4 co-op offers, which one?? (actual numbers, waterloo 3B)
Kelly Zhao@kel_zhao
ok so it's ranking week and i somehow have 4 offers for my winter term and i'm losing my mind. numbers because that's the only way i can think:
- big bank, toronto. platform team. $34/hr CAD, hybrid 3 days, 4 months. return offer rate is "high" according to literally everyone
- big tech, seattle. SWE intern. $55/hr USD + housing stipend. J-1 paperwork, which my school handles
- series A startup, waterloo. $30/hr, full stack, team of 9, mostly remote
- federal government, ottawa. $26/hr, 35h week, extremely chill, pension (lol)
i'm leaning seattle for the money and the resume but the bank is where my friends are going and the startup sounds the most fun ngl. what actually maximizes new grad offers next year? genuinely asking, it's so over if i pick wrong 😭🪿
Accepted answer
Seattle, unless you hate the idea of living there. Reasons:
1) A big US tech internship on a co-op resume is the strongest signal for new grad loops, on both sides of the border.
2) $55 USD/hr plus stipend over 4 months is serious savings at 20.
3) If you get a return offer, it will likely be far above a Toronto new grad package.
The startup is the best learning per hour, but you can do that later as a new grad with more leverage. The bank is the safe choice, and safe is fine when you're optimizing for stress, not career.
One thing before you sign: ask the Seattle team which org you'd be in. Team matters more than logo.
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Danny Cho@danny_cho_la
Seattle, unless you hate the idea of living there. Reasons:
1) A big US tech internship on a co-op resume is the strongest signal for new grad loops, on both sides of the border.
2) $55 USD/hr plus stipend over 4 months is serious savings at 20.
3) If you get a return offer, it will likely be far above a Toronto new grad package.
The startup is the best learning per hour, but you can do that later as a new grad with more leverage. The bank is the safe choice, and safe is fine when you're optimizing for stress, not career.
One thing before you sign: ask the Seattle team which org you'd be in. Team matters more than logo.
Kelly Zhao@kel_zhao
ok this is so clear. "team matters more than logo" is going in my notes app. emailed them asking about the org 🪿
Olivier Gagnon@ogagnon
contrarian from montréal: the startup. 4 months touching everything beats 4 months on one microservice. but i'm a romantic, as you've told me before 😄
Ankit Khurana@faang_or_bust
seattle obviously. why is this even a question. bank internship is a resume gap with a lanyard
Kenji Tanabe@kenjitanabe
Seattle, and save as much of the stipend as you can. I'd add: the bank's return offer rate is worth something in a bad market. If Seattle doesn't return-offer, make sure your next term is strong too.
Marc-André Bélanger@mabelanger
Fonctionnaire here (federal). The gov one is honestly fine for a first co-op, but at 3B take Seattle. The pension is nice at 55, not at 20 😄
Olivia Martin@liv_codes
late but how did it go?? i'm a year behind you and i'll have this exact dilemma next year
Kelly Zhao@kel_zhao
took seattle! starting in jan. the team is distributed systems, which is either amazing or i'll cry. probably both 😭