Eligibility
Note: Due to August 2026 Student and Exchange Visitor Program guidance, Northwestern cannot approve Curricular Practical Training for F-1 students for experiential learning programs that are not required for all students in an academic program. View more details below.
CFS enrollment requires an application
CFS Welcomes applications from:
- Active undergraduate students enrolled in any Northwestern school (Note: First-year students are only eligible to apply to CFS for the Summer Quarter before their second year. They cannot enroll in CFS courses as first-years)
- J-1 students
- F-1 students for on-campus opportunities only (on-campus work up to 20 hours per week while school is in session and more than 20 hours during vacation periods)
- School of Professional Studies students who are using their own job or who have secured their own internship
- Graduate students, through our partnership with the Northwestern Center for Civic Engagement. See their website for more information
You are NOT eligible for Chicago Field Studies if:
- You are on leave from Northwestern the quarter prior to participating in CFS and your NetID is inactive. A NetID is required to use Canvas for the internship search process
- You have graduated
- You are an F-1 student seeking off-campus work authorization (see the Office of International Student and Scholar Services guidance)
- Additionally, various colleges within Northwestern have CFS eligibility rules for their respective students. Please review below and consult your school
Prerequisites for Applying to CFS
- Attend an information session within the last 6 months
- Be ready to dedicate the time and effort required for a successful internship search, or be ready to provide details about an internship that you secured on your own
- Be eager to participate in one of our small (12-16 person) seminar courses once a week and be ready to fulfill course assignments (as in any other course)
- Have time to commit to your academic, internship, and extracurricular activities.
- Discuss plans with your academic advisor, family, or anyone else who helps you chart your academic path.
- Understand how many internship-related course credits can count toward your degree. WCAS allows 6. If you are not a WCAS student, check with your school advisor.
- If your GPA is 2.99 or below, be prepared to provide a letter of recommendation from a faculty member or advisor familiar with your work
Additional Eligibility information to Consider:
1. If you are an MMSS student:
- If you accept a full-time internship (25+ hours/week) through CFS during your second year, you will not be able to enroll in the required MMSS sequence course for your cohort. This will prevent you from making progress toward your MMSS degree and continuing with your cohort.
- We strongly encourage you to meet with your MMSS advisor to fully understand the academic consequences of pursuing a full-time CFS internship at this stage
2. If you are an international or exchange student:
- F-1 students may seek only on-campus work (on-campus work up to 20 hours per week while school is in session and more than 20 hours during vacation periods)
- J-1 students may seek on-campus or off-campus opportunities
- Your internship must be an integral part of your major program of study.
- Once you have secured an internship, apply to the OISS portal requesting academic training for off-campus opportunities or on campus work authorization.
3. School Specific Information:
- McCormick Engineering students who are also registering for an internship or co-op with Engineering Career Development may not use the same internship. (Contact your McCormick advisor with questions)
- Medill students may earn a maximum of four units through internship course credit, but they cannot count both Journalism Residency (JR) and CFS towards their degree. Therefore, if you have already completed JR and you want to do CFS, CFS credits would be superfluous to your degree requirements. If you have not completed JR and hope to, you cannot do CFS
- SESP students may not use CFS credits to fulfill their Practicum requirement. SESP does allow students to count CFS towards Foundational Discipline requirements, where the seminar is approved by WCAS. Additional units of CFS will count towards electives.
- School of Communications will only count four units of CFS or internship credit toward your Northwestern degree. Weinberg students can have up to six units of academic credit for CFS or internship-bearing courses
- Consult with your academic or faculty advising team for your specific situation and questions about how credits will count toward your degree progress.
- Be prepared to fulfill the CFS Information Session requirement. (See modality options on the Information Sessions page)
- Be available to CFS and employers by e-mail and by Zoom or phone while you are abroad
5. If you are a School of Professional Studies student, you can only apply to CFS with an internship or other job that you have secured on your own.
If you have any other questions concerning your eligibility, please contact us at cfs@northwestern.edu or 847-467-0605