Who Can Participate?

All Majors Welcome

On the student side, the VIP Program is aimed at Sophomores, Juniors, Seniors, and Graduate Students from across campus.  VIP instructors indicate the majors they think would be needed by their teams (this is how the filter-by-majors are chosen), but students are welcome to apply to any team.  Students concerned about their disciplinary match to a team can either explain their match in the free-response section of the application, and/or discuss their potential fit with the instructor.

VIP Credits count toward degree requirements in many majors, but some policies indicate which teams are allowed.  Students should refer to the how VIP credits count webpage before applying to a team, to ensure credits will count as intended.  Academic departments set (and decide on exceptions to) these policies, so students should direct questions to the academic advisors in their home departments.

Why Sohpomores and Above

The VIP Program is limited to sophmores and above so students gain a foundation in their disciplines before joining their teams, and to ensure students do not max-out the number of VIP credits they can count toward their degrees too early in their studies.  To plan their credit choices in advance, students can use the how much time? how many credits and how VIP credits count webpages.

Graduate Students

Graduate Students can join VIP as team members, earning 0-3 credit hours per semester.  Graduate Students supported by a VIP instructor can partcipate as graduate mentors, registering for 0 credit-hours (which show up as a 1-credit audit).

Online MS Computer Science Students

OMSCS students can participate in VIP in their second semester and later. Application deadlines differ slightly.  Please see the apply -> online-mscs-students webpage for details on team selection and deadlines.