The Visiting International Program for Lawyers (VIP) helps legal and business professionals from around the world build a broad foundation of knowledge of the laws and legal system of the United States.
VIP is a unique opportunity to be part of the USC Gould community of scholars. You participate in fascinating and informative courses taught by world-class law professors and interact with law students from around the globe, all on a dynamic and diverse campus.
Upon completion of VIP, you will receive a Certificate of Completion. Please note that VIP coursework may not be used toward a degree at USC.
Over the course of one semester at USC Gould, you attend daily classes on a non-credit, non-degree basis.
As a VIP student, you will have the opportunity to benefit from:
Our Office of International Services provides additional resources to assist you with visa and other requirements for studying in the U.S. The university also maintains international offices in Beijing, Hong Kong, Mexico City, Mumbai, Sao Paulo, Seoul, Shanghai and Taipei.
As a VIP student, you will have access to a wide variety of law courses to suit your interests — from constitutional law, civil procedure and criminal law to corporate finance, entertainment law and intellectual property. VIP students have access to the same course offerings as our LLM students. Attendance in non-credit courses is subject to space availability and pre-approval by faculty.
VIP students may participate in the program for up to one year. Therefore, to benefit the most from our academic community, we strongly recommend that VIP students plan their visit to coincide with the USC Gould Academic Calendar.
Tuition for our VIP is $15,000 for two semesters plus mandatory student fees (approximately $2,500 - $2,900 per semester), which include our USC Student Health Center and Health Insurance Fees, Transportation Fee, Graduate and International Programs Fee, Student Programming Fee (Graduate), Norman H. Topping Student Aid Fund, Student Bar Association Fee. Also, a $250 processing fee from our Office of International Services (OIS) for the issuance of the DS-2019 visa document for the J-1 visa will be charged to VIP students. VIP students are responsible for budgeting additional funds for living expenses, books and supplies.
We recommend that you apply for VIP before October 1 for the spring term (January start) and March 1 for the fall term (August start) by completing the VIP application.
The VIP application requires:
A law degree is not required for VIP admission.
Admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis, as applications are received. You will be notified of an admissions decision via email in approximately two to three weeks of your application completion date. No admissions decisions will be released over the phone. We will contact you if the Admissions Committee feels that a telephone or an in-person interview is necessary.
If you have any questions about our VIP, please contact us at [email protected].
