Congratulations on securing a co-op position!
Let’s start with some quick reminders from the Centre for Career Growth and Experience before you register your co-op.
Prior to accepting an offer of employment, make sure the role meets co-op eligibility requirements (as follows) and/or contact your Career Educator for any questions related to the position meeting the criteria for co-op credit. For a position to be verified as an eligible co-op experience, it must meet the following minimum requirements:
- The role needs to be related to engineering and/or technology.
- The role needs to be a minimum of 12 consecutive weeks in duration, for every 4-month employment term.
- The role needs to be full-time hours. The minimum requirement is 35 hours per week.
- The role must be paid and the wages/salary need to meet provincial or territorial minimums. The current minimum wage requirement for Ontario employers is $17.20/hour.
Independent Contractor Roles
Approved co-op positions are typically presented in the form of an employment agreement between an employer and student where the student is an employee of a host organization. This is aligned with guidelines set out by Co-operative Education & Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada, the national governing body for co-op in Canada.
In an arrangement where a student is an independent contractor, they are not an employee of a host organization, and as a result, matters related to insurance, taxes, on-the-job mentorship, and supervision and hours of work are impacted.
For these reasons, the Centre does not post or approve independent contractor roles for co-op credit.
Completion of Introduction to Career Planning & Employment for your program is required in order to accept and register any co-op work terms. For undergraduate students, the course code is ENGINEER 1EE0, IBEHS 1EE0 or GENTECH 1ET0. For graduate students, the course code is ENGINEER 701.
To be eligible to register a co-op:
- A student must be designated as full-time status in the academic term that immediately precedes the work term and returning to full-time status in the academic term that immediately follows the work term. As defined by the McMaster Academic Calendar – Full Time Student “full time status” is defined as an undergraduate student who is registered in at least 9 units in an academic term (fall, winter or spring/summer). This enrolment status requirement applies to all undergraduate co-op programs.
- B.Eng, CompSci and IBEHS students must have a minimum 4.0 cumulative grade point average (CGPA), and B.Tech students must have a minimum 3.5 cumulative grade point average (CGPA).
Students are encouraged to contact their Career Educator if they have questions about the academic requirements to register a co-op work term.
While on a co-op work experience, students are eligible to enrol in one (3-unit or 4-unit) academic course. Requests to enrol in more than one course (up to a maximum of two courses) may be granted with approval of the student’s co-op employer and the Centre. Co-op work terms cannot be taken concurrently with any program capstone course.
Register a domestic (within Canada) co-op experience:
Please complete and submit the Domestic Co-op Confirmation Form (CCF) along with accompanying documentation (stated within the CCF) to thecentre@mcmaster.ca within 10 days of receiving your offer and no later than the employment start date indicated in your offer of employment.
Note for Graduate SEAS students: please complete the Co-op Supplementary Form and submit this with your CCF to thecentre@mcmaster.ca
Register an international (outside Canada) co-op experience:
Please complete and submit the International Co-op Confirmation Form (CCF) along with accompanying documentation (stated within the CCF) to thecentre@mcmaster.ca within 10 days of receiving your offer and no later than 3 weeks prior to travel.
Note for Graduate SEAS students: please complete the Co-op Confirmation Supplementary Form and submit this with your CCF to thecentre@mcmaster.ca
Note for all students travelling internationally for co-op: please review the information on McMaster’s Informed Travel website prior to travel and connect with McMaster’s Global Experiences team for pre-departure support.
Additional Considerations & Circumstances
Graduate Co-op Students: Contact your academic department’s Graduate Administrator (after receiving confirmation from the Centre that co-op is approved) to specify the course(s) you want to drop from your MOSAIC record while on work term.
Document Delays: if you are waiting on documentation from your employer in order to register your co-op, please notify your Career Educator as soon as possible, and no later than the first day of employment.
Work Term Extensions: if your work term has been extended into a subsequent term, please notify the Centre (thecentre@mcmaster.ca) within 10 days of being offered/notified of the extension and no later than the first business day of the new academic term.
