Make School, a postsecondary educational program created by two 20-something techies, is now offering an industry-driven, project-oriented bachelor’s degree in partnership with Dominican University of California that students can complete in two years – and don’t have to start paying for until they graduate and secure a job that pays at least $60,000 a year.
The bachelor’s degree in Applied Computer Science gained accreditation this fall through the WASC Senior College and University Commission, a critical development aided by Dominican. Make School’s current enrollment is 110 students – up from 40 a year ago and about 45 percent students of color – and the first bachelor’s degrees may be conferred as early as fall 2019.
“Our purpose is to create avenues of upward mobility for students of all backgrounds interested in science and technology,” said Ashu Desai, who founded Make School with high school classmate Jeremy Rossmann.
A college degree wasn’t what they had in mind, however, when they teamed up in business and began offering a summer program in computer science a few years back.
Desai, 26, and Rossmann, 27, met in a computer science class at the prestigious Menlo School in 2007. After graduating, Desai enrolled at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and Rossmann headed to Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), both studying computer science.
Desiring more hands-on, project-focused learning, they decided in 2011 that their traditional college programs and strong emphasis on theory weren’t working for them. They took some time off and never returned.
But they stayed engaged with the industry. By 2013, they were providing computer science curricula to MIT and Carnegie Mellon University. They decided to create a summer program to teach students how to build apps and wanted to provide increased access to women and minorities, said Desai.
