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Have you ever thought about what engineering is like beyond Purdue's campus? At Purdue, you are able to discover how engineering is applied to the real world while out on Co-Op, or you can take your engineering experiences abroad with the GEARE program. Kendall Kyle in Ecuador where she studied abroad  For a Co-Op, there are two main options, you could choose to start after your freshman year and do a 5 sessions co-op. There is also another option of the 3 sessions co-op which does not need to be started until as late as your senior year, so many students who are uneasy about the co-op program early in their academic career choose this route. Both options usually require you to stay for 5 years, but you’ll only be paying 4 years of tuition! Marisa Hughes, who completed a 3 session co-op rotation with Zimmer Biomet, chose to go with the co-op program over standard summer internships because she knew that she would receive more real-world experiences. By staying with the same company...

Throughout my three years here at Purdue, I have made it one of my goals to acquire as much work experience as possible, simply because I had absolutely no idea where my career interests lied. With the wonderful opportunities Purdue provides, acquiring job experience is not a difficult task if you know where to look ( https://www.cco.purdue.edu/ ).  After my freshman year, I worked at Freudenberg Performance Materials as a Mechanical Engineering Intern focusing on production support.  I realized that I really enjoyed the manufacturing environment, and such experience inspired me to try and find another internship.The subsequent two years, I worked for Honda Manufacturing of Indiana in Greensburg, IN to work in the Assembly Frame Department.  As a Senior in High School, I would've never thought I would be working in the automotive industry, so here is my best advice for navigating your career when you enjoy everything! Me on the roof on my last day! 1. Take Every Opportun...

My Empowering Internship Experience          I was very intimidated to go to Industrial Roundtable freshman year, but it was so worth it to put myself out of my comfort zone for that amazing professional experience.  During IR, I interviewed with ComEd, a utility company in northern Illinois, and I was thankful to receive the opportunity to intern with them last summer. Going into my internship over the summer, I wasn’t sure what to expect.  ComEd started the program with a helpful orientation day where I learned more about the company and talked with other students in the internship program.  Learning about ComEd’s commitment to “powering lives” was truly an inspiring way to kick off the summer.  Throughout the summer, I had so many great experiences, and here’s what I learned from it all: ·         Take Initiative o     There are so many professionals around you that are more than willing to help you understand...

My Disney Experience How Purdue Helped me Achieve my Dream                 I have always been fascinated with Walt Disney World, the most magical place on Earth. What makes it so magical? In high school, I met a family friend who worked in the Industrial Engineering Department at Walt Disney World. At the time, I was not familiar with Industrial Engineering and had yet to decide what I would be studying in college. My family friend explained to me the role that the Industrial Engineering Department plays at Disney: improving the process flow and efficiency of the parks, resorts, transportation, merchandise stores, and everything else that encompasses the large place that is Walt Disney World. She explained to me a common project the IE Department would work on. This project was regarding a ride at one of the parks. What if the wait time had become on average 20 minutes longer over the course of 6 months? What was...

For many engineering students, this past week has been a hectic time. We are in the midst of IR, or Industrial Roundtable, the career fair here at Purdue. IR is aimed at engineering students, although other majors do attend. IR is a great opportunity for students of all ages to attain an internship. I’m going to describe one of my many IR experiences. The week of IR during my sophomore year, I attended the Access Alum event in the Armstrong Nook. Access Alum is an amazing opportunity within WIEP where Purdue Alumni return to campus and want to speak directly with women in engineering. At this specific Access Alum, the woman from Accenture, a technology consulting firm, was collecting resumes (which is extremely common for Access Alum events held during IR week). Ready for IR! I talked with her, asked many questions, and gave her my resume. She told me to come by the booth at the fair later that day. Networking with her at the Access Alum event helped me receive an interview and e...

Myth: “Freshmen don’t get internships” Fact: Although getting an internship your freshmen year may seem daunting or impossible, I am here to tell you that it is 100% possible.  Explore your career options. . . the world is yours! As a freshman, I followed a few simple guidelines and recommendations which ultimately landed me an internship with Procter & Gamble for the summer after my freshmen year! It is never too early to start getting ready for applications and career fairs. The following list will help you check-off the best ways to start preparing for an internship before you even arrive on campus: 1. Research Companies  Start looking into what type of work you want to be doing in the future. Depending on your interests, such as cars, robotics, chemistry, etc. start researching what different companies have to offer and even what companies are known for hiring freshmen. Once you h ave a list of potential companies, dive a little deeper and take notes on what they valu...

In my last post I talked about the many experiences I had during my year away on co-op, and in this post I will share how those experiences have impacted my professional and personal life moving forward.  Because I was on co-op rotation for a year, I will now graduate one year later than I was planning to when I started college. Even though this is not the conventional path, I believe that the experiences I had and knowledge I gained during my co-op far outweigh that.  Before my co-op I didn’t have any other engineering work experience, so I lacked confidence in my abilities. During my co-op I gained a lot of experience in conducting important projects, and working with dynamic teams. Having these foundational experiences has given me the skills and confidence necessary to be successful in future roles. While working I got exposure to many different types of industry roles, which allowed me to figure out what type of role I am interested in pursuing after graduation.  I r...

In the first part of this series I talked about how I acquired my co-op position, and in this post I’ll talk about many of the great experiences I had during my co-op terms. I worked in two different roles during my co-op, each for about 7 months. In my first role I worked as a Product Developer on adult care products, and in my second role I worked as a Process Engineer on paper towels. These two roles were vastly different, which is something I chose purposely in order to get a broad experience and see different areas of the business (research vs manufacturing). In both of my roles I had the opportunity to work on meaningful projects and take initiative to do things I thought needed to be done. I never felt like I was “just a co-op”, and I was never treated that way either. I felt like I was an equally valued employee contributing important work to my team and to the company as a whole. Kimberly-Clark is a global consumer products company that primarily produces paper based products....

You may have noticed that I disappeared from the blog for a while… and that is because for the past year I have been off campus working for Kimberly-Clark Corporation as a co-op student. I plan to share my co-op experience with you all in a three-part blog series. When I started college, I was not planning to do a co-op at all, in fact I was eager to complete my four years of school as fast as I could. It was only when I talked to other co-op students that I realized it was something I might be interested in. For a little background, a co-op is essentially an extended internship. The difference is that you spend multiple terms with the same company, usually with a different work assignment each term. It is a great way to really get to know a particular company and the various opportunities they offer, as well as a way to get work experience that is more in-depth than is possible during a single summer internship. Purdue has a ton of resources for students interested obtai...