International students holding an F-1 Visa intending to participate in a Cooperative Education program are required to have Curricular Practical Training (CPT). Find out more about CPT.
Requirements for Co-op Participation as an International Student
The co-op program is available to students who are in good standing with the university and pursuing a degree in engineering or computer science. Co-op course enrollment in the Student Information System is required during your co-op.
Accepting an Offer
To enroll in the Co-op Program, you must take the following step
1. Obtain an offer letter. The offer letter must:
- Be written on company letterhead.
- Be addressed to you, the student.
- Include a position title.
- Provide a job description in the offer letter or in a separate document.
- Specify the employment address (street, city, state, and zip code). If the co-op is remote, it must include the remote address and the company's address.
- Specify that the employment is full-time. If part-time, specify the number of hours of work per week (not a range)
- Specify the exact start and end dates (month, day, and year)
2. Once the offer letter contains all of the required information outlined in Step 1, request co-op approval from the Co-op Office by filling out this Google form. The form will be submitted to the Co-op Director and will take up to one week to process.
3. Attend a co-op orientation meeting. You can RSVP in Handshake events or schedule an appointment with My Journey (search for the cooperative education specialist).
- You will complete all required co-op forms during the orientation meeting. If you do not see a meeting scheduled in Handshake, please contact coopinfo@case.edu to schedule a meeting. For second-time co-op students, you don’t have to attend an orientation meeting but you must complete all required paperwork.
4. Register for the appropriate co-op course in SIS.
- You will learn more about which course to enroll in during the orientation meeting.
5. Submit CPT paperwork and all required documents, to the VISA Office via Terra Dotta.
- Visit the VISA website.
- Select "New & Currently Enrolled Students".
- Login with SSO.
- Go to the "Requests" tab of the account portal.
- Select "CPT Request" and fill everything out from there. Add Genine Apidone, gma19@case.edu as the approver for the form.