Just wondering about Northwestern’s unique calendar. I know the school year ends late, and most summer internships start in early June (I believe?) . Does this make it tougher for Northwestern students to obtain internships relative to their peers at schools with a more traditional calendar?
NU admin folks say no, that they partner with a number of companies that are familiar and will work with their quarter system. I will be honest and share that we got different input from NU students. This was the main reason my D chose not to apply.
The other issue with the quarter system is that if you do Fall sports or marching band, you will need to be on campus during summer session because the rest of the conference starts games a month before NU Fall quarter begins.
A number of colleges changed their end date out of this concern. Nonetheless, so many NU grads found ways to make this work.
Are you even aiming for a major where internships on a fixed schedule matter? The sort where a very large goup starts on the same exact date?
Thanks @lookingforward for adding the point about how the schedule affects sports too - I hadn’t thought of that! And @momofsenior1 , I’m asking for my child who is undecided about major, so need to keep doors open. Thanks for the input 
Many of the California schools are also on a quarter schedule and they seem to make it work. I’ve noticed that U of Denver has scooted the schedule up a lot. They used to start at the end on September but now start just after labor day, and in the spring try to end classes the first week of June.
NU’s Fall classes start tomorrow.
My 2 NU engineering alums both summer interned with different companies. They started later, and stayed later than some of the other interns, but it was not a big deal. Most companies realize that their intern programs are a great recruiting source, so the companies they worked for were happy to make allowances.
Great question. I do not know of any conflicts, but that is based on the experiences of just a dozen or so NU students.
My daughter, a theater major, has been able to obtain summer internships with stipends, but has had to start them a few weeks later than other interns, and her stipend has been pro-rated to adjust for her less time there. On the other hand, being able to stick around at a waitressing job almost a month longer than other summer workers, she picked up a lot of additional shifts in those few weeks, and more than made up the difference.
If the employers also recruit at University of Chicago or DePaul University, they should be familiar with quarter system summer sessions being offset from semester system summer sessions. Other quarter system schools include Stanford, Dartmouth, and many public universities in Washington, Oregon, and California.
My kid had no issue with summer jobs while at NU.
I just don’t think it’s much of a problem.