Internships and Post-Graduation Opportunities

Northwestern has several resources in place to help its students secure internships, often for credit throughout the school year. Our Chicago Field Studies program, open to all students, gives course credit for a quarter spent working at, researching, and writing about an organization. After being matched with an advisor to help assess career goals and apply to professional opportunities, students engage in their respective fields,  gaining practical work experience as an undergraduate while exploring Chicago. Check out what current students have to say about the program and putting theory into practice.

Some of our undergraduate programs guarantee internship and work experience by building it into their curricula: the Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication sends students to media outlets to work full-time as part of the Journalism Residency requirement, while students in the School of Education and Social Policy complete a field studies Practicum in their third year. Alternatively, the McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science offers an optional co-op program that allows students to take time away from campus to gain paid work experience and, within the School of Communication, the EPICS office facilitates personalized job and internship searches by offering workshops, seminars, career fairs, information sessions, entertainment panels, and guest speakers.

Our location, just a few miles north of Chicago, in addition to an extensive online network of job opportunities for Northwestern students called Handshake, makes it extremely easy (and common) for students to secure internships both during the school year and over the summer—not to mention research and other academic opportunities.

Students are also able to make lasting connections through the Northwestern Mentorship Program. Created by the Northwestern Alumni Association, students and alumni can use the platform to connect with alumni in various career fields. These mentoring relationships are meant to provide valuable support and guidance to student and alumni mentees as they navigate their careers, explore new career paths, or consider graduate school.

Northwestern Career Advancement is an extremely accessible on-campus office available to students as early as their first year. Students collaborate with different advisors to take advantage of services that include career counseling, mock interviews, resume editing, alumni networking, and an online database of job opportunities exclusively for Northwestern students. Students also take advantage of Northwestern Career Advancement’s frequent hosting of companies who recruit right here on campus. Each quarter students interact with numerous employers at career fairs, ranging in theme from “nonprofit and community organizations” to “startups in the technology sector."

A recent survey of the class of 2022 showed that about 97% of graduates were either employed, pursuing a research fellowship or enrolled in graduate/professional school, or (in a very small percentage of cases) engaged in some kind of military or public service within six months of graduation. Additionally, 89% of graduates reported that they had engaged in experiential learning opportunities, ranging from internships to curricular work programs, while at Northwestern.

For more details about what graduates do beyond Northwestern, visit the Post-Undergraduate Survey Data webpage.

Northwestern has a proven track record for helping students with an interest in post-graduate research and study to earn fellowships and scholarships, both domestically and abroad. Northwestern consistently ranks among the top 10 research institutions producing U.S. Fulbright Grant Recipients. Northwestern also continually produces winners of prestigious awards such as the Marshall, Goldwater, Rhodes and Churchill Scholarships, with a more complete list found at the Office of Fellowships.

About 30% of Northwestern students have the goal of securing a graduate degree immediately following graduation. Students on pre-professional advising tracks such as pre-health and pre-law are admitted to corresponding graduate programs each year. Northwestern also offers combined bachelor’s and master’s degree programs in selected departments in the Weinberg College of Arts & Sciences, McCormick School of Engineering & Applied Sciences, Medill School of Journalism, Media, Integrated Marketing Communication, and Bienen School of Music. For students interested in management and business, the Kellogg School of Management offers an accelerated master's of science in management studies, which students complete in less than one year after finishing their undergraduate degree. 

Northwestern graduates also have unusually high success rates for breaking into competitive and worthwhile post-graduate work experience programs, including Teach for America and the Peace Corps.