Skills for Success Course
High Performance Pre-Career
Boston University, Summer 2025
June 15-27, June 29-July 11, July 13-25
Apply for the 2025 Skills for Success Course - Applications are open!
Become prepared to take on the toughest challenges in your future with panache! Develop the skills that are critical to success in college and your career — and will impress the heck out of college and job recruiters.
Rapidly accelerate your development, working with exceptional peers in dynamic, challenging, and exciting projects that prepare you for a powerful college experience and a high-flying career, regardless of the role.
What Our Students are Saying
Hear from Ryan
Hear from Berra, an International Student (Istanbul, Turkey)
Hear from Olivia
“This program has triggered me to grow myself. By creating an environment for innovative approaches, facilitating open feedback and by putting students in situations where they need to problem solve effectively, Futures Forge taught me so much.”
--Olivia, S4S 2024
Our alumni on how Futures Forge helped them transform - in 2 mins or less
Hear from Zeybek
“Just do it!. You’ll learn more in 2 weeks than in 2 years of high school. You learn so many useful skills that you never learned in high school and you meet lifelong friends."
-Zeybek, S4S 2024
Join Upcoming Webinars
Meet founders, facilitators, and alumni at our upcoming webinars this fall. Select below which webinar you want to attend, and you’ll receive an invitation via email.
Founders, Leaders, Curriculum Developers
Futures Forge's founders graduated from MIT and Oxford and founded multiple companies (management consulting, devtools startup, hardware startup). We have published books on political polarization, tertiary education, and technical problem-solving, and have jointly coached and managed over 100 top-talent young adults.
Skills for Success develops the same skills, using the same methods, that the founders used to rapidly develop Ivy+ talent since the 2000s. We call this system “catalytic learning;” it is by-design radically different from normal classroom teaching.
The foundation of our companies’ success has always been the rapid development of talented young people; our employees have gone on to found, lead, and accelerate dozens of great businesses. Today, we are developing talent all over the world using the methods we learned and developed.
We loved leading the 2024 Skills for Success Course and are excited for much more to come in 2025 and beyond.
Who is Skills for Success for?
We’re looking for students who demonstrate:
Scores in the top 20% of standardized cognitive tests
A passion for learning and intellectual curiosity
Ambition to excel and lead
A collaborative mindset
Adaptability and resilience in challenging situations
A great relationship with feedback and growth
What Students Learn in Skills for Success
Through hands-on project-based challenges, presentations, coaching and feedback, reflection, and cognitive exercises, students improve their ability to perform in cognitively challenging future endeavors in school and work.
2024 students highlighted that they most improved in:
Teamwork and leadership
Complex problem-solving and critical thinking
Communication and presentation
Adaptability, personal motivation, and grit
Learning from giving and receiving feedback
The Course exists to give students an introduction to developing key attributes and increasing their rate of learning throughout their lives. These skills attributes are shown by academic research and known by industry to be the key levers in future performance. Over these two weeks, students are stretched far past what they are accustomed to in school. With their facilitators and coaches, students practice these skills “in battle,” find where they can improve as teams and individuals, receive direct feedback and coaching, and iterate quickly. This leads to tremendous growth in two weeks as well as the foundation for further growth during high school and college.
Students consciously practice and reflect on using these attributes throughout the course to accelerate their development for years to come.
What does a day look and feel like at Skills for Success?
In these two videos:
Erik shares the schedule, and describes and explains the challenge -> coaching cycle during the day, the nature of challenges, how they work, and a few examples to really get a feel for them.
Raif, a 2024 alum, shares from the student perspective what a day in the life actually looks like, thanks to recording and editing during the course! (Thank you Raif!)
Complete the Skills for
Success Application Here
Example Challenges
Each day, a Challenge stands as the centerpiece of learning and growth. They run a gamut of business-like topics, including strategy, marketing, project management, product development, operations, etc. Each challenge roughly looks like:
A novel business-like or engineering-like goal, problem, or objective, and a minimum set of boundaries
A limited set of resources (time, money, etc)
Guidance on where to begin learning what to do and what it takes to win
Students have broad leeway and high responsibility for iterating and succeeding in each challenge. Facilitators use the Socratic method and spot feedback to help students maximize learning and not get too stuck.
While we don’t share the details of most our challenges (so as to not ruin the surprise), a few look like this:
Build a physical device to consistently achieve an objective, with highly limited building resources and time
Help a simulated startup fix product-market fit issues
Learn and fix why a bunch of employees are leaving a company
Reform and upgrade the Boston recycling system
Diagnose and fix a car that won’t start (without a mechanic)
Students attack and solve the problem, present their solution and approach to peers and facilitators, and discuss how they’ll incorporate feedback into the next day’s challenge.
