Iām a first-year EE major at UNC Charlotte. I have junior standing by credit hours from AP and community college classes. I just got an offer for Duke Energyās Transmission Engineering co-op for Spring 2027 (P&C design, settings, SCADA rotations). They expect co-ops to come back for 2-3 rotations total, and they convert a lot of them to full time.
The problem is that Iām applying to transfer for Fall 2027, to NC State and Georgia Tech for EE. If I take the co-op, I wouldnāt be taking any UNCC classes in the spring before I transfer.
After this fall Iāll have finished all of NC Stateās transfer prerequisites, so Iām less worried about them. Iām less sure how Georgia Tech would see a spring without major classes.
If I take the co-op, Iād probably take a class or two online at a community college during the spring. Iām not sure which classes to pick, though. Community colleges mostly offer general classes, so Iād be missing EE courses like Network Theory and Logic Design.
Credit I already have
- AP: Calc AB (4), Calc BC (4), Chem (4), Stats (4), Psych (4), English Lang (4), Bio (3), APES (3), World History (3)
- Rowan-Cabarrus CC: ECO 251, ECO 252, ENG 111, ENG 112, ENG 241, MAT 143, ART 111
- Vance-Granville CC: MAT 273 (Calc III)
Fall 2026 at UNCC (in progress)
- Differential Equations
- Physics I + lab
- ENGR 1300, 1302, 1303 (intro engineering, computing, CAD)
- PHIL 1512
Spring 2027 plan if I donāt take the co-op
- Physics II
- Network Theory (circuits)
- Logic Design
- Linear Algebra
- Probability and Statistics for Engineers
- Computer Programming
What Iām trying to figure out
- Since my NC State prereqs will be done after this fall, does skipping a semester of major classes still hurt my application there?
- For Georgia Tech, would a spring with only community college classes hurt me, especially if I havenāt done all their required courses yet?
- If I do take CC classes online during the co-op, what would actually help a transfer application? Linear Algebra or Physics II, if I can find them online, or just gen eds?
- Would a Duke co-op on my application help enough to make up for missing a semester of major classes?
- If I transfer to Raleigh or Atlanta, can I realistically keep doing rotations in Charlotte (probably summers)?
- If you did a co-op this early, was it worth delaying classes?
Iām into power systems and want to expierence the industry . I just donāt want to wreck the transfer by taking it. Would love to hear from anyone whoās done a co-op at Duke or another utility, or transferred into NC State or GT engineering.