Your Future Begins Now

“There are aspects of every profession that cannot be learned in the classroom but must be learned where that profession is practiced   .  .  .   Judgment based upon experience must supplement theory.”

- Herman Schneider, engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati who started the first formal experiential education program at a university in the USA

The Maine Maritime Way

Three principles:

1. a sound academic foundation,
2. “hands on” experience
3. character development

are the underlying fundamentals of a Maine Maritime Academy education. 

“There is a course we teach that you won’t find in the course catalog. It’s called ‘confidence’ and our students learn it from cadet shipping, co-op courses and internships.”
-Alumnus, Class of 1973

Foundations are the support and underpinning of any structure, large or small.  Academic foundations are built from basic, appropriate information that the faculty imparts during classroom and lab time, and the challenge of solving problems and meeting deadlines. 

"Hands-on” or experiential education through co-op, internship and cadet shipping work experiences with businesses and companies who are competing each day in a global marketplace provide more than thirty percent of our students each year with this long established portion of the Maine Maritime Academy educational experience.

Ethical strength and integrity come from the discipline of doing the right things for the right reasons in the right way, and from the self-discipline of making honest, long-range choices. 

Co-op Office Mission Statement

We bring prepared students and interested employers together.

"Experience does matter:  the National Association of Colleges and Employer’s 2009 Student Survey found that graduates who had taken part in a co-op or an internship fared far better in the dismal job market of 2009 than their peers who didn’t have experience.

Overall, just 19.7 percent of the Class of 2009 who had applied for jobs had one by the end of April, but grads with an internship under their belt beat that average—23 percent had a job in hand.  For those who didn’t do an internship or co-op, the job market was especially unwelcoming:  just 14 percent of those who hadn’t been interns landed jobs."

-NACE’s 2009 Student Survey was conducted from February 19 through April 30, 2009; more than 35,000 students from more than 840 colleges and universities nationwide—including more than 16,500 graduating seniors.

“I look at the coop program this way. I am helping the school, and the student, and my facility. I get an extra pair of hands for the summer for those projects that never get done. I also get to look at a prospective employee;  it is a three-month interview.”.”.
- Alumnus, Class of 1988Services available through the Co-op Office:

• provide information to guide students through the job hunting and work experience part of their education,
• conduct cadet shipping and co-op workshops,
• proof-read and critique resumes and cover letters,
• send information to employers for consideration,
• coordinate student’s cadet shipping or co-op experience,
• assist student in finding current employer information,
• distribute and collect co-op documentation and projects,
• maintain a list of jobs which are currently available,
• maintain a library of selected current professional periodicals and newspapers and company information,
• promote employer recruiting visits,
• suggest companies and the appropriate ways to contact the people who make hiring decisions,
• maintain current information about companies, industries and available jobs,               
• conduct resume writing and job hunting workshops,
• coordinate the practical experience side of your education between the faculty and employer and student,
• sponsor employer presentations for students,
• coordinate employer interviews for seniors and co-op students

“My internship was the best course in my major.”
-IBL student, Class of 2006

A summary of the key features of cooperative education and internship requirements for each major.

“If you keep your mouth shut, your ears open, and learn from the people you work with, things seem to work out.”
-SVO Student, Class of 2008

Note:    (a)   Not all of which will earned through co-ops.