MIT Dropout Launches Free College With an Ivy League Acceptance Rate

College debt is without a doubt a serious issue facing college students: 2015 graduates will owe an average of a little more than $35,000. In total, there is $68 billion worth of education debt in the United States — 10 times more than in 1994.

That’s the reason Jeremy Rossman decided to drop out of studying math and science at the prestigious MIT to start his own college.

Located in San Francisco, the Make School administers no tests or problem-based homework to its students. The radical college doesn’t even have grades. What it does have its students do is build things as they would in the real world. The Make School’s two-year program tries to prepare its students for startup and entrepreneurial life by helping them develop new products and learn computer engineering.

Perhaps the best part of the school, however, is that it only makes money when its students succeed. That’s because the school is tuition-free — it makes most of its money by taking 25% of graduates’ first two years of salaries. That means the school is motivated to see its students land high-paying jobs right out the gate.

The Make School currently has a 10% acceptance rate, which makes admission into its program as competitive as the University of Pennsylvania and only slightly less competitive than the other Ivy League universities.

Share this Article