Internship & Co-op

Gaining real world experience

Student home

• Home
• Academics & Students
• Student Affairs & Academic Success Programs
• Engineering Career Services
• For Students
• Internships & Co-ops

Internships & Co-ops

At the A. James Clark School of Engineering, you are encouraged to combine classroom theory with career-related work experience while you are still a student. An internship is an opportunity for you to gain professional experience in a particular industry. An internship can be full time during the summer or part-time during the semester. For a co-op position, you alternate semesters of full-time study with semesters of full-time, paid employment. With the non-credit Engineering Co-op Program, you maintain student status while working as a co-op. The majority of internships and co-ops that our students find are paid. Over 78% of students participate in at least one co-op or internship experience prior to graduation.

Need help finding an internship? Consider taking an engineering career course.

Nine Reasons to Apply for an Internship or Co-op

• Professional Experience: Employers expect to see internship or work experience on your resume before you graduate. Serious engineering experience will ensure that you and your resume always get noticed first.
• Money: Save for school, for a car, or for fun. Check out our latest Salary Survey by major.
• Confidence: Experience allows you to speak to other engineers as colleagues.
• Contacts: Meet the people who are doing what you want to do. It's who you know AND what you know - an unbeatable combination.
• Skills: Learn new technical skills as well as essential life skills: organization, teamwork, meeting deadlines, and taking initiative. You may be surprised that even school seems easier.
• Practice: You learned it in school, now put it to use. The big picture comes into focus.
• Knowledge: Did you choose the right major? Do you like the work environment? Would you do anything differently next time? It's better to learn these answers sooner rather than later.
• Travel: Sure, most of our jobs are in the Washington Metro area; however, there are a lot of opportunities if you want to try out a different environment. How about California, Florida, New York, Arizona or even international locations!
• A Job Offer: Just think, maybe you won't have to look for a job after graduation because you'll already have a great offer from your current employer!

Register for Co-op (ENCO 099/098) Internship/Co-op FAQs Co-op Collection on Handshake

Sample Employers

Over 1500 engineering students participate in internship or co-op positions each year. Take a look at the Employment Outcomes page to see which companies tend to hire engineering majors at UMD. Keep in mind, we include just a few companies for each major, there are hundreds more!

Top