Project School is a 3 month long incubator for undergraduates and recent grads to work on projects in small teams. You don't have to have a project or a team to apply! Just a desire to work hard and create awesome things with awesome people.
By forming a tightknit community of project-minded people, Project School pushes you to create real things.
The one rule of Project School is that you can't work on anything alone. You'll be working with a team, and we've found that working for an hour or two a day over video call keeps things moving quickly. As a result, Project School is not a small commitment. It is a continued effort over 3 months.
On Feb 6th, we'll have an opening ceremony where everybody can meet each other, and we'll discuss in more detail what will be happening for the rest of the program.
During the first two weeks, you'll be forming teams of 2-4 and choosing projects. If you're applying with a partner, you're free to work with them, but Project School is a great time to work with somebody new. These first two weeks will be very dynamic, with lots of exciting ideas being thrown around. Expect to be frequently on calls, talking about ideas with potential teammates. We'll help you come up with projects that we think will work well, and if you're already working on something, we'll nudge your project in a helpful direction.
We'll check in with you weekly to see how your project is going. Expect these to be more like casual conversations; they can last anywhere from 5 minutes to 2 hours — whatever works.
We will have two demo days, one in the middle and one at the end of the program. This is a great opportunity to get to know each other and try out each other's projects. The first demo will be just for each other; for the last demo, bring your friends and show off what you've done!
We hope that what you get out of Project School is more than just a project. There is an immense amount of learning that happens every time you work with somebody new. The friendships you make working heads down on a project together will last beyond the 3 months and into the rest of your life.
| Jan 22 | Jan 31 | Feb 6 | Feb 19 | Mar 20 | May 1 |
| Apps due | Decisions out | Start | Choose projects | Half-way demos | Project demos |
| Jan 22 | Apps due |
| Jan 31 | Decisions out |
| Feb 6 | Start |
| Feb 19 | Choose projects |
| Mar 20 | Half-way demos |
| May 1 | Project demos |
Goal: compiling knowledge in an "apt-get" format for humans.
Actual work: making spaced repetition decks with friends.
Goal: pairing people from all walks of life to find mentors.
Actual work: posting Google forms in internet communities and getting very few responses.
Goal: build a better library of human knowledge.
Actual work: web crawler go brr (at 1 billion pages/day/node).
Goal: a community of learning.
Actual work: hire grad students, run academic classes for 25 year olds.
Projects don't need to be code, applications, or products (though they certainly can be!). In fact. some of the highest leverage projects work directly with people instead of software, organizing them to do interesting things. A project should be something that starts with you and your friends, can scale in an interesting way, and be something that people want. Anything that loosely fits those criteria is a project!
You can absolutely bring it to Project School. Be open to us nudging your project in a different direction, especially at the beginning. Also, every project needs a partner, so if you don't have one already we'll do our best to help you find one.
Project School isn't the place to grow your startup. However, if you're having trouble getting your friends excited to work with you, we've found it can be helpful to turn the startup back into a project. In this case, we'll be happy to work with you.
You don't need to be in one of these categories; if you want to work in a community of project-y people, apply!
We aren't looking for specific majors, interests, or class years. We don't screen for previous experience - resumes not accepted!
The types of people who enjoy Project School think about using their time impactfully, consider society and improvements critically, and love turning vague ideas to something real.
Other members of Project School! During the first two weeks, you will to get know each other and form teams that will last the duration of the program. If you're applying with a partner, you're free to work with them. However, this is a great opportunity to work with someone new; we've found that one of the best ways to get to know someone is to work with them.