Co-Op & Internship Program

Co-ops & Internships help you:
• Apply skills in real-world settings
• Build industry connections leading to job offers
• Develop professional workplace skills
• Gain career path clarity

Ready to gain your competitive edge? Browse opportunities below or contact Career Services at careerservices@iit.edu.

Internship vs. Co-op: What’s the Difference?

Note: Employers may use these terms interchangeably, but here’s how Illinois Tech defines them:

Internship:
• One semester or summer experience
• Paid or unpaid with varying responsibilities
• Generally not tied to academic requirements

Co-op (Cooperative Education):
• Multi-semester experience with increasing responsibility
• Usually paid through formalized university-employer partnerships
• Tied to academic prerequisites and requirements

Both experiences:
• Eligible for administrative credits
• Appear on official transcripts through our experiential learning application process

Both of these experiences are eligible for administrative credits and, when a student goes through our experiential learning application procedure, the experience will show up on the student’s official transcript.

Co-ops and Internships can be found in most places that full-time jobs can be found. We have two locations internally where we encourage you to apply:

Handshake: Our primary open access job posting site has hundreds of internships and co-op opportunities listed at any time

IL Tech Career Network: Starting in Fall 2024, this portal will be the primary location for company partners to post internships and co-ops. For students to access these experiences, they will be required to complete a series of professional development tasks and activities. These companies are the most likely to hire Illinois Tech students, so it is very much worth the effort to access these opportunities!

Students must enroll in academic courses each semester in the fall and spring to maintain full-time status and make progress toward their degrees, even if they are doing full-time experiences.

See the chart below that describes the differences between part-time and full-time experiences.

Administrative credits allow students to maintain their full-time status but do not give academic credits toward a student’s degree program.

Students completing a co-op or internship in the final semester are not allowed to exclusively sign up for online coursework. They must have an on-campus presence to be eligible to do the co-op or internship experience.

Students who choose to do co-ops or internships with administrative credits must start their co-op or internship by the first working day after the drop/add date and cannot end any earlier than the last day of courses. Co-ops or Internships where administrative credits are not given offer more flexibility in terms of start and end dates.

During the summer term, students are not required to take academic courses.

• Graduate students cannot take summer courses concurrently with full-time co-ops or internships based on policies made by Graduate Academic Affairs. Students who have additional questions about this policy should contact Graduate Academic Affairs.
• Undergraduate students who are participating in a co-op or internship experience are allowed to take summer courses along with their full-time co-op or internship.

F-1 and J-1 students seeking to do experiential learning must obtain additional approval.

F-1 and J-1 students seeking to participate in experiential learning programs must secure additional authorization. F-1 students require Curricular Practical Training (CPT) work authorization from the Office of Global Services, in addition to completing application forms for the Experiential Learning Office. J-1 students must obtain Academic Training work authorization, a process that also involves the Experiential Learning Office. Further information regarding both CPT and Academic Training is hyperlinked above.