Pre-College
Earn three college credits at our summer program for high school students dreaming of art and design school.
About
Experience art and design school
A San Francisco summer program for high school students
Current high school students who will complete their sophomore, junior, or senior year by summer are eligible to apply for CCA Pre-College, a summer program designed to help young creatives develop their skills and experience what it’s like to attend college in our supportive, inspiring community.
At CCA we believe creativity must be nurtured to grow an individual’s ability to respond to collective challenges. Creative people serve their communities as catalysts of change and interpreters of their time, transforming the ordinary into the profound. Pre-College is the start of that journey.
Pre-College students will have the opportunity to:
- Earn three college credits
- Learn from expert faculty instructors
- Develop art and design portfolio pieces for college applications
- Meet other art-minded makers and designers
- Live on campus in San Francisco
Available on campus or online
Pre-College students may apply for on-campus or online studio courses. Our in-person students have the option to live on campus in our residential hall or commute to and from campus daily. Our online courses deliver studio-level instruction and experiences. Both international and domestic students are eligible to register for our in-person and online courses. Tuition scholarships are available.
On-Campus CCA Pre-College
- Residential student: July 8-August 2 — Total tuition, fees, meal plan, and housing is ~$6,975
- Commuter student: July 8-August 2 — Total tuition, fees, and lunch meal plan is ~$4,595
Online CCA Pre-College
- Summer 2024 canceled due to low enrollment
New skills and friendships flourish at Pre-College
Programs & Courses
Immersive study for local and global learners
Receive college-level instruction in a subject of your choice
Pre-College is an in-depth, immersive experience. Students select one subject area to focus on during the course of the summer, earning three college credits and portfolio-ready work at the end of the program. Class experiences blend discussion, instruction, and extensive hands-on practice. Students attending Pre-College in-person also visit San Francisco galleries, museums, and professional studios to deepen their exploration and connect with a wider art and design community.
Learn from dedicated professionals
CCA's Pre-College instructors are highly accomplished artists, architects, designers, and writers committed to sharing their professional insights and experiences with the next generation of creative practitioners. Most teach at the college level, including in CCA’s degree programs.
Explore in-person and online Pre-College studios
Animation
Learn essential techniques of character animation, experimental motion, and cinema through individual projects and group exercises. Class time is spent evaluating animated sequences from classic cartoons as well as independent and experimental films. Students gain technical skills in storytelling, squash and stretch distortion, staging, timing, exaggeration, and many other animation fundamentals. Read full course description.
Architecture & Interior Design
Architecture and Interior Design are combined for an all-day studio.
Explore architecture as a 2D and 3D spatial discipline through sketching, drafting, and model building. Daily lecture and discussion sessions examine the history and theory behind current and traditional ideas of architectural space. Students also have the opportunity to explore the architectural landscape of the city. Read full course description.
With Interior Design, delve into elements of light, color, texture, and scale, as well as the relationships between human behavior and the built environment. Students learn a variety of techniques to prepare engaging and effective design presentations through research, observation, drawing, and 3D models, as well as visual and verbal presentation skills. Field trips supplement the studio class experience, including a private tour of interior design showrooms at the San Francisco Design Center. Read full course description.
Comics
Explore page layouts, character design, story outlining, and visual art techniques while creating original work. Students will learn the basics of publishing, including how to write pitches, self-publishing techniques, and comics history. Lectures focus on editorial, literary, and underground comics and cover personal narrative, comics journalism, fiction (long and short form), and nonlinear comics. Read full course description.
Fashion Design
Delve into the entire creative fashion design process, from design development to pattern-making and sewing. Students create a portfolio and sewn garments based on their own designs, using a wide variety of illustration and construction tools. Fashion industry professionals will visit to address topics such as sustainable fashion and life as a fashion designer. Read full course description.
Film
Learn conceptual and technical fundamentals of filmmaking while using digital cameras, lighting, sound recorders, scriptwriting tools, and Adobe Premiere. Students engage in screenings, critiques, and research to inform individual and collaborative projects while taking advantage of CCA's digital classroom facilities, production stage, and editing suites. Read full course description.
Game Arts
Explore theories of play and the structure of games, learn game design methodologies, and practice within the games development pipeline. Students create and playtest original works of digital game art and design, and are introduced to the game engine Unity to develop technical game design skills. facilities, production stage, and editing suites. Read full course description.
Graphic Design
Learn the fundamentals of graphic design, while emphasizing both creativity and craft. Students integrate photography, drawing, and various experimental processes into their projects and learn the basics of Adobe Creative Suite (Illustrator, Photoshop, and InDesign). The class includes engaging lectures, video presentations, group critiques, and a field trip. Read full course description.
Illustration & Drawing
Explore issues of line, shape, texture, pattern, composition, value, realism, abstraction, content, context, point of view, and the frame. Students experiment with a range of media, including charcoal, graphite, Conté crayon, sumi brush, ink wash, and oil stick. Visits to San Francisco galleries and museums enhance the studio experience. Read full course description.
Industrial Design
Learn and apply fundamentals of the industrial design process: defining needs, sketching product ideas, making physical models, and creating working prototypes that communicate concepts with power, grace, and confidence. Students will also experience a field trip to a cutting-edge professional design firm in San Francisco, such as Lunar. Read full course description.
Painting & Drawing
Learn the formal aspects of painting, from organizing the picture plane to mixing colors. Students explore new concepts and techniques for drawing by practicing gesture, proportional accuracy, perspective, contour, and position in space as they draw from the figure and natural and human-made objects. Media include charcoal, graphite, Conté crayon, sumi brush, ink wash, and oil stick. Visits to San Francisco galleries and museums enhance the studio experience. Read full course description.
Photography
Explore analog, alternative process, and digital photography while learning technical and aesthetic aspects of the discipline, from creating darkroom photograms to manipulating images in Photoshop. Students create a portfolio of images in a variety of mediums and a set of small handmade magazines. Read full course description.
How to Apply
Applications open in September
Apply to Pre-College
Pre-College applications are open September 15 through June 10 and submitted on CCA App, our online application portal. For full details, read Apply to Pre-College.
Apply for Pre-College scholarships
Need-based scholarships and a limited number of highly competitive merit scholarships are available. Scholarship applications are open September 15 through February 19 and submitted on SlideRoom. For full details, read CCA Pre-College Scholarships.
Support & FAQs
Attend a top summer program for high school students
Contact us anytime
We believe creativity is a lifelong experience that expands the potential of communities and individuals alike. How can we help you find your creative voice through art and design? Email [email protected].