Pre-collegiate Academy (PCA)

PCA offers academic enrichment, service learning, and a six-week summer, residential experience for high achieving, low-income junior and senior high school students from Los Angeles. Scholars take a math and writing course, receive tutoring by current Cal undergraduates, and learn how to write college essays. Students are exposed to leadership seminars, community service projects, collegiate seminars, and various cultural activities. In the second summer, the Scholars participate in a ten-day reunion on the Berkeley campus, to help prepare them for the admission process.

PCA Objectives

  • To identify public high school sophomores who have demonstrated exceptional achievement through leadership, academic, and extracurricular accomplishments, despite adverse socioeconomic conditions.
  • PCA StudentsTo encourage participants' collegiate aspirations and enrich their academic and leadership development to increase their competitive admissibility to UC Berkeley, and other quality universities, when they graduate from high school.
  • Once admitted to UC Berkeley, to provide the scholarship funding, academic support and community building through the Incentive Awards Program that will help the Academy Scholars be successful in their academic career at the University.
  • To ensure that recipients give something back to the community by designing and implementing Peer Service Projects and other outreach programs through which they can inspire other young people to greater academic achievement.

More Information about the Pre-collegiate Academy:

Benefits  |  Selection  |   Summer Academic Residential Program  |  Community Service Internships  |  PCA Partners