We strongly suggest that students begin preparing for their upcoming co-op work term by:
- Meeting with their Career Educator to ensure all requirements of our office are met;
- Reviewing the On the Job Success Guides on the Fireball Academy website;
- Beginning to search for housing or making transportation arrangements to your co-op work position;
- Consulting with the Student Services Centre Global Opportunities team if you are travelling out of Canada to ensure you have all the required paperwork. You can book an appointment with them on OSCARplus;
- If you have OSAP loans, applying for interest-free status while on co-op. Visit the Registrar’s Office website for more information;
- If you require GO Transit while on co-op, visit their transit website for more information.
You are required to log onto OSCARplus to update your co-op work term information within 10 days of beginning your co-op.
Note: Your co-op experience must be registered with our office before you will have access to your co-op work term record. Please allow up to 14 business days after you submit your co-op documents for us to review and approve your co-op and add it to OSCARplus and Mosaic. You will receive an email from us after we have done this.
In order to update your record, please follow these instructions:
- Log on to OSCARplus
- On the Dashboard, click the “Co-op” tab
- Click on the current co-op work term on your record
- Click the button, “Edit”
- Update all fields under the “Student Work Information” section and click “Save.”
Mandatory work term reflections
Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning (CEWIL) Canada requires all academically recognized co-op work terms be monitored by the university to ensure the work site offers an appropriate environment for the student’s learning goals to be achieved, and that each work term includes a final reflection that is completed by the student at the end of each co-op work term.
During each 4-month co-op work term, students are asked to complete a mid-point check-in and a final work term reflection. These are administered through a student’s OSCARplus account and connected to their work term record. Completion of the mid-point check-in and final reflection are required for a final grade of “COM” on the co-op course on your Mosaic transcript.
Mid-point check-in:
The mid-point check-in is a 7-question survey that is sent to students about halfway through each 4-month work term and focuses on workplace safety, inclusion, training, skill development and support networks. This information is used by the Centre to follow-up with and support students who indicate any issues/challenges at the workplace. Students receive an email to their McMaster email account when the mid-point check-in opens and are provided with a completion deadline that aligns with the academic term within which their co-op is taking place.
Final work term reflection:
Students must complete one final work term reflection for each applicable 4-month term of co-op (e.g. if you do a 12-month co-op, that will span three 4-month terms and you will need to complete three reflections). The final reflection asks you about your experience within one of 5 themed topics of your choosing. This information is used by the Centre to deliver more tailored 1:1 appointment-based services related to job search and career planning. Students receive an email to their McMaster email account when the final work term reflection opens and are provided with a completion deadline that aligns with the academic term within which their co-op is taking place.
Deadlines for Mid-Point Check-In & Reflection Assignment
Please ensure you are opted-in to email campaigns in OSCARplus and you are checking your McMaster email while on work term. The Centre will send reminder emails about the following deadlines while you are on co-op.
- Winter Co-op: mid-point check-in due February 28; final reflection due April 30
- Spring Co-op: mid-point check-in due June 30; final reflection due August 31
- Fall Co-op: mid-point check-in due October 31; final reflection due December 31
Did you miss the deadline to submit your reflection?
Spring 2025 work term reflections submitted between September 1 and September 30 will be accepted as late. Grades will be updated accordingly in October 2025.
Work terms completed prior to Spring 2025:
Update to work term registration process
Students who secure a co-op job are required to register the work term by completing and submitting a co-op confirmation form within 10 days of accepting an offer of employment and no later than the start date specified in their offer of employment (or employment contract). Students are not permitted to register their co-op work terms retroactively (also known as “backdating co-op”).
Our policy regarding co-op work term registration remains the same; co-op work experiences should be registered prior to the start of your employment. However, our practice of allowing retroactive registration of co-op via a petition process has concluded.
Fees related to co-op enrollment and registered work terms support the annual operation of the program including pre-employment and professional development programming, one-on-one appointments with our team, events and workshops, networking opportunities, curated job board of employment opportunities, and resources that directly support students in securing and succeeding on a work term. We maintain some of the lowest co-op fees in the country in order to maximize participation from a diverse population of students.
Here’s more details on Undergraduate co-op fees and Graduate co-op fees.
Requests for backdating co-op work terms will be reviewed under the guidelines of extenuating circumstances and decisions to approve these will happen on a limited case-by-case basis. Please contact your Career Educator if you have an extenuating circumstance.