How CFS Works
Chicago Field Studies is a one-quarter academic internship program at Northwestern University that combines a course and internship experience to bring academic context to the professional world, expanding learning beyond the classroom and enabling students to pursue both academic and career aspirations.
CFS also offers an extensive advising process and support finding an internship with one of our many program partners in a wide range of fields. For more on the process, see our Advising and Search Process page.
CFS is open to sophomore, junior, and senior students across all Northwestern schools and majors and offers classes in every quarter including summer. For more, see our eligibility page.
Course offerings are diverse and differ each quarter. For more see our courses and here Course List By Quarter pages.
Students are required to apply for CFS during set application periods. Students can not enroll in a CFS course without an accepted application and permission from the program. Application periods are typically one or two quarters in advance of the CFS course/internship quarter to allow time for the internship-search advising process, though students who secure internships on their own might be able to apply closer to the start of a quarter, depending on our enrollment projections.
For more information on applying to CFS, see the How to Apply and Applying with your own internship pages.