Rutgers logo
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering
Rutgers logo
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering

Internships and Co-ops

About

The ISE internship and co-op programs are opportunities for students to gain practical engineering work experience during their undergraduate education and to earn course credit that can be applied towards their degree. ISE work experience allows the student to draw on coursework to apply engineering knowledge and skills in various industrial and systems engineering environments. 

Students are responsible for securing their own job opportunity by applying directly with the hiring company. Rutgers Career Services offers a range of support including online job listings and face-to-face career events. The department also emails ISE students job posts when they are received. Students are encouraged to take advantage of all support resources to help secure their own work experience opportunity.

Internships

The internship program is a short-term job experience where students work either full-time during the summer or part-time during the fall/spring term. Students can also receive course credit for an internship by accumulating at least 135 hours of work experience, submitting weekly reports and a final report at completion of the Internship. Students may also receive credit for a second internship counted as technical elective.

Young adult white male is seen looking through steel bars.

Co-op Program

The Co-op program is a longer-term full-time work experience typically lasting for a period of six months which includes a summer and overlapping spring or fall term. Students may receive course credit by accumulating at least 270 hours of work experience, submitting weekly reports and a final report at completion of the Co-op. Upon successful completion, the co-op work experience may be counted as two technical electives.

Young woman looks at computer screen in an office with others workers in the backgrounnd.

Academic Credit

Students are free to pursue as many internships or co-op program experiences as they desire during their undergraduate education, however, they can only earn a maximum of 6 credits toward their degree. 

Students interested in receiving credit for an internship or a co-op work experience should make an appointment with the undergraduate director to have the program approved in advance before starting the job. The work experience cannot be approved for credit retroactively after the job starts or for previous work experience.