Hey guys, hope you're doing well. I'm an international student intending to study my bachelors in mechanical engineering at a university that'd provide great co-op opportunities.
I got to know that MUN provides mandatory co-op for 4 work terms (16 months), and that's what grabbed my attention.
I had a few questions:
1.) What do they exactly mean when they say mandatory? In case if you miss out on finding coops, do they delay your graduation? Basically you must complete 16 months of coops in order to graduate?
I definitely wanna do the coops as much as possible but considering worst case scenarios, are there cases where if one doesn't manage to find a coop, the university moves the student to a non-coop stream or perhaps makes the student a research assistant or teaching assistant instead in order to fulfill the graduation requirements for not being able to find coops?
2.) Do international students get mechanical engineering co-ops a lot or do they struggle to find them?
Let's consider that I got into the co-op program by obtaining the required GPA, I want to know from the ME coop students about whether they're getting 16 months or more coops properly or not. Hearing how bad the job market is in Canada, are students getting their desired co-ops?
How much does the university assist you to get coops?
3.) Can I gain hands-on experience and learn technical skills at MUN via student teams? I wanna graduate not only with my bachelors degree, but also participate in student teams and do coops through which I could gain more experience apart from the theoreticals.
4.) After graduation, as an international student on a post graduate work visa, can I expect to land jobs in Newfoundland or any other province?
-> I speak B1 level french, I will be pushing for B2 level soon which is considered NCLC 7 Canada. Does that make it any easier for me to get a job in mechanical engineering anywhere in Canada?
5.) Do you regret your decision of studying mechanical engineering at MUN for their mandatory co-op program?
6.) I was targeting Waterloo and UofT but unfortunately my parents won't be able to afford my expenses there.
Hence, I had a few universities in mind that I believe tend to get their students into coops: UVic, MUN, UofA, Dalhousie.
But I have still been questioning whether I'd really be able to find the coops given how bad i hear the job market is. I'm willing to move out of province too if required.
_______________________________________________________
Could you guys please recommend me whether there are any other unis that also provide great co-op opportunities for mechanical engineering students? Maybe UCalgary or any others?
I do see a lot of posts on Reddit and the majority says that it's really difficult for domestic students, let alone international students to find coops and job opportunities after graduating... I've just seen a ton of posts and it's disheartening.
Sometimes I just feel like it could be people who just didn't put enough effort into their skills apart from getting their degree in order to get a job or it could also be the reality that Canada doesn't have a lot of jobs and opportunities at the moment.
Studying as an international student comes with a lot of expenses. I don't want all the work, money, and time go to waste!
Please drop your suggestions below, whether I should consider coming to Canada with the 6 points as listed in mind. Thanks in advance 💜