The Right Chemistry.
Suzy O'Donnell. Pre-Junior in the College of Engineering.
Sometimes it’s only by learning what you don’t like that you stumble upon what you do. This little-celebrated advantage of the co-op program is what has given third-year College of Engineering student Suzy McDonnell a certainty about her career path, long before she even graduates from Drexel.
Growing up in Upper Darby , Suzy loved math and science and knew chemical engineering would allow her to make the most of those skills. But chemical engineering can lead to a multitude of different careers in pharmaceuticals, the food industry, refineries and quality control, among others. Suzy’s first instinct was to pursue refinery work at a company like Sunoco and to attend Drexel University.
“I love Philadelphia, and the first time I visited Drexel I knew this is where I wanted to be. The co-op program was a big part of my decision because I wanted to get in there and experience a specific field before I made a decision to settle on one thing,” she says.
In her freshman year, Suzy took chemical engineering classes in refinery work and found to her surprise that she did not like it. “The only problem was I didn’t know what I did like.”
She was considering a career in teaching in her field when her first co-op opportunity came up. After looking at a host of jobs online, her first choice was a position with DuPont, working on performance coatings at Marshall Labs in Philadelphia.
“At DuPont, I worked on two really big projects. My assignment was to match colors within an existing line of paints and other coatings, while making the product with less hazardous materials. Basically I needed to make endless formations and equations to maintain the color, thickness and longevity of the coating without using one specific ingredient. It was really math-intensive with constant lab work, which I really enjoyed.”
Suzy was gratified and somewhat intimidated to discover that Drexel co-op students weren’t likely to be coddled on the job. “The first day I got to DuPont, I was told: here are the two lab techs who will be working for you. I was 19, and I’m meeting these two 40-year-old guys that I’m supposed to be managing. That was intimidating but ultimately very rewarding. That’s the advantage of working a job for six months. In a summer job, you can just sort of coast, but in co-op you’re treated like a full-time employee and they expect you to perform at a really high level.”
In fact, on co-op many Drexel students get to feel more like career people than college students. “It’s definitely an adjustment,” Suzy says. “In my sorority house there were about 14 of us on co-op and 15 of us in school. So the working people would be getting ready to go to bed while the others would be getting ready to go out for the night. But it’s a funny thing, when you’re working, you feel really independent and that’s a cool feeling. So then it’s an adjustment to have to go back into the classroom and be a student again.”
In her second co-op, Suzy was asked to return to DuPont but decided to make the most of the opportunity to explore different careers. She chose to work in quality control at McGee Industries, a small company making mold releases for manufacturing companies and lubricants for cars, machinery and the military.
“I love my job!” Suzy enthuses. “Within the realm of quality control, I am able to do a lot of testing to see if the product meets specifications and a lot of analysis to figure out why certain products didn’t pass. I really like trying to solve problems, figure out how to improve the product, and apply all my knowledge to the process. I feel like I’ve found a field that will really challenge me and hold my interest.”
Working at McGee has also given Suzy perspective on the choice of working at a small company versus a large corporation.
“DuPont was a great place to work,” she says, “but I think I like working at a smaller place where if I have a question, I can go right to the source. Everybody knows what I’m working on and that offers me both a lot of responsibility and support.”
When her co-op at McGee ends in March, Suzy will head back to the classroom at Drexel before her third and last co-op in September. In fact, by this May she’ll start looking for jobs again while she goes to school through the summer.
“At Drexel you’re always thinking about co-op, which gives you a unique perspective. It might sound weird, but I love staying at school all year-round. You learn to be independent and you get accustomed tobeing on your own. I see friends of mine from other schools and they come home from college for the summer and get their jobs as a waitress or lifeguard, but at Drexel, I’ve spent 12 months working in jobs in my major,” says Suzy proudly.“ I haven’t wasted three years studying something I won’t use; I know what I want to do and I know that I’m good at it.
