One of the most valuable lessons Pre-College may teach is how to navigate life as an art college student in a major urban environment. As opposed to a traditional summer camp, SVA Pre-College offers students the opportunity to balance structured and unstructured time out of the classroom and the option to live in an SVA Residence Hall in Manhattan.

All Pre-College students, including commuters, are encouraged to attend our many hosted extracurricular activities at night and on weekends, such as movie and trivia nights, city walking tours, museum outings, Broadway shows, and many other planned excursions around NYC.

After class ends, and prior to the residential curfew, Pre-College students are permitted to explore New York City and find what our metropolis has to offer. With the exception of a hosted extracurricular outing, students are not supervised when they are outside of SVA buildings. This level of independence is a purposeful aspect of the program, akin to being a college student. Families should understand this level of independence when signing up for the program.

SVA has an urban campus. This means that our buildings are not contiguous, but are instead situated across the east and west sides of lower Manhattan—between the Gramercy and Chelsea neighborhoods. Students are expected to travel on their own (typically by foot) to and from classes and arrive punctually. On the first day of classes only, students residing on campus will be escorted to their scheduled class by Pre-College staff. 

For those students staying in our Residence Hall, a mandatory curfew check occurs nightly: Sunday through Thursday at 10:00pm and Friday through Saturday at 11:00pm. In addition, Pre-College students are required to adhere to a strict Code of Conduct that must be agreed upon before online registration. This includes (but is not limited to) possession or use of alcohol, drugs, theft of personal property, damage to premises, and sexual relations. Failure to appear for curfew, or abide by the Pre-College Code of Conduct, may result in expulsion from the program.