Co‑op Program Guidelines
CO-OP DEGREE IN MICROBIOLOGY and IMMUNOLOGY
The Department of Microbiology and Immunology offers a Co-op Science experience to qualified students enrolled in Honours, Combined Honours, or Major degree programs. Note that national regulations presently require that at least one academic term be replaced by a work term; thus, co-op programs take an extra semester to complete. Work placements, beginning in the summer following completion of either second or third year studies, are in university or government research laboratories, diagnostic laboratories, or industry. These environments provide an excellent opportunity for students to learn cutting edge technologies, and to interact with working professionals; in so doing, co-op students may be better prepared for post-graduation employment in fields that are relevant to their educational training.
Application:
Interested students will normally apply to enroll in a co-op program after their first year of study. Acceptance requires a GPA of 3.30 (B+) or better; the same level of academic achievement will be required for continuance in the program; in addition, a grade of B+ is required in both MICI 2100 and MICI 2400.
Format:
Co-op students participate in a required, non-credit series of focused workshops, which are designed to prepare them for the first work-term period; these are scheduled in the evening in the A term only. A one-time fee of $300 is assessed for this course. Each of the three required work terms will be the subject of a written report, a grade for which becomes part of the academic transcript. Work terms are arranged according to the schedule shown below. Note that graduation with the Co-op designation requires that at least three work terms be completed successfully.
| Year | September/December | January/April | May/August |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Academic | Academic | Free |
| 2 | Academic | Academic | Work term 1 |
| 3 | Academic | Academic |
Work Term 2 |
| 4 | Work Term 3 |
Academic | |
| 5 | Academic |
(Alternatively, the 1st work term could occur in the summer of year 3; the 3rd work term would then take place in either the spring or summer of year 5; other possibilities exist!)
N.B. Students cannot do an honours research project and a co-op work term concurrently.
Disadvantages:
Your degree program will take 4.5 years to complete. Accordingly, co-op may not be the best path for students with a focused interest in medicine/dentistry, as entry into those programs will be delayed by a year.
One or more of your work terms is likely not to be in the Maritimes.
Co-op students must attend a series of non-credit workshops (SCI 2800)
Advantages:
While work term jobs are not guaranteed, both the Co-op Office and the Dept. nonetheless feel obligated to do their best to assist you in this; the success rate has been consistently high.
Jobs in government labs are often easier to access in the case of co-op students; as you might expect, jobs in government labs tend to pay better!
Contact:
D.B. Stoltz, Dept. of Microbiology and Immunology (dstoltz@dal.ca;494-2590)
Theresa Myra, Director, Faculty of Science Co-op (theresa.myra@dal.ca; 494-6448)
Lisa Galway, Coordinator, (lisa.galway@dal.ca; 494-1768)