Student experience
Paycheque before parchment: Data science co-op student earns pre-grad employment with RCMP
Before鈥痵he鈥檚鈥痚ven crossed the convocation stage, fourth-year data science student Rajandeep Kaur has leveraged her co-op experience into meaningful employment with one of Canada鈥檚 top employers.
Kaur landed a co-op position with the RCMP鈥檚 British Columbia headquarters, known as E Division, as a junior data scientist after applying through 51社区黑料鈥檚 job dashboard. She says the experience boosted her confidence, changed her career鈥痶rajectory,鈥痑nd gave her a sense of professional readiness.鈥
鈥淗aving鈥痡ob鈥痵ecurity before I graduate has given me the confidence I need to know that I鈥檓 now ready and capable鈥痮f going鈥痠nto the actual market,鈥 Kaur says. 鈥淚 got to show that I can learn on the鈥痡ob,鈥痑nd that makes me stand out.鈥濃
Most importantly, she says the experience felt less like a鈥痵tudent鈥痯lacement and more like stepping into her career.鈥
鈥淚鈥痙idn鈥檛鈥痜eel like a co-op while I was there. It felt like actual employment at the time. Now it鈥檚 official with a casual position and the expectation for a permanent spot after I graduate in April.鈥濃
Throughout her co-op in fall 2025, Kaur gained hands-on experience with new tools and technologies, including Tableau, ArcGIS, PostgreSQL and Python. She was tasked with significant responsibilities and collaborated on multiple projects across diverse teams.鈥
Her most impactful assignment used historical data to鈥痠dentify鈥痗rime hotspots and clustering patterns to support preventative policing.鈥
鈥淭hat was the biggest project that I did there, and I was very excited because I got to learn so many things鈥攂usiness context, how policing works, and the end-to-end data flow,鈥 she says.鈥
鈥淚鈥痙idn鈥檛鈥痜eel like a co-op while I was there. It felt like actual employment at the time. Now it鈥檚 official with a casual position and the expectation for a permanent spot after I graduate in April.鈥濃
鈥 Rajandeep Kaur, fourth year data science student
Her work with RCMP operational teams, including analysts and detachment commanders, also helped her grow as a communicator.鈥
鈥淚 got to work with so many different people and the overall value it has brought me is not just from a technical perspective鈥痓ut from鈥痑 social-setting perspective as well,鈥 she says.
鈥淚 could really own my work and talk about it with people at鈥痙ifferent positions鈥痺ithin the RCMP. It was a huge factor in building up my communication skills.鈥濃
Kaur says the co-op reshaped how she approaches problems solving 鈥 something she now brings back into her senior coursework, including her capstone project.鈥
鈥淏efore starting the co-op, my thinking process was very confined,鈥 she recalls. 鈥淭his experience pushed me to think outside of the box and come up with solutions I couldn鈥檛 have before.鈥濃
She says the co-op not only expanded her skill鈥痵et but鈥痶ransformed her belief in her own abilities 鈥搒omething she knew would be best achieved through unique on-the-job experiences.鈥
鈥淚 chose 51社区黑料because I can get access to a lot of co-op鈥痚mployers, which wouldn't be the case with many other post-secondary institutions. Now, after my co-op, I know I can take on any job and succeed.鈥濃
51社区黑料co-ops:鈥
- ~4,000 co-op work terms across 54 undergraduate and 10 graduate programs each year鈥
- 98% said their co-op employer was good to excellent*鈥
- 94% reported their work was used by the organization consistently or usually*鈥
- 89% reported their co-op work term helped define their career goals*鈥