Course selection, especially for engineers, is a fairly simple process. We are usually given one elective course per term until we get to fourth year, and this course is usually a complementary studies elective (CSE). However, picking this one course, one of those precious electives that the engineering gods have granted on us, can be an arduous challenge. Unless you are taking course like PSYCH101 or ECON101, where the course is offered in every term (exception for ECON if you want to take it with Larry Smith; but that is beside the point), it can be a challenge to take all the courses that you want to take. Luckily, there is a solution to this problem. It may cost money and seem crazy at first, but taking an extra course on co-op can alleviate this and many other problems.
So, before diving into how you can take a course on co-op, it is important to talk about some concrete reasons on why this could be the thing for you.
First, if you want to do an option, minor, or even a double major (Yes, people do those), it can be nearly impossible to fit in all the required courses without having to take a co-op term off or overload your schedule. By taking one of your other electives or requirements for your option, minor or second major on co-op, you can fit all of these in.
Second, as previously mentioned, engineers have a very limited number of elective courses. In many cases there are a lot of upper year technical electives (TE) that you could be interested in taking. Moreover, the ability to take all those courses is hindered by the fact that in most programs you are limited to only four TEs. A solution to this is once again taking other electives on co-op to give you more room in third and fourth year to take more TEs.
Last, it can be a lot less stressful to take certain courses on co-op rather than during the school term. PD courses typically have a low workload and you usually will have a lot more free time during co-op than during the school year. This makes taking English, History, or any other subject that you’d find enjoyable possible, because you have a lot more time to complete readings or other work.
Now, taking courses on co-op is not for everyone, or even every work term. If you are short of cash, a course on co-op is not recommended because they are fairly expensive. For instance, this winter to take a course on co-op as an engineer costs $1213. This is the largest deterrent but if you can afford it, go for it.
Another factor in choosing whether or not to dive into a course on co-op is where and whom you are working for. If you are not working near or on campus, you are limited to online courses. Online course selection is limited, and as written about previously, is not for everyone. Even if you work near or on campus, you usually are limited to classes that do not conflict with work hours, which for most people are three hour long night classes.
So, if you have decided to take a course on co-op, you are probably thinking about how you would go about this? Well, the first thing you should do is decide on the work term and the course you want to take. Once you have that figured out, you should get a course override form (http://www.registrar.uwaterloo.ca/forms/CourseOverride.pdf) filled out and make an appointment with your academic advisor. Once the form is submitted, you are gold!
Hopefully this article has enlightened you to why you should and how you can take courses on co-op. If this isn’t for you but you still want to take extra courses, speak to your academic advisor. There are many other options out there for enhancing your degree for you to explore. Just remember to act fast: to quote Game of Thrones, “winter is coming” and time to enroll for the next work term is running out .
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