2024 Pre College Programs

Attending a pre college program can allow you to experience an art school to see if you like it, try new courses to add work to your portfolio, perfect techniques for both your portfolio or audition, or meet new friends and professors who share your interest in art. Thee programs vary in length from a week to six weeks, some only accept students 16 years or older so if you have a younger student be sure to check the age requirements. Here are some pre college programs for creative writers, visual artists, performing artists (acting, dance music) and filmmakers, if you need help deciding which might be best for you schedule an appointment to meet with us today.

As we hear about additional programs we add them to the list.

Berklee College of Music https://www.berklee.edu/summer In person and online courses, one week to five weeks for students as young as young as eight (for day students) and as young a 15 for residential programs in both instrumental and vocal performance.

California College of Art https://portal.cca.edu/learning/summer-cca/ In person and online courses in visual arts.

Carnegie Mellon https://www.cmu.edu/pre-college/academic-programs/summer-session.html Six week courses in about 30 different subjects from AI to Creative Writing including both visual and performing arts. 

Champlain College https://www.champlain.edu/prospective-students/future-undergraduate-students/pre-college-summer-programs Nine “academies” including animation, game design, film and others.

Chapman University https://www.chapman.edu/admission/undergraduate/visit/summer-camps.aspx offers summer programs in dance, music, engineering and pharmacy.

Cornell https://sce.cornell.edu/precollege Online only courses in everything from ASL to Writing, but also includes courses in design and environment, fiber science/apparel design, and studio art. 

Drexel/Westphal https://drexel.edu/westphal/academics/pre-college-programs/ includes programs in music industry, CGI and several "discovering" a subject courses allowing students to take a short course to learn more about a subject and determine their interest. 

Emerson https://www.emerson.edu/majors-programs/pre-college-programs/acting Emerson is unfortunately redesigning their summer programs in 2024 and will return, hopefully in 2025.

FIT https://continuinged.fitnyc.edu/search/publicCourseAdvancedSearch.do is a resource for year round courses if you live in NYC as well as summer and online programs, both in fashion and in general arts.

Georgia Tech https://design.gatech.edu/precollege offers two, two-week programs in architecture, building construction, product design, and music technology.

Interlochen https://www.interlochen.org/summer-arts-camp Programs in creative writing, dance, film/new media, interdisciplinary arts, visual arts, music, and theatre, they have programs for students younger than 16.

Iowa Young Writers https://iyws.clas.uiowa.edu/ Two week residential and six week online courses in creative writing.

Launch X https://launchx.com/summer-program/ Online and residential programs for students to develop actionable business plans.

Loyola Marymount https://summer.lmu.edu/programs/programfinder/#programs A variety of two and four week on campus programs including Social Impact Filmmaking, Journalism, and other allied courses.

Maryland Institute College of Art (MICA) https://www.mica.edu/non-degree-learning-opportunities/programs-for-youth/programs-for-teens/summer-pre-college-program/ Two week programs in visual arts which include a portfolio development component.

New York University (NYU) https://www.nyu.edu/admissions/high-school-and-middle-school-programs/high-school-programs/nyu-precollege.html A wide variety of visual, performing arts and creative writing programs.

Northwestern https://nhsi.northwestern.edu/ Five week programs in film, acting, debate and playwriting.

Notre Dame Architecture https://architecture.nd.edu/careers-alumni/career-center-resources/career-discovery-for-high-schoolers/ Twelve day intensive for students considering architecture.

Pace https://www.pace.edu/pre-college-immersion-program/courses Two week programs in film and theatre. 

Parsons https://www.newschool.edu/parsons/youth-pre-college-programs/ Online and in person, as well as programs at their Paris and China campuses, in visual arts. (For summer of 2024 due to the Paris Olympics the summer program will be held in Barcelona.)

Pratt https://www.pratt.edu/continuing-and-professional-studies/precollege/summer-precollege/ Three and a half week program in visual arts.

Ringling https://www.ringling.edu/precollege/ Four week visual art intensive programs.

Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) https://precollege.risd.edu/ Six week visual arts intensive.

Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) https://www.scad.edu/academics/pre-college-programs Wide array of visual and performing arts programs, including animation and film, in one week seminar format, and "Rising Stars" five week programs at both their Savannah and Atlanta campuses.

School of Creative and Performing Arts (SOCAPA) https://www.socapa.org/ Programs in dance, film, photography, acting, music offered two and three week sessions in Vermont, California and New York City.

Syracuse https://precollege.syr.edu/ A wide variety of courses offered in person, online and hybrid, and for one to six weeks, in the visual and performing arts.

University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) https://summer.ucla.edu/summer-programs/precollege-summer-institutes/ offers a wide variety of two-week summer programs (commuter, residential and virtual) in film, architecture, game design, musical theatre, and a host of other interesting programs.

University of Massachusetts/Amherst https://www.umass.edu/uww/programs/pre-college/residential/summer-design-academy Three week online or residential architecture design program (other non arts based programs are offered as well).

University of Michigan/Stamps https://stamps.umich.edu/pre-college Residential and online program for visual arts students grades 9-12.

University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) https://www.uncsa.edu/summer/index.aspx Intensives in animation, filmmaking, dance, drama, music, visual arts, view each discipline for specific program lengths.

University of Southern California (USC) https://dramaticarts.usc.edu/programs/summer-programs/high-school-summer-conservatory/ Conservatory style summer acting program in acting, comedic arts and musical theatre.

Washington University (WashU)/Sam Fox https://samfoxschool.wustl.edu/academics/pre-college-programs Two week architecture discovery program and three week Portfolio Development Art + Design program.

Yale Summer Drama Program https://summer.yale.edu/courses-programs/summer-drama-program Five week conservatory acting program.