Enrollment in Independent Study lets you earn course credit by doing advanced work in an academic area under the supervision of a faculty member. Independent Study (399) is generally open to juniors and seniors. In some cases, sophomores may also enroll in 399. You may not register for Independent Study to make up a deficiency resulting from failing an earlier course or from receiving an incomplete.
To register for 399-Independent Study, you need to have permission from the relevant department or program. You will need to submit to the department for approval a description of the work you plan to undertake and the basis for its evaluation; the proposal will need to be endorsed by the faculty member who will oversee your work and assign your grade. Departments and programs establish their own rules for grading these courses. Some forbid P/N registration while others require it, and some mandate use of the "K" grade for multi-quarter projects. Some departments and programs also have set standards that you must meet in order to register for Independent Study.
When you complete an Independent Study, you must write an abstract describing your work and submit it to the department or interdisciplinary program in which you were enrolled.
If you enroll in 399-Independent Study, you should be aware of College limits on taking this type of special course. You may not register for more than two units of 399 in a quarter. You can count no more than nine units total of 398-Undergraduate Seminar and 399-Independent Study as part of the 45 units required for graduation, and no more than four of these units may be for 398. In some departments (e.g., psychology), other courses are also included in the nine-course limit. Also, some departments and programs limit the number of 398 and 399 enrollments that can be counted toward their major.
Here's another rule to keep in mind if you're considering Independent Study: 399-Independent Study registration may not be used to award credit for off-campus work which is not under the direct supervision of a Northwestern faculty member. Faculty legislation specifically forbids the use of 399 registration to pursue an internship. Many internship opportunities are nonetheless available to Weinberg College students, see our information about Internship Opportunities.
