• The first assignment should not occur before the second semester of the sophomore year so that the student has a background in Math, Science, Computer Programming, and Engineering Science.
• A back-to-back sequence starting the spring semester of the sophomore year is not recommended since all the co-op experience would take place after only three semesters of college course work.
• Civil Engineering courses (CIVL-XXXX) are usually not offered during the summer.
• The student should be on campus for fall semester junior year and take CIVL-2030, CIVL-2630 and CIVL-2670 (and ENVE-2110 if you are in the Environmental option in CE) which are prerequisites for most senior year courses.

With these constraints in mind, three prototype programs (which allow a co-op student to graduate in four years) are described below:

Sequence A. The first co-op assignment is during the spring semester sophomore year. The student is on campus the following summer at which time the spring semester sophomore year courses (particularly ENGR-2530 Strength of Materials) are taken. The second co-op assignment is during the summer between the student's junior and senior years.

Sequence B. The student is on co-op assignment during the spring semester junior year and the following summer. The courses normally taken the spring semester of the junior year are taken during the spring semester sophomore year. The summer between the sophomore and junior years is reserved for courses normally taken during the spring semester of the sophomore year.

Sequence C. The first co-op assignment is during the summer between sophomore and junior years, the second co-op assignment is spring semester junior year. Courses, with the exception of ENGR-2530, normally taken during the spring semester of sophomore year are taken during the summer between the junior and senior year. Courses normally taken during the spring junior year are taken during the spring sophomore year.

Note that all three of these sequences require a co-op student to take a semester's worth of courses over a summer. A popular alternative, which avoids summer classes, is simply to take 4 1/2 years to graduate (.ie., graduation in December following the normal senior year). Note that the current Institute policy allows co-op students within 12 credit hours of graduation to "walk" with their class at May graduation.

Students in the co-op program should contact Prof. Michael O'Rourke (JEC 4046, ext. 6933, orourm@rpi.edu) before the spring semester of their sophomore year. Prof. O'Rourke is the academic advisor for Civil Engineering Co-op students.