Summer Springboard Architecture Design & Restoration High School Course

Class runs from 9am to 1:15pm with a 15-minute break at 11am, which gives you about four hours of architecture each morning. After lunch and some free time, the 3pm slot is for academic excursions or labs, and this course's site visits show how preservation decisions play out in buildings people still live, study and work in every day.

Commuters leave at 5pm, while residential students get free time, then dinner at 6pm, an evening activity at 7pm and more free time before dorm checks at 9:30pm. Weekend trips to Boston and New York City are only for students who stay more than one week, so a single week doesn't include them.

Any student who has finished 8th grade by the start date and holds a 3.0 GPA or local equivalent can apply, and Summer Springboard also accepts seniors who graduated that spring. International students show their English either in a phone interview or with a minimum score: 490 on the paper TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) or 60 on the internet-based test, Cambridge PET with Distinction or FCE at grade C, or 450 in SAT Reading and Writing.

Every application is screened against Summer Springboard's Essential Eligibility Criteria, which cover things like managing your own medication, walking more than a mile and following instructions in English, and a student who doesn't meet them is turned down. Summer Springboard gives no acceptance rate or class size, but it assigns course places first come, first served, so applying early is the surest way to get the session you want.

For applications made by 30 November 2026, a residential week costs $4,298 and a commuter week $2,498. This course adds a mandatory $250 supplement, which brings the totals to $4,548 and $2,748, plus an application fee that starts at $99. Summer Springboard raises tuition on 1 December 2026 and hasn't listed the new price yet. The residential price covers lodging, all meals, excursions and the course, while commuters get the course, lunch, excursions and programming from 9am to 5pm on weekdays.

Flights and health insurance, which every student must have, are extra, and so are the airport shuttle at $95 each way and the Yale gym at $27 a week if you want it. Each extra one-week Yale course you add costs $3,298 residential or $1,998 commuter. The $600 deposit is due with the application. Need-based scholarships can cover up to 30% of residential or 60% of commuter tuition, but never the deposit or the application fee.

The application fee is never refunded. Cancel before 1 March 2027 and you get all the tuition back, and from 2 March to 1 April 2027 you get it all back except the $600 deposit. From 2 April to 1 May 2027 you get 75% of tuition back and after 1 May 25%, in both cases less the deposit. After 1 June nothing is refunded.

You leave with your own restoration or adaptive reuse proposal, measured drawings and a scale model of a campus detail or small space, plus a completion certificate and a letter of recommendation from your instructor. Summer Springboard says the certificate and letter are earned rather than automatic and can be withheld for poor participation or conduct breaches. The course carries no college credit, and because Summer Springboard runs independently of Yale, neither document is a Yale credential.

Summer Springboard staff live on every dorm floor, and the campus director and other senior staff also live in the dorms and are on hand 24 hours a day. All staff go through background checks. The dorms need individual key cards, Yale Security patrols around the clock, and students have to be in their rooms after 10pm. A doctor is on call 24/7 and Summer Springboard works with Yale New Haven Hospital for medical care, while students keep and take their own medication.

In free time, students can move around within set campus boundaries in groups of at least three. Rooms are on gender-separated floors with shared bathrooms, and because Yale's residential colleges have no air conditioning, Summer Springboard gives every student a fan. The rules are set out in its Code of Conduct.

Applications go through Summer Springboard's enrollment page.

1. 1

   Check that your session is still listed as available, then create an account and confirm the verification email.

2. 2

   Click Create New Application and choose Yale, your session, this course and residential or commuter tuition.

3. 3

   Complete the application with the student present, which takes about 30 minutes and includes the short-answer essay questions.

4. 4

   Pay the $600 deposit and the application fee to hold your place. The fee is $99 until 21 February 2027, $149 after that and $199 after 18 April 2027, and some programs close or go to a waitlist after each of those dates. Enrollment closes on 16 May 2027.

5. 5

   Expect a decision by email within 5 to 7 business days, after which the remaining enrollment forms open.

6. 6

   If you apply before 10 March 2027 and don't pay in full, the balance is split into thirds, due on 10 March, 10 April and 10 May.