Mathew Chamberlain, a fifth year senior, chose to attend Northeastern University because of its co-op program, and he’s participated in two exciting opportunities because of it.

The foren­sics lab isn’t nearly as glam­orous as tele­vi­sion would have you think. Jacquelyn Horman would know. The chem­istry major had watched her fair share of the police pro­ce­dural dramas NCIS and CSI: Miami before landing a co-​​op job with the crime lab at the Mesa, Ariz., police depart­ment. The lab work — not glitzy but crit­ical to inves­ti­ga­tions — strength­ened her interest in the field, she said.