At Northeastern, pharmacy has three four-month designated co-ops incorporated into the program: one being in an institutional setting, one being in a community setting, and one being an elective. This is an advantage compared to other pharmacy schools which often only offer three, unpaid one month-internships. Like I mentioned in a previous post, I wanted to focus on how I was able to land my global co-op.
It is essential to meet early on with your co-op coordinator to express your interest in pursuing a global co-op and then go on from there. At Northeastern, we have a database that shows students of the different locations upperclassmen went to. For pharmacy, there are several global co-op locations like Malta, China, Japan, South Africa and more. For me, I wanted to create my own co-op within South Korea so I had to reach out to different employers. I was finally able to land a position at a hospital in Iksan and I will be working in the pharmacy affiliated with that hospital. There are many different options students can take in a global co-op. For example, one of my friends is doing a two-month long research project detailing macrophages at Seoul National University.Bottom line, you have to be proactive and really determine what you would like to gain from the experience. I personally wanted to reconnect with my culture back in South Korea and also explore how the universal health care system is different from our US health care system. More updates will follow when I am working in Korea!
