I guess in the end the fundamental difference you can look at between the two is time, uni life and the long run.
With co-op (i speak only from experience of the UTS one):
- You complete the course in 3 years, fixed uni and internships (usually) hours
- You get a uni life (being orientated with 30 or so peers), and can network with a wider range of people within the university than just the business faculty
- If you are unsure as to where specifically you're heading in the business world, the co-op can give you a general outlook and wide exposure of all the disciplines available
- The possibility of employment opportunities across a variety of sponsor organisations in different areas both for part-time, vacational and graduate employment work
- In the long run, after 3 years, you'll carry about one year's worth of diverse work experience and have a good chance of employment with a sponsor organisation.
With the cadetship (from speaking with high- school friends who work there):
- You complete the course in 4+ years (2 by 2 block usually- 2 years working, 2 years studying at uni total, can be split to be half year studying, half year working)
- You get a more practical business experience- you can network with fellow peers within the organisation and clients more easier (depending on your performance)
- You participate within the organisation's own culture more actively (Eg. through functions, recruitment processes, parties, meetings, etc)
- In the long run, after 4+ years, you'll carry about 2 years full-time work experience, you'll have set up a reputation and connections within your organisation, and you'll most likely advance faster through your own organisation than a co-op grad (depending on your performance). However, this advantage only stands if the cadet remains in their own organisation- if they choose to move to another, chances are they'll have to start bottoms up like all grads again.
There's all these arguments that a co-op grad ends up at the same position as a cadet after the minimum 4 years, mainly because by the end each carries 2 years worth of work experience and are now employed with an organisaton. Whilst that is true, the difference here is that a co-op grad will have greater flexibility to enter into completely new fields depending on interest, but when competing directly with a cadet in their organisation will tend to rise up the ladder slower than the cadet, and this is mainly because the cadet does not have to be trained from the bottom up, has already established their connections and reputation, etc.
So i guess the ending decision you face is this: Are you sure of where you are heading? If you are, a cadetship will more likely give you a faster entry into that PARTICULAR field (Eg. Audit, Tax, Assurance, etc). If you're not, or you don't feel you want to be bound to a particular organisation or path yet, then the co-op will probably be the better choice, not to mention the uni or business lifestyle you want to undertake.
Sorry to those whose seen all this before, i'm just writing all the stuff down i said at yesterday's UTS bacc revue =)
*And yes, i was faced with the cadetship or co-op dilemma at the end of th year as well
In the end i guess you just have to make a 'leap of faith' and commit to that choice. I chose the co-op and haven't regretted it since.
