<p>It is ABSOLUTELY like above. Even for majors that are infamous elsewhere for not getting jobs (sociology, for example) have options, because of co-op and networking. And the “classmates” thing is actually much bigger than Emily made it out to be. At the end of co-op nearly every supervisor asks their current co-op for any suggestions on who to hire for next time, and it’s much easier than you’d think to hand a resume over to your supervisor for a friend that is looking for a job after graduation. Northeastern doesn’t have the crazy-close alumni group that some Ivies do (I know Princeton is famous for it), but because we have so many connections EVERYWHERE in employment, it’s really easy to network here.</p>
<p>I’m an economics and mathematics student, and I’ll graduate with 2 co-ops. I already have one very good recommendation from an employer, I’ve kept my gpa up, and I’ve gone to like four networking events hosted by the business school (other schools have it to, but I have just gone to theirs). I’m looking at going into quantitative finance, which requires very specific knowledge for financial modeling- so yes, I’d need a masters in quantitative finance. I’m considering a lot of other things as well, though. But I’m in a strange position, because I really would like to move to the UK after graduation but due to recent immigration policies you pretty much have to be a student. If I decided grad school wasn’t for me and I decided to stay in the US, I am 100% confident that I would have no trouble finding a job.</p>
<p>Oh, and I also had the same thing Emily said, where my last co-op employer told me that if I was sticking around the area after graduation, I should give him a call and he’d hire me. It happens pretty often, if you do good work. One of the reasons (and according to everyone I’ve talked to while on coop, the biggest reason) its hard for college graduates to get jobs is because there is no reference- not just because they don’t have experience. But with co-op, it shows that someone trusted you to give you significant work for 6 months, and that (if you do multiple) you did a good enough job for other people to trust you too. If they have doubts, they can read a rec or call them up. And we’re paid (mostly), unlike many summer internships, so there was more of a risk in co-op. Every single person at my last co-op would rant in the coffee room about how great the program was because when you graduated, you had people to say “oh yeah, you should hire them, I wish I could”.</p>