Individually-Designed International “Terms Away”
Each year a few students may obtain permission to enroll at a foreign institution with which Cornell Law School does not have an exchange agreement. They may do so in either the fourth, fifth or sixth semester of their J.D. program. The students selected must have unique educational objectives that can be met at the other institution, but not at Cornell.
Semester abroad programs operated by U.S. law schools will not be approved.
A significant portion of the credits to be earned at the host institution must be in courses not offered by Cornell and must relate to a clearly defined educational or professional objective. The proposed host school must be of comparable quality to Cornell Law School and must be willing to entertain an application for admission as a special or visiting student.
In recent years, institutions at which Cornell students have enrolled for international terms away include: Pontificia Universidad Catholica de Chile, Santiago, Chile; University of Victoria, Canada; National University of Ireland—Galway; National Taiwan University; the University of Auckland, New Zealand; and, Instituto de Empresa, Madrid, Spain.
Because the number of terms away approved by the school is limited, students should submit their written request as early as possible and in no event later than October 1 for the following spring semester, or January 20 for the following fall semester.
The student is responsible for securing any information from the proposed host school that may be needed to act on the request for the term away. Any details of applying to the host school are also the student’s responsibility to ascertain and address
Students who wish to pursue this option at a foreign law school should contact the Executive Director of the Clarke Center for International and Comparative Legal Studies. They must also complete the Semester Abroad Application (pdf). The written statement must address the criteria indicated above for approval of a term away.
