Cooperative Education
Cooperative Education:
The Perfect Complement to Your Degree
There’s a classic conundrum that recent college graduates have to untangle: Employers want candidates who have work experience. But how do you get experience without a job?
That’s easy. Get a co-op.
There’s a reason RIT is ranked 11th among top schools for co-op and internship programs by U.S. News & World Report (2021). Our cooperative education program is designed to provide you with career experience–early and often–to a variety of industries and environments. And, with co-op built into most programs, and available and encouraged in all majors, you’ll gain the experience that sets you apart–experience that employers look for in their next top hires.
A World Leader in Co-op
There’s a reason RIT has one of the best university co-op programs in the world. We have been offering a college co-op program for more than 100 years. We value the preparedness and practice a co-op program provides, and the myriad ways that it benefits all. Simply put, co-op is the career experience that converts knowledge into know-how, skills into expertise, and thinkers into doers.
It’s the crucial element that makes an RIT education exceptional.
$65M
Total earned annually by RIT students on co‑op
4.5K
Students participate in co‑op
3.4K
Hiring Organizations
94%
Of co‑op employers said they would hire their RIT co‑op student for a full‑time position

Students
Learn more about co-op requirements and connect with an advisor who can help you identifying and apply to co-op positions in your major.

Employers
Become a hiring partner.