<p>The economy is definitely having an impact on finding coop jobs but that is more of the student’s fault than the company. A lot of jobs are just offering students less money or no money at all compared to previous years. Students tend to avoid job that don’t pay/have really low pay rates (shouldn’t happen but it does). Thus there is increased competition for the remaining jobs and there are definitely more students than there are amazing coops. That is generally where people tend to end up with a “no-op”. The other case where that happens is some sophomore will overestimate their abilities and apply to only jobs that tend to go to upperclassmen. </p>
<p>If you make an attempt to stand out, though, you will definitely get a coop job. I co-authored a chapter last year in a “green chemistry” textbook, have gone to national ACS meetings, and have worked two years at a pharmaceutical company. I was offered interviews at almost every job I applied to (8-10 companies). According to my co-op advisor I was the first student in the college of engineering to get a job. Basically, get involved early, ask professors to do research (if you’re going premed, you might have a different co-op situation than the rest of us, but try to get involved in some bio research lab) and you’ll be just fine.</p>