Cooperative Education (Co-op)
Co-Op
Experiential preparation is an important component of a competitive application to any health professional program. While experiential learning can take shape in many forms, Northeastern’s cornerstone Cooperative Education Program offers students a unique opportunity to engage in full-time work as a part of their academic plan of study. Co-op provides Northeastern students the ability to explore career interests, create professional networks, and develop transferable professional competencies.
Students start their first co-op the second semester of their sophomore year or during the summer after their sophomore year. Students will be assigned a co-op coordinator based on their major. Students will be required to complete a “co-op preparation course” which is often taught by their assigned co-op coordinator.
Additional information, as well as answers to frequently asked questions, about the Co-op Program can be found on the Employer Engagement and Career Design website HERE.
Co-op Options:
Health professional programs look for candidates who have robust and diverse professional experiences. There are no designated PreMed or PreHealth co-ops. Rather, students should apply to co-op jobs based on their individual interest in, and qualifications for the position. PreMed and PreHealth students have historically participated in a co-op work experience including, but not limited to, the following:
- Clinical: clinical experiences should include interaction with healthcare professionals (within and/or outside of your intended health field discipline) and/or patients. These positions are typically not at an advanced medical level, but do provide the opportunity to learn more about healthcare systems and administration, various healthcare roles, and develop interpersonal skills and bedside manner.
- Examples: emergency medical technician (EMT), certified nursing assistant (CNA), patient care assistant, medical assistant, medical scribe, etc.
- Research: research can be in any field of interest! Research co-ops help you learn about the research process and develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Examples: academic research, industry research/biotechnology, social science research, field research, clinical research, etc.
- Service: Service-focused co-ops demonstrate your desire to better your community and commitment to helping others.
- Examples: teaching, public and community health, non-profit work, homeless services, etc.
- Industry: Industry co-ops help to develop leadership and teamwork skills.
- Examples: consulting, finance, healthcare administration and management, data analytics, etc.
- Global: Global co-ops help develop a global perspective and understanding. Learn more about Global Coop HERE.
- Other: You can use co-op to explore non-health interests, too!
Professional Competencies
Through Co-op applicants gain understanding of their desired profession, technical skills, and interpersonal and professional competencies. While those listed below are the AAMC’s Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students, they are applicable to all health professions. Use these as a framework for your Co-op search and experience.
AAMC Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students:
- Commitment to Learning and Growth: Practices continuous personal and professional growth for improvement, including setting and communicating goals for learning and development; reflects on successes, challenges, and mistakes; pursues opportunities to improve knowledge and understanding; and asks for and incorporates feedback to learn and grow.
- Cultural Awareness: Appreciates how historical, sociocultural, political, and economic factors affect others’ interactions, behaviors, and well-being; values diversity; and demonstrates a desire to learn about different cultures, beliefs, and values.
- Cultural Humility: Seeks out and engages diverse and divergent perspectives with a desire to understand and willingness to adjust one’s mindset; understands a situation or idea from alternative viewpoints; reflects on one’s values, beliefs, and identities and how they may affect others; reflects on and addresses bias in oneself and others; and fosters a supportive environment that values inclusivity.
- Empathy and Compassion: Recognizes, understands, and acknowledges others’ experiences, feelings, perspectives, and reactions to situations; is sensitive to others’ needs and feelings; and demonstrates a desire to help others and alleviate others’ distress.
- Ethical Responsibility to Self and Others: Behaves with honesty and integrity; considers multiple and/or conflicting principles and values to inform decisions; adheres to ethical principles when carrying out professional obligations; resists pressure to engage in unethical behavior; and encourages others to behave honestly and ethically.
- Interpersonal Skills: Demonstrates an awareness of how social and behavioral cues affect people’s interactions and behaviors; adjusts behaviors appropriately in response to these cues; recognizes and manages one’s emotions and understands how emotions impact others or a situation; and treats others with dignity, courtesy, and respect.
- Oral Communication: Effectively conveys information to others using spoken words and sentences; actively listens to understand the meaning and intent behind what others say; and recognizes potential communication barriers and adjusts approach or clarifies information as needed.
- Reliability and Dependability: Demonstrates accountability for performance and responsibilities to self and others; prioritizes and fulfills obligations in a timely and satisfactory manner; and understands consequences of not fulfilling one’s responsibilities to self and others.
- Resilience and Adaptability: Perseveres in challenging, stressful, or ambiguous environments or situations by adjusting behavior or approach in response to new information, changing conditions, or unexpected obstacles, and recognizes and seeks help and support when needed; recovers from and reflects on setbacks; and balances personal well-being with responsibilities.
- Service Orientation: Shows a commitment to something larger than oneself; demonstrates dedication to service and a commitment to making meaningful contributions that meet the needs of communities.
- Teamwork and Collaboration: Collaborates with others to achieve shared goals and prioritizes shared goals; adjusts role between team member and leader based on one’s own and others’ expertise and experience; shares information with team members and encourages this behavior in others; and gives and accepts feedback to improve team performance.
- Human Behavior: Applies knowledge of the self, others, and social systems to solve problems related to the psychological, socio-cultural, and biological factors that influence health and well-being.
- Living Systems: Applies knowledge and skill in the natural sciences to solve problems related to molecular and macro systems including biomolecules, molecules, cells, and organs.
- Critical Thinking: Uses logic and reasoning to identify the strengths and weaknesses of alternative solutions, conclusions, or approaches to problems.
- Quantitative Reasoning: Applies quantitative reasoning and appropriate mathematics to describe or explain phenomena in the natural world.
- Scientific Inquiry: Applies knowledge of the scientific process to integrate and synthesize information, solve problems and formulate research questions and hypotheses; is facile in the language of the sciences and uses it to participate in the discourse of science and explain how scientific knowledge is discovered and validated.
- Written Communication: Effectively conveys information to others using written words and sentences.
Core competencies for entering medical students. AAMC. (n.d.). Retrieved August October, 30, 2023, from The Core Competencies for Entering Medical Students | Students & Residents (aamc.org)