Neuroscience,research co-ops, being a third year, etc.) please feel free to reach out at konsul.c@northeastern.edu. If you’ve made it this far in the blog post, congratulations. I genuinely wish anyone reading this the best day and best co-op search. I hope that you feel proud of yourself for all of the decisions you’ve made, and that you trust yourself to take the next best step for you. Keep moving forward, you’ve got this! 🙂