@Britchick1, I’m not sure how the credit hours work for co-op prioritization, although I do know they play a role in day assignment. I do know that GPA plays a big role in assigning days for interview slots. My dd’s grades were solid but not stellar her first year (although she got a 4.0 3rd semester!), so she was assigned the 2nd day of interview sign ups instead of the 1st day. Most of her friends had very high GPAs first year, and they all got slots on Day1. Those were all 2nd or 3rd semester students, and I’m sure many of them had 20+ AP credits at entering. AP credits are the norm, not the exception, for honors kids, in my experience.
My daughter had 41 AP/CLEP credits when she entered, so by the time she did the co-op interview process in her 3rd semester, she had 74 or so credit hours completed (so Junior status), with 89 including the in-progress courses.
I believe there were 4 total days this Fall for signups, so Day2 wasn’t terrible, and my dd was able to get all the interviews she wanted in Comp Sci. This varies a lot from major to major, especially if your kid really wants one of the most competitive/popular companies.
One thing to consider, too, is how early he showed up for the signups . . . Some of my daughter’s friends showed up 4-5 hours before opening time, so around 3 in the morning. Some kids reportedly camp out all night! My dd showed up closer to 4 or 5 if I recall correctly, but still several hours before opening time for sign ups.
So, anyway, if your son’s grades weren’t stellar first semester, that might have been the cause of the next-day signups. (The kids I’m saying had stellar GPAs had probably 3.6-4.0 GPAs.) Encourage him to try again in the fall! And to get up very early or camp out the night before his sign ups . . .
Oh, also, note that there are some sort of wait-lists for signing up for interviews, too. I guess some companies have wait-lists for extra interview slots, and you can sign up for those even if you’ve used up your 4 allowed sign-ups. Not sure how that works, but it might be a way to get an extra interview or two.
Remember, all he needs is ONE good offer. That’s it! Just one!
FWIW, it seems to me that the comp. sci. co-op opportunities are actually quite good. There aren’t tons of companies that are recruiting at UA in CS, but there are a nice handful of them, including several good local ones, and there are NOT as many CS students who go for co-op as the other engineering departments. For one thing, CS is a tiny major compared to MechE, etc. There just are not as many CS students as there are most other ENGR majors! Or maybe it’s because the CS majors are confident in their ability to land a good job upon graduation with or without a co-op (it’s a hot field, and that’s probably a reasonable expectation) . . . or who knows what other reasons there are that the CS kids don’t go for co-op as much as the rest of the engineering majors, but, anyway, that’s my observations, so far. So, even though there aren’t a ton of companies on the co-op recruiting list for CS, it seems to be enough for the students who are interested in co-op to find opportunities.