by Joe O’Connell
At Northeastern, an impressive 50 percent of graduates receive a job offer from a previous co-op employer. But in one Boston apartment, that number is a perfect 100 percent.
Jackie Boivin, E’15, Julia Calabrese, DMSB’15, Emily Dampf, S/DMSB’15, and Alexandra Donovan, S’15—who lived together the past two years—were each hired at the companies where they did their final co-ops.
The quartet lived in International Village during their freshman year as part of the University Honors Program. In their first year they were paired off as roommates—Boivin and Donovan in one room, and Dampf and Calabrese in another. They all met through a mutual friend and grew so close during their second year that they decided to live together in West Village.
The students graduated on Friday at Commencement. Throughout their years at Northeastern they shared many experiences together, from bonding during snowstorms to cooking together. Now there is another common thread that ties together their Northeastern experiences: they will all be working for a former co-op employer.
All four students were thrilled to receive their offers from companies where they are already quite familiar with the teams and day-to-day operations.
“I really enjoyed everyone I worked with so it was really a no-brainer, once I got the offer,” said Boivin, who will be an engineering consultant at PM Group.
It was through Northeastern’s signature co-op program that each of them realized the fields they wanted to pursue post-graduation. “I was really just trying out a new job,” Calabrese said of her co-op at Deloitte, where she will start working full time in October as a tax accountant. “I didn’t know if I even wanted to go into accounting at all, but through working at Deloitte I realized I really liked it.”
Donovan did her first two co-ops in the public school system and realized teaching wasn’t for her.
“That’s the meaning of co-op,” said Donovan, who will work at Burnham Rosen Group, a consulting group that does executive coaching and leadership workshops for companies. “I found teaching wasn’t for me and if I didn’t have co-op I might not have realized that.”
All four women also pivoted in their career goals at different points while studying at Northeastern—another similarity, which allowed them to lean on each other for support and guidance when they decided on a major change. “It was nice to know someone had already gone through it and was there to support you,” said Dampf, who will start at Boston Consulting Group as a financial analyst this month.
In the days leading up to Commencement, the roommates said the impending life-changing event hadn’t really hit them yet. “When I see the diploma with my name on it, then I’ll believe it,” Donovan said.
However, while they now have to call themselves Northeastern alumni, not students, they can still call each other roommates. The four will continue living together after graduation. This will be the first summer all four will be in Boston at the same time, and Calabrese said they are looking forward to the warm weather and traveling locally.
They’re also looking forward to sharing the experience of being full-time employees.
“The other day my manager said, ‘So how are you going to spend your time off before you come back and work for us for the rest of your life?,’” Dampf said with a laugh.
