<p>I don’t think you need to go to one of the camps, but it might be helpful as I would guess they replicate the first year experience in miniature fairly well. No admissions officer is going to ding you for not attending a camp, but it might be good to see if you could find other ways to show your interest in architecture. You could be drawing or photographing buildings, volunteering at a local historical society, being a guide at an architectural site (I worked at the National Cathedral giving tours in Washington DC). There’s lots of ways to show interest in architecture.</p>