Immersion Vanderbilt: How Vanderbilt’s Experiential Learning Requirement Works

Every undergraduate at Vanderbilt University has to complete Immersion Vanderbilt before graduating. The requirement pairs a hands-on experience outside the classroom with a culminating project that reflects on it. This guide explains how the program works as of November 2026, what students have produced, how the funding works, and what international students should plan for.

What Immersion Vanderbilt is

Immersion Vanderbilt is a two-part experiential learning requirement for all undergraduates, including transfer students, who are told to plan to finish both parts while at Vanderbilt (Immersion Vanderbilt). Vanderbilt launched the program in 2018, and the Class of 2023 was the first to graduate with it as a requirement.

Part one: an immersion experience. Students choose one of six pathways, covering community engagement, creative and design work, internships, leadership, research, and study or work abroad. Students may complete as many experiences as they like.
Part two: a culminating project. Students either take a preapproved course or design their own project under an Immersion Vanderbilt faculty adviser. The project must be finished by the end of the student’s last semester. Projects can take many forms, including presentations, short films, senior theses, websites and podcasts.

Requirements can be completed through coursework during the academic year or over the summer.

Examples: library fellowships that became Immersion projects

In November 2025 Vanderbilt’s Jean and Alexander Heard Libraries put up three campus exhibits of Immersion projects that grew out of work with library staff, on display through the end of the fall 2025 semester (Heard Libraries, November 5, 2025):

The Tortured Poets Department: Vanderbilt’s Version by Stephanie Hicks (B.A. 2025, medicine, health and society): a multimedia virtual exhibit linking Taylor Swift’s music to human stories in Vanderbilt’s Special Collections and University Archives. It began as a Buchanan Library Fellowship with curators Sarah Calise and Mary McSparran.
Mapping Cybersecurity Issues Using “The Purloined Letter” by Daniel Gormezano (B.S. 2024, molecular and cellular biology): a digital project reading an Edgar Allan Poe story through a cybersecurity lens to map major data breaches. He learned GIS mapping through the fellowship and went on to a graduate degree in data science at Vanderbilt.
A Lens on the Libraries by Nikita Rohila (B.A. 2025, medicine, health and society and psychology): an online photography exhibit documenting a year in the libraries, advised by art professor Vesna Pavlović.

“Student engagement and collaboration are at the heart of what we do at the Heard Libraries,” said university librarian Jon Shaw.

The examples show a pattern worth noting: a project does not have to match your major. Two of the three students majored in health-related fields but built their projects around archives, literature and photography.

Funding

Vanderbilt offers Immersion grants to undergraduates. For 2026–27 (Immersion Vanderbilt: Funding):

Fall or spring experiences: up to $3,000 ($1,500 for unfunded experiences in Nashville; $1,000 for faculty-led travel).
Summer experiences: up to $6,000.
Culminating projects: a one-time grant of up to $2,500; presenting at a conference can be funded up to $2,500 (domestic) or $3,000 (international) with faculty support.
Overall cap: $10,000 per student, with exceptions for some programs.

Students can apply for experience funding starting in May after their first year. Applications are reviewed monthly (fall 2026 deadlines fell in mid-August, September, October, November and December). Experience mentors must be Vanderbilt faculty or staff, and research and community-engagement experiences need a faculty mentor. Students who have already completed Immersion Vanderbilt or received project funding are no longer eligible.

Planning tips

Start early. Funding opens in May after the first year, and summers (with grants of up to $6,000) leave the most room for a full-time internship, research placement or experience abroad.
Look for a mentor, not just a topic. Library fellowships, faculty research labs and community partners all provide mentors who can later serve as advisers for the culminating project.
Combine it with what you already do. A senior thesis, an honors project or a preapproved course can count as the culminating project, so Immersion does not have to be extra work on top of your major.

What international students should know

Off-campus internships need work authorization. F-1 students who choose the internship pathway generally need Curricular Practical Training (CPT) approved by their international student office before starting an off-campus internship in the U.S. In August 2026 SEVP reminded schools that CPT must be an integral part of an established curriculum and directly related to the student’s major (SEVP Broadcast 2608-01), so talk to Vanderbilt’s international student office early. Research, community engagement, creative projects and study abroad are other ways to meet the requirement.
Grants and taxes. The funding page does not address international students’ eligibility; ask Immersion Vanderbilt directly. Stipends paid to nonresident students may be subject to U.S. tax withholding.
Vanderbilt at a glance. Vanderbilt is No. 16 in the 2027 U.S. News National Universities ranking. IPEDS data for fall 2025 show 807 international students among 7,221 undergraduates. See our Vanderbilt University school page for admissions and cost data.

References

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