About

Boston Architectural College's Pre-College Programs are a set of high school design offerings run out of BAC's Back Bay campus in Boston, open to students ages 14 and up (grades 9–12), with no prior design experience required. The umbrella covers three linked options: Summer Academy – Boston (onsite, half-day), Summer Academy – Global (fully online), and the Urban Design and Planning (UDP) Studio, a full-day add-on that requires joint enrollment in Summer Academy – Boston. All three share BAC's studio-based teaching model, application process, and college-credit structure.

Students work in small studios of 8–10 with a dedicated Studio Lead, choosing between an Exploration track (recommended for first-time students with no design background) and an Investigation track (for students with prior experience who want to focus on a specific design discipline). Curriculum covers ideation, sketching, drawing, digital design, digital fabrication, and model making, taught through real-world design challenges, lectures from practicing design professionals, and site visits, culminating in a pin-up presentation of student work. Students who add the UDP Studio go further: alongside Summer Academy – Boston's coursework, they build GIS mapping and digital-fabrication skills applied to urban planning problems — climate resilience, sustainable design, equitable community planning — through a lunch speaker series with Boston-area planning professionals, civic service-learning components, and a final showcase where students present original urban design proposals to City of Boston representatives and BAC faculty.

For 2026, Summer Academy – Boston runs July 6–31, weekday afternoons 1:00–4:30 PM EDT, as a non-resident day program (no housing provided); tuition is $2,000 for the Credit Bearing Option (3 college credits) or $1,800 Not-for-Credit, with a June 22, 2026 registration deadline. UDP Studio runs June 29–August 7, weekdays 10:00 AM–4:30 PM EDT, also non-resident, and requires concurrent Summer Academy – Boston enrollment; combined tuition is $4,000 CBO (6 total college credits) or $3,600 NFC, with lunch included daily and a registration deadline extended to June 16, 2026. Summer Academy – Global runs the same July 6–31 window as an online, live-synchronous program open to students anywhere in the world, with supply kits shipped in advance. Notably, international students are not eligible for the UDP Studio specifically, because BAC does not issue the I-20 form needed for a student visa for that program — a restriction that does not apply to Summer Academy – Boston or Global. All Summer Academy completers (CBO or NFC, any track) become eligible for a $2,000 scholarship toward a BAC undergraduate program, and need-based scholarships and fellowships are available across all three programs through BAC's Pre-College Design Access Fund.

BAC's Pre-College Programs suit a student who wants a genuine studio-immersion taste of design school — small cohorts, working professionals as instructors, real deliverables — without committing to a residential multi-week program; the online Global option in particular makes this one of the more accessible entry points into architecture/design pre-college work for students who can't travel to Boston. It's a lighter, shorter, and less expensive alternative to residential design intensives like WashU Sam Fox's programs, and the UDP add-on is the more substantive credential of the three (6 credits, a public-facing final presentation) for a student who already knows urban planning is the specific interest.