Carnegie Mellon Pre-College Summer Session

Challenge yourself. Earn college credit. Prepare for college success.

The Pre-College Summer Session provides high school students with the unique opportunity to take summer courses offered by Carnegie Mellon for credit.

Students earn college credit while working in an academic setting that mirrors the supportive, rigorous environment of the first year of college. Every summer, Summer Session offers approximately thirty courses from academic disciplines across the university, including in science, humanities, social science, engineering, computer science, and technology applied to the arts. Successful Summer Session students leverage their experiences to demonstrate their ability to succeed in college. Upon successful completion of a course, they receive college credit at Carnegie Mellon, which is transferable to other institutions that accept CMU college courses for credit.

Please note that admittance into the Pre-College Summer Session does not guarantee admittance to Carnegie Mellon within the Undergraduate Admission process.

Curriculum Overview

The Summer Session curriculum is comprised of undergraduate-level Carnegie Mellon courses. The courses are the same ones taken during the fall and spring by Carnegie Mellon students, usually in their first year or as sophomores. Students will receive the same rigorous, college-level work as an undergraduate student studying at Carnegie Mellon. All of the Summer Session instructors are vetted by their respective academic departments, and the majority of them are Carnegie Mellon professors who teach these courses during the academic year. 

Students request their courses after admission to the program, as part of the enrollment process. Students living on campus must remain enrolled in two courses throughout the entire summer. Students living at home (who must have a permanent local address) may enroll in one or two courses. Two courses completed in six weeks is as academically demanding as a full-time undergraduate course schedule.