Pre-College Online Program student

Pre-College Online Program

Pre-College Online Program

Experience Ivy League coursework from anywhere in the world


Classes occur between July 5 and August 9, 2024. Synchronous classes are in Eastern Time.

Applications for summer 2024 are now closed. The applications for summer 2025 will open in late fall 2024. Please sign up to receive more information.


In the Pre-College Online Program, students enroll exclusively in online courses and participate from home alongside other Penn undergraduate students.

Once accepted into the Pre-College Online Program, students choose one of the following challenging curricula:

  • One college-credit course (1 c.u.)*
  • Two college-credit courses (2 c.u.)

Online students do not have access to or participate in on-campus resources and activities.

Explore summer 2024 online courses

Registration in a desired course is not guaranteed, and many courses fill up, so early application is strongly advised. Summer undergraduate online courses are typically smaller in size and taught by Penn faculty, staff, and visiting scholars. Most classes meet two to five times weekly, Monday through Friday, and assign homework, research papers, midterms, and/or finals. Textbooks and additional course materials may be required for a class. Students are required to choose alternate courses when registering, as courses may fill or be canceled. Students are able to choose to take Pre-College Programs courses on a pass/fail basis, but they may not audit a course. We are unable to accommodate requests for students taking online courses to be in residence on campus.

Earn academic credit from the University of Pennsylvania

Pre-College Program students are evaluated by the same academic standards and procedures as Penn undergraduates. Students earn one course unit (1 c.u., the equivalent of 4 college credit hours) for each course taken. Upon successful completion of the program and all coursework within, students may request official transcripts from Penn’s Registrar (fee-based). Students planning to transfer these grades to their future undergraduate record or institution should be aware that transfer credit is awarded at the discretion of the institution, including the University of Pennsylvania. Learn more about Penn’s transfer credit policies for pre-baccalaureate coursework.

Course registration details

Students will be emailed to submit their course registration form once they have been admitted and submitted their program deposit.

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*Academic credit is defined by the University of Pennsylvania as a course unit (c.u.). A course unit (c.u.) is a general measure of academic work over a period of time, typically a term (semester or summer). A c.u. (or a fraction of a c.u.) represents different types of academic work across different types of academic programs and is the basic unit of progress toward a degree. One c.u. is usually converted to a four-semester-hour course.