RECO Pre-College

College is not an extension of school. It is a different intellectual culture, a different pace, and a different expectation of independence — academically and personally.

The RECO Pre-College Intensive prepares you for that transition before you arrive on campus.

2 months | 9 live hours | Individual Mentoring

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The move from school to university involves:

A sudden jump in reading load
Independent research and academic writing
Seminar-style discussions and intellectual debate
Greater freedom — and less hand-holding
A new social and residential environment

Many students adjust eventually. But the first semester can feel overwhelming — academically and emotionally. This course ensures you arrive prepared. Not just to survive. But to participate, contribute, and belong.

Your university is not generic.

We design your curriculum based on your institution’s intellectual culture.

Across the U.S., we group universities into six broad academic orientations:

Program Structure

This program has 2 parts:

1. Strengthens Your Academic Foundations

You build the reading, analysis, research, and writing skills that college demands.

2. Aligns You With Your Specific University

Every university has a distinct intellectual culture — a way of thinking, reading, arguing, and assessing. If you understand that culture in advance, you don’t just attend college. You engage it.

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- Identify the research question
- Trace the central thesis
- Connect evidence, methodology, and conclusion
- Analyze methods and data
- Assess credibility of sources
- Identify strengths and limitations
- Study structure and organization
- Examine how arguments are constructed
- Understand academic voice and clarity
- Develop a short analytical paragraph
- Learn citation and paraphrasing
- Avoid plagiarism
- Integrate scholarship into your own argument

6 Sessions (Required for All Students)
Your university is not generic.
Neither is this course.
We design your curriculum based on your institution’s intellectual culture.
Across the U.S., we group universities into six broad academic orientations:
1. Classical Questions
Deep engagement with foundational texts.
Close reading. Dialectical reasoning. Rigorous argument.
Examples include:
University of Chicago, Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Carleton, Bowdoin.
2. Interdisciplinary Inquiry
Cross-disciplinary synthesis. Intellectual flexibility. Structured integration of ideas.
Examples include:
Harvard, Brown, UPenn, Duke, Northwestern, Wesleyan, Brandeis, Boston University.
6 Sessions (Required for All Students)
Your university is not generic.
Neither is this course.
We design your curriculum based on your institution’s intellectual culture.
Across the U.S., we group universities into six broad academic orientations:
1. Classical Questions
Deep engagement with foundational texts.
Close reading. Dialectical reasoning. Rigorous argument.
Examples include:
University of Chicago, Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Dartmouth, Williams, Amherst, Swarthmore, Pomona, Carleton, Bowdoin.
2. Interdisciplinary Inquiry
Cross-disciplinary synthesis. Intellectual flexibility. Structured integration of ideas.
Examples include:
Harvard, Brown, UPenn, Duke, Northwestern, Wesleyan, Brandeis, Boston University.
3. Disciplinary Depth
Training as a junior researcher within a field.
Scholarly articles. Methodological rigor.
Examples include:
Cornell, Johns Hopkins, Rice, WashU, Vanderbilt, Emory, Michigan, UT Austin.
4. Critical Social Analysis
Applying theory to contemporary systems and social problems.
Examples include:
UC Berkeley, UCLA, NYU, UNC Chapel Hill, Wisconsin–Madison, Washington, UC Davis, UC Santa Barbara.
5. Ethical, Civic & Global Inquiry
Normative questions. Justice. Political philosophy. Democratic ideals.
Examples include:
Georgetown, Tufts, UVA, Boston College, Notre Dame, Claremont McKenna.
6. Technical Innovation
Formal reasoning applied to real-world problems.
From theoretical rigor to applied innovation.
Examples include:
Stanford, MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Northeastern, USC, UCSD, Georgia Tech, Purdue, UIUC, Rochester.