Name: Annie

Year: Sophomore

Major: Economics

Minor: Political Science

CFS Program: Business Field Studies

I can confidently say that through the CFS program, this quarter has been one of my most educational quarters at Northwestern thus far. While you learn a lot of facts in the classroom, an internship experience provides you with real life skills. I entered my internship at a public finance firm with no prior knowledge or experience in finance. Not only have I learned a tremendous amount about the industry, but I have also learned the importance of responsibility, time management, and other valuable skills that apply to daily life.

I have always prided myself on being good at time management but working full time while simultaneously being involved in extracurriculars on campus, keeping a work study job, and finishing CFS class assignments has been a balancing act. In addition, I am forced to accomplish all of these tasks at a reasonable hour to ensure I am not exhausted at work the next day. Another key skill I have honed through my internship is accuracy. I see the importance of accuracy in work at my internship, especially when it comes to information you are presenting to clients. At the workplace, you are responsible for your work and your actions and mistakes have real consequences. There is no one checking over your work at all times and instead of receiving a bad grade for a poor job you get embarrassment and a tarnished reputation.

Education in a school environment is taught by encouraging students to ask questions and having someone teach you, whereas at a company, if you don’t know how to do something it is important to seek help. Every employee is busy and there is no one whose sole responsibility is to guide you through. From my experience so far, I feel like I have become much more independently capable. I have become better at filtering and grouping my questions to make sure my inquiries are about topics that I cannot figure out by myself. I have learned so much in these past four weeks through CFS and I realize that the learning process is just beginning. I am looking forward to what else this experience will bring in the weeks to come.