It took me so long, but I’m finally beginning to go towards getting some co-op experience. The intake takes place this week. After taking a good look at some of the paperwork, I really want to kick myself now. I really do.Why? Because I’m stupid, lazy, naive, and full of regret.

Here I am in what pretty much is considered my fourth year and I am finally going to attempt getting into the co-op program. Why am I starting so late in my undergraduate career, you may ask.

I got into CS from high school on guarenteed placement, which is essentially I get in if I get my GPA high enough. Getting fully into the CS program took a bit over two years. If only I studied harder and better and cared more about my marks instead of going on with a slacker attitude, only then would I have gotten into the program sooner.

So finally, after getting into the program, I didn’t start going towards co-op right away simply because of them saying on their website that you need to maintain a GPA of 2.5 or better to be in good standing with the co-op program.

I finally take Bridging Onlne I (BOL I ) six months after declaring my major, a pre-requisite pass/fail course for co-op to help you think of how to apply skills you have now into your resumes and such. But still, I did not go on and do all the intake stuff that I can do after completing BOL I. Yes, my GPA still was not good enough.

But then, just last semester, people were saying that co-op doesn’t care about the GPA anymore. Yet I still did not take action. My excuse was simply “I’m too busy.”

But was I really? Most of my time was spent doing jack squat, playing games, watching anime, reading manga, and other things; procrastinating in general to avoid all the things that I should be doing like schoolwork, study, and tasks related to things I volunteer for, like Scouts. That all just led to the constant mediocre marks that make me kind of disappointed with myself, considering I actually did alright in the world of academics before university. But high school was never that hard to begin with.

But yeah, back to apply for CS co-op. Turns out after this semester, I will have 96 credit hours out of 120 credit hours complete my degree. Somehow, I need to fit in four work terms into this somehow with the conditions that I must adhere to:

• Each work term must be followed by a school term.
• I cannot have two consecutive summer work terms.
• I cannot end my degree with a work term.

So that will be tricky to fit the bill to say the least. But I guess it could work somehow, but I will need to be very lucky to get it all to fit.

Considering how I take 3 courses each semester these days, which on average means 9 credit hours per semester, I can actually squeeze four semesters in between now and my graduation. This means if I do get a summer work term, that means I can do the alternation between school and work.

However, from what I hear, the best co-op terms are the 8 month ones. And then, I am still considering doing Coop in Japan as well.

One of the things that has lingered on my mind is getting a minor. Maybe I should make up my mind and go for a minor to extend my degree time. But what? CRIM was pretty fun. CMNS was too. PSYC.. I can see it being interesting, but I burnt out last semester, so it didn’t really leave too big of an impression on myself.

Oh the choices.

I have lots to think about if I am going to fit in a co-op education with my degree. If only I could start it all over again, then maybe I would have made the right decisions and be a better student.