FAQ’s and Contact Information

Students interested in attending ROAR Academy must submit an application and unofficial transcript. The application process is competitive and each session will be capped at 40 students. 

• Session 1: July 8 – July 13, July 15 – July 19
• Session 2: July 22 – July 26, July 29 – Aug 2

Applications are reviewed as they are received, so you are encouraged to submit your completed application as soon as possible. Admissions decisions are made on a rolling basis.

• Late January — ROAR Academy application opens
• March 22, 2024 — Early application deadline. 
• April 1st, 2024 —Early application and financial aid admissions
• Late Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis.
• May 3, 2024 — Tuition due

Students can only participate in ROAR Academy once, so if the student has already participated they cannot participate again.

High school students who live in California and will be entering 10th, 11th, or 12th grade in the fall of the year and they would like to attend summer camp.

The academy is great for students who are considering a STEM career path and would like to apply to AI, Robotics, and Data Science as their college majors. The curriculum is also suitable for those who has interest in learning Python programming in general and more narrowly upcoming autonomous transportation revolution and the foundation of their supporting technologies. 

ROAR Academy costs $1,200 for a two week program (10 days) that runs from 9AM to 3PM, generally from Monday through Friday. These classes will be in person on campus. 

This is not an overnight program – we will not be responsible for housing.

The enrollment and fee are only for California residents. For prospective students from other regions, please contact us and we will offer available spaces after the admission of California residents.

• Families who demonstrate financial need: FREE
• Families who do not demonstrate financial need: $1,200

ROAR Academy awards full and partial scholarships based on financial need. However, financial aid is awarded based on need and available funds. Financial need is demonstrated by qualifying for one of the following programs:

• Free or reduced price lunch at school
• CalFresh
• Medi-Cal

If your family demonstrates financial need, you do not need to submit an additional scholarship application. You only need to indicate your financial need when responding to the camp fee question in the application. However, ROAR Academy reserves the right to request financial need documentation during the application review process.

Requesting a fellowship review:  If your family cannot afford camp, but does not qualify for one of the programs listed above, you may e‑mail hc_kuan@berkeley.edu to request that we review your specific situation. You can contact us at any time—your child does not need to submit an application first. Do not submit financial statements (tax returns, etc.) unless requested to do so. Sensitive information should never be e-mailed to us, due to UC Berkeley’s data security policy.

In the curriculum of the Academy, we assume that this is NOT the student’s first computer class nor their computer programming class.

Students attending the Academy would have the best experience if they have good understanding about the following knowledge:

1. Fluently set up online user accounts at Kaggle.com and Github.com
2. Fluently manage a computer’s file system, preferably know about the Terminal environment
3. Have entry to intermediate computer programming experience, such as on BASIC, Scratch, C/C++, and Java
4. Familiar with the coding concepts of variables, loops, conditions, and functions

Students are expected to have sufficient background on basic computer programming in the Python language. The curriculum has built in a quick refresher of Python programming at the beginning with additional exercises and debugging practice, but the course is NOT suitable for students who have never learned about Python in the past.

If the student is admitted into a session that they can no longer attend, you can request that they be placed on the wait list for another session (or multiple other sessions). If a spot opens up in a session the student is wait listed for, we will e-mail you.

The health and safety of our staff, participants, and volunteers is our utmost priority. As such, our programs will adhere to the policies, protocols, and guidelines outlined by the Berkeley Public Health Department, Alameda County Public Health, CDC, Cal/OSHA, the American Camp Association, and the University of California, Berkeley. We have worked diligently to adapt our camp experience to meet or exceed these safety recommendations.

ROAR Academy will supervise minors until they are picked up by an adult with advanced written authorization to take custody of the minor.

Only with the advance written consent of parents/guardians, may campus units release minors into the custody of others or may release minors 12 years or older to their own custody.