Pre-College Online Program student

Pre-College Online Program

Pre-College Online Program

Courses offered online

Fully online program

Earn undergraduate credit

Undergraduate credit offered

Eligibility: Current 10th-11th grade students

Eligibility: Current 10th-11th grade students

International students welcome

International students welcome

Experience Ivy League coursework from anywhere in the world


Summer Session I: May 27 - July 2, 2025
Summer Session II: July 3 - August 8, 2025

  • Classes occur depending on their class meeting schedule.
  • Synchronous class times are in the Eastern Time Zone.

Apply now »


The Pre-College Online Program is designed for academically curious high school students interested in the intellectual challenge of Ivy League academics. Students enroll in online credit-bearing undergraduate courses from a wide array of disciplines taught by Penn faculty, staff, and visiting scholars and are in class alongside other Penn undergrads.

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.

Summer 2025 Pre-College Online Program Courses

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

Summer Session I

Course Number Course Title
AFRC 1510 910 Music of Africa
ANTH 0030 910 Human Origins, Evolution and Diversity
CIMS 1004 910 World Film History
CLST 1601 910 Ancient Drama
COML 1025 910 Narrative Across Cultures
COMM 1230 910 Critical Approaches to Popular Culture
COMM 1250 920 Introduction to Communication Behavior
ECON 0100 910 Introduction to Micro Economics
EESC 1000 910 Earth Systems Science
ENGL 0159 910 Gender and Society
HIST 0720 910 Ancient Greece
LING 0001 910 Introduction to Linguistics
LING 0600 910 Introduction to Sociolinguistics
PHIL 1000 910 Introduction to Philosophy
PHIL 1800 910 Philosophy of Science
PSCI 0400 910 Introduction to International Relations
PSCI 1800 910 Introduction to Data Science
PSYC 1440 910 Social Psychology
STAT 1110 910 Introductory Statistics

Summer Session II

Course Number Course Title
ANCH 0102 920 Ancient Rome
ARTH 2760 920 Impressionism
CLST 1602 920 World Literature
ECON 0200 920 Introductory Economics: Macro
EESC 1030 920 Oceanography
LING 0001 920 Introduction to Linguistics
MATH 1300 920 Introduction to Calculus
MATH 1400 920 Calculus, Part I
MATH 1700 920 Ideas in Mathematics
PHIL 1433 920 The Social Contract

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 can choose to take Pre-College Online Program 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 Online 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.

bp_css_text

*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.