The main purpose of the Advanced Placement Early Admission (APEA) Program is to provide the opportunity to take university courses at Carnegie Mellon for talented, motivated high school students. Students earn college credit while working in an academic environment mirroring that which the student would encounter during the first year of college. Regardless of whether students choose to apply to Carnegie Mellon, successful AP/EA students can leverage their experiences here as demonstration of their ability to succeed in college. AP/EA courses are college courses, not AP classes, and as such they count toward graduation requirements here and are widely accepted elsewhere. Students applying to another college or university can request an official Carnegie Mellon transcript be sent to that institution. Any use of AP/EA courses to satisfy high school requirements should be approved ahead of time by an appropriate high school official. While most of the participants in the program will have just completed their junior or senior year of high school, suitably qualified students at early grade levels can participate. However, in order to stay in university housing, students must be at least 16 years old. This does not apply to commuters