Our Review of UCI’s Summer Session for High School Students
Summer programs offer a unique opportunity to accelerate your academic journey while gaining valuable experience. Pre-college programs that take place in a college environment help you explore both your interests and college life.
By letting you showcase your initiative, intellectual curiosity, and ability to thrive in challenging environments, summer programs can enhance your college applications and set you apart from your peers.
Our blog today covers one such opportunity—the Summer Sessions offered by the University of California, Irvine (UCI).
What is UCI’s Summer Session?
UCI’s Summer Sessions are a set of courses offered to provide high school students with a taste of university life. The program allows you to attend college-level courses in fields from STEM to humanities and social sciences alongside current college students. By interacting with university faculty and peers, you will gain a deeper understanding of your academic passions and career aspirations.
How is UCI’s Summer Session structured?
The Summer Session is hosted by UCI for summer students, current college first-years through seniors, and of course high schoolers. There are 99 courses on offer for high school students, and you can see the 2024 course listing here. Courses include Intro to Psychology, Global Economy, World Literature, and Nutrition. While many of these courses are on the Irvine campus, some are also available online.
What makes this program unique is that regardless of which course you choose, you will be studying alongside college freshmen, sophomores, juniors, and even seniors. The pedagogy allows for focused exploration of a specific subject area, mirroring a typical college semester, complete with regular classes and assignments. This structure gives you a realistic preview of college-level coursework and expectations.
While the program doesn't have a formal mentorship program, you will benefit from the expertise of UCI’s faculty and access to the state-of-the-art facilities at the university.
The courses are spread across three sessions:
Session 1: June 24 – August 1
10-week: June 24 – August 30
Session 2: August 5 – September 11
You will have to explore the courses you are interested in and check which are available during which sessions.
Is it prestigious?
The University of California, Irvine was ranked #33 nationwide in 2024. The program's association with an established university like UCI positions you as a motivated student. By successfully completing a college-level course, you demonstrate academic preparedness and intellectual curiosity. The program provides useful networking opportunities as you’ll have the chance to interact with current college students. However, the application process only asks for a high school transcript, which suggests it is less selective than other summer programs that require essays and recommendation letters.
Who is eligible for UCI’s Summer Session and how do you apply?
To be eligible for the Summer Session programs available for high schoolers, you must meet the following criteria:
Either be a graduating high school senior OR
Be a rising high school junior or senior with a minimum unweighted GPA of 3.0 in college preparatory courses.
Students still in high school can enroll in only one course from a list of courses with no prerequisites. Both domestic and international students are eligible.
The registration process for each course in the Summer Session is on a rolling, first-come, first-served basis. To apply, you have to fill out the enrollment form and submit your high school transcript. The enrollment window opens starting March 1st.
The deadlines for the different sessions are:
Session 1: May 1
10 week: May 1
Session 2: June 3
Refer to the complete calendar here.
How much do Summer Session courses cost?
The fee structure of the Summer Session is slightly complex. The basic course fee is $374 per unit, and all students must pay a $4 e-tech fee for each course. You will have to pay a $290 campus fee if you’re attending the course in person. Some courses may have additional fees for materials. Non-UC international students must pay a $750 fee if taking classes in-person and $150 for online courses. Additionally, requesting a transcript costs $17.
Pros and cons of the program
Pros:
College-level learning experience: You will be learning and studying the same concepts at the same pace as current college students. This provides a far richer and more in-depth learning experience than available in high school.
Exposure to a top university: UC Irvine is one of the better universities in the nation, and you will experience campus life as well as courseload expectations, giving you a head start on preparing for college.
Both residential and online options: Unlike many pre-college programs of a similar nature, UCI’s Summer Sessions let you experience the intensity and depth of a college-level course online as well. This makes the program much more accessible.
Affordable: All of the Summer Session courses are quite reasonably priced compared to other pre-college programs.
Cons:
The selection may be limited: High school students must choose courses from a limited, pre-selected list. Compared to a full college semester at UC Irvine, you will have access to relatively few courses.
Extremely intense courseload: Since you will be studying at the same pace and intensity as current college students, you can expect the courses to be quite challenging and must be prepared for that.
Lack of extracurricular opportunities: While other summer programs for high school students include extracurricular and social activities, the UCI Summer Session website doesn’t mention any programming outside academics. This might make the experience less enjoyable than at other summer programs.
Our Review
UCI’s Summer Session is a solid learning opportunity for ambitious high school students seeking to challenge themselves academically. The program’s main benefit is allowing you to take college courses with undergraduates of all years, unlike some other summer programs that design pre-college courses specifically for high school students. This means you will get insight into taking a real college course.
However, the program is not the most selective high school summer program, so its ability to signal your academic prowess is more limited. If you are a high-achieving student eager to explore your passions and prepare for college, UCI’s Summer Session is worth considering.
One other option - Lumiere Research Scholar Program
If you’re interested in pursuing independent research in STEM, you could also consider applying to one of the Lumiere Research Scholar Programs, selective online high school programs for students founded with researchers at Harvard and Oxford. Last year, we had over 4000 students apply for 500 spots in the program! You can find the application form here.
Also check out the Lumiere Research Inclusion Foundation, a non-profit research program for talented, low-income students. Last year, we had 150 students on full need-based financial aid!
Stephen is one of the founders of Lumiere and a Harvard College graduate. He founded Lumiere as a PhD student at Harvard Business School. Lumiere is a selective research program where students work 1-1 with a research mentor to develop an independent research paper.
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