You seem to be very worried about this. Ask the co-op coordinator at your university and/or the one at Hershey to put you in touch with students who have held this position in the past. They are the ones who are most likely to be able to answer your questions.
Generally speaking though, co-ops are a very good thing.
I assume that you are not a student at Northeastern, Drexel or Cincinnati where the vast majority of students do co-op. You feel that you are missing out on the academic experience by "taking time off" to do a coop. Shame. The experience that you will get at Hershey can be invaluable in jump starting your career.
At co-op schools you are the odd one out if you do not do co-op.
I know one of the job descriptions for Hershey's co-op is "Able to lift 20 pounds" presumably of food ingredients or products. I think it said 20. Maybe 15.
But don't worry, I'm sure that the co-op as a US college undergrad will be nothing like the exploitative lawsuit link that spectastic shared.
Last edited by mamaroneck; 11-15-2012 at 01:10 AM.
Reason: more to say
