As an engineering student at UAB, you will have opportunities to compete for valuable experiential learning opportunities.  These opportunities include co-ops, internships, undergraduate research, and Study Away/ Engineers Without Borders (EWB) trips.  For many of these, your academic achievements and extra-curricular activities will be key in being a competitive candidate, so working hard as a Freshman and Sophomore can lead to awesome opportunities in your Junior and Senior years – opportunities that will land you better full-time careers when you graduate.

Co-ops:
As a co-op, you will work with a company for up to 3 semesters to apply classroom knowledge in real-world engineering situations.  Some co-ops are alternating, meaning you will be in school full-time one semester, work full-time the next semester, and continue alternating until you complete your co-op rotation.  Other co-ops are parallel, meaning you will concurrently go to school part-time and work part-time until you complete your co-op rotation.  Either way leads to incredible experience for you to include on your resume!

Internships:

Internships are much like co-ops in terms of working in a real-world engineering environment.  However, internships might only be a semester or summer in duration as opposed to multiple semesters.

Undergraduate Research:

If you are considering graduate school and research after you graduate, you should consider working in the research arena while you are an undergraduate.  Due to the extensive world-class research conducted at UAB, you will have the chance to compete for research lab opportunities all around campus.

Study Away/Engineers Without Borders Opportunities:

If you have a passion to experience different countries or different parts of this country, consider a UAB Study Away opportunity  or go on a trip with the Engineers Without Borders (chapter here at UAB.  Either of these experiences will give you a great appreciation of the world we live in while providing incredible study opportunities.