Make School.org

Critical Assessment of Make School

Make School’s historical premise—a project-based computer science degree with an Income Share Agreement (ISA)—is incredibly disruptive. However, the landing page messaging often softens this radical differentiator with generic startup buzzwords.

The brutally honest truth: Your visitors are terrified of massive student debt and useless theoretical classes. While your model perfectly solves this, the page forces users to hunt for the actual mechanics of how you solve it.

When a visitor lands on the page, they are greeted with vague statements like "Education Reimagined." This violates the fundamental rule of clarity in copywriting.

Your audience doesn’t want a "reimagined" education; they want a high-paying tech job without the risk of crushing debt. We need to flip the messaging hierarchy to put the financial and career outcomes front and center.

Resources to help with foundational strategy:

• CXL's Guide to Value Propositions
• Nielsen Norman Group on the 5-Second Rule

Hero Text & Value Proposition Analysis

The 5-Second Clarity Test

Problem: The core value proposition—getting a tech job risk-free—is not immediately clear within the first 5 seconds. The headline relies on being clever rather than being clear.

Why it matters: Visitors leave web pages in 10-20 seconds if they don't immediately understand what is in it for them. If your unique value is buried in the subheadline, you are losing high-intent applicants.

Recommended fix:

• Move the Income Share Agreement (ISA) benefit directly into the main headline.
• Quantify the outcome (e.g., "Graduate in 2 years").
• State exactly what the student will achieve (a CS Degree + Job).

Resources to help:

• Unbounce: How to Write Landing Page Copy that Converts

Above the Fold & Target Audience

Missing Social Proof

Problem: The above-the-fold experience lacks immediate trust signals. There are no prominent employer logos or salary statistics visible before scrolling.

Why it matters: Your target audience consists of skeptical students and anxious parents trying to avoid traditional college pitfalls. Without immediate proof that top tech companies hire your graduates, the ISA model sounds "too good to be true."

Recommended fix:

• Add a "Our Alumni Work At" banner immediately below the hero CTA.
• Include 4-5 highly recognizable tech logos (Apple, Google, Tesla).
• Display a micro-statistic above the fold, such as average starting salary.

Resources to help:

• VWO: The Psychology of Social Proof

Call to Action (CTA) Evaluation

High-Friction Primary Action

Problem: The primary CTA is a high-friction request like "Apply Now." Committing to a 2-year college alternative is a massive life decision, and a cold visitor is rarely ready to apply on day one.

Why it matters: Asking for a marriage proposal on the first date kills conversion rates. You need a transitional, lower-friction CTA to capture leads who are still in the consideration phase.

Recommended fix:

• Change the primary CTA to something value-driven, like "Get the Syllabus."
• Use a secondary, ghost-button CTA for "Apply Now" for high-intent return visitors.
• Capture emails in exchange for a detailed curriculum guide to build an automated nurture sequence.

Resources to help:

• HubSpot: 31 Call-to-Action Examples You Can't Help But Click

Concrete "Before → After" Improvements

Here are specific, actionable changes to completely overhaul your conversion engine.

1. The Main Headline

Before: "A Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science. Reimagined."

After: "Get a CS Degree in 2 Years. Pay Nothing Until You're Hired."

Why this works: The new headline immediately addresses the two biggest pain points of the target audience: the time it takes to graduate and the fear of student debt. It is highly specific and undeniably clear.

2. The Subheadline

Before: "Learn by building products. Pay tuition only if you get a job. Graduate in 2 to 2.5 years."

After: "Master modern tech skills by building real-world products. Join alumni at Apple and Google—with zero upfront tuition and no crushing student loans."

Why this works: This injects social proof directly into the subheadline while reinforcing the risk-free nature of the program. It paints a picture of the desired outcome rather than just listing features.

3. The Call to Action

Before: [ Apply Now ]

After: [ Download the Curriculum ] Secondary button: [ Start Application ]

Why this works: It lowers the barrier to entry. Downloading a curriculum gives you a qualified email address for your sales team to nurture, rather than losing the 95% of visitors who aren't ready to apply today.

4. The Social Proof Bar

Before: (Empty space below the hero section)

After: "Our graduates earn an average of $95,000/yr at companies like: [Google Logo] [Facebook Logo] [Spotify Logo]"

Why this works: It instantly validates the alternative education model. If industry giants trust the degree, the prospective student and their parents will trust it too.

Resources to help with A/B Testing these changes:

• Optimizely: What is A/B Testing?
• Marketing Experiments: CTA Optimization

Product Positioning Score: 8/10 (Note: As Make School merged into Dominican University in 2021, this analysis evaluates the core, historical landing page positioning that defined their brand and category).

1. Problem-Solution Fit

• Problem: Traditional CS degrees are too expensive, theoretical, and carry immense debt risk. Conversely, coding bootcamps lack the long-term legitimacy of a formal degree.
• Solution: A "new kind of college" offering a Bachelor's in Applied Computer Science.
• Fit: Highly compelling. By addressing both the financial anxiety (student debt) and the skills gap (job readiness), Make School’s solution perfectly matched the massive, urgent pain points of aspiring developers.

2. Feature Communication

Make School did an exceptional job at making features benefit-focused:

• Instead of burying their complex pricing model (an Income Share Agreement), they led with the ultimate user benefit: "Pay $0 in tuition until you get a job." This transforms a financial contract into a powerful risk-reversal guarantee.
• Instead of listing "curriculum syllabus," they used "Learn by building and shipping products," translating an educational feature into the immediate benefit of having a hire-ready portfolio.

3. Market Positioning

• Who is this for? It targeted a very specific wedge: ambitious students (and career switchers) who wanted the formal pedigree of a Bachelor’s degree but demanded the modern, tech-focused curriculum and speed of a bootcamp.
• Is it clear? Yes, but it walked a difficult tightrope. It had to convince 18-year-olds and their parents that it was a "real" college, while convincing tech employers that it wasn't bogged down by traditional academic bloat.

4. Competitive Angle

Make School found a brilliant "blue ocean" competitive angle. Bootcamps offered ISAs and speed, but no degrees. Traditional colleges offered degrees, but with high upfront costs and outdated curriculums. Make School’s unique angle—combining the accreditation of a university with the financial alignment of a bootcamp—made them instantly stand out.

Specific Recommendations (For an Ed-Tech in this space)

1. Address the "Too Good to be True" Skepticism: "Pay $0 until you get a job" breeds natural hesitation. Add a transparent, one-sentence explainer above the fold: "Once you earn over $60k, you pay X% of your salary for Y months. No hidden fees."
2. Elevate Accreditation Trust Signals: When inventing a "new kind of college," parental and student skepticism is the biggest friction point. Bring the logos of academic partners (like Dominican University) or regional accreditors much higher on the page to instantly validate the degree's legitimacy.
3. Lead with the Hiring Network: The entire promise of an ISA relies on getting hired. Transition from abstract promises to concrete social proof. Use a section titled "Where our alumni ship code," featuring logos of top-tier tech companies to validate the curriculum.

Bottom Line

Make School’s positioning was a masterclass in category creation and risk-reversal. While the company ultimately succumbed to the heavy regulatory and operational headwinds of higher education, their landing page copy perfectly targeted the modern student's deepest anxieties, setting a gold standard for how to market alternative education.