Coaching and Mentoring
Students are each assigned a coach for their team and themselves individually. Coaches are present during challenges and modules to provide immediate feedback and take notes. In the afternoons and evenings, coaches meet with teams and individuals with two goals in mind:
Help teams incorporate direct feedback and learning from the challenge in order to iteratively improve their performance the next day
Help the individual students overcome their own psychological barriers to growth, and help them find their inner motivation
We draft our coaches from top universities such as MIT, Tufts, Dartmouth, and Exeter. We train them in the feedback and coaching methods used in top management consulting firms, and continue coaching them throughout the program.
The majority of our students said that the passion and talent of their coaches was even more important than the quality of the curriculum.
Sam Goldstone - Sr. Facilitator
Sam Goldstone is a rising senior at Tufts University who has been heavily involved in the educational realm since high school. First as captain of his debate team and an instructor and director for Lumos Debate, Sam knows firsthand how to create and oversee effective programming that teaches high schoolers the important real world critical thinking and analytical skills that Futures Forge promises to deliver. Through experiences in his consulting club in college, he's been able to both enhance his own skills in problem-solving, project management and interpersonal communication and help motivate others to do the same. As a Sophomore Advisor that lived in a freshman dorm, Sam has helped support students' emotional needs while they were away from home for the first time. Sam is deeply passionate about Futures Forge's mission and can't wait to start facilitating effective programming this summer!
Kelly Gildea - Facilitator
Kelly Gildea is a rising sophomore at Harvard University. Currently studying applied math and economics, she's interested in exploring the intersections between economics and education. As a tutor at Dewey Smart Education and ABC Math Academy, she's worked with high school students in a wide variety of areas, from SAT prep and trigonometry help to extracurricular development and college essay improvement. At Harvard, she's involved in consulting and finance work, developing project management skills through the former and facilitating Harvard's largest financial education program through the latter. She's super excited to work with the students at Futures Forge this summer and help them to develop skills key to success in college and beyond!
Alisa Hil - Sr. Facilitator
Alisa Hil is a sophomore at MIT studying computer science with the life mission to revolutionize the educational system. Since middle school she had helped peers with math, physics, and languages, later consulted them on how to make money online while being a teenager. Being in high school she tried to create the online school where teenagers can learn needed skills for life outside of the classes. Being Ukrainian, Alisa had experienced both European and American systems of education that gives her clear vision of its drawbacks to address them. At MIT, Alisa is on executive board of MIT Entrepreneurship club where she solves problems, develop the brand of the club and makes it better place for startup-minded students. Along with Futures Forge values, she is eager to change the perspective on learning and help students to success.
Emily Sullivan - Facilitator
Emily is a rising Senior at Tufts University studying Clinical Psychology and English. At Tufts, she is involved with groups focusing on mental health, community building, and social-emotional learning. As a tutor, she has also built a passion for education and ensuring students have access to the educational experiences they want. She spent high school involved in extracurriculars that focused on problem solving, teamwork, and creativity. She is excited to be a part of Futures Forge and back in a space that promotes those skills in students!
George Pygall - Senior Facilitator
Anna Whitney - Facilitator
Anna Whitney is a senior at Smith College, where she will earn her degree in American Studies with a minor in Spanish this May. She is deeply passionate about supporting young people in reaching their full potential and helping them find the best paths for their futures. Anna has honed the skills to support this growth through previous roles as a Program Director and Counselor at an overnight summer camp, as well as an English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) teacher. At Smith, she serves on the council of her house, working to foster community and resolve conflicts within the house. She is thrilled to work with Futures Forge students this summer and help guide them toward becoming the best team players, self-starters, and problem-solvers they can be.
George is a graduate of the University of Exter (In the UK) as of 2024. Throughout his studies, he co-founded an agency to help business owners grow organically and has been involved in multiple sales roles of which he still plays a part in now. George spent most of his studies developing skills which most students don't take the initiative to do; problem-solving, managing teams and selling across industries. George's values strongly align with that at Futures Forge, he was not prepared at high school or university for the skills which are helping him excel most now. Last year, George was a Facilitator, and is back for lots more. George currently works full-time for Futures Forge as a Senior Facilitator and Recruiter, and is excited to help students excel this summer.
What Students Learned: In Their Own Words
Daily Structure of the Course
Brief introduction to the challenge and key skills for it
Preparation, research, and exploration
Taking on the challenge!
Presenting how the group approached the challenge
Feedback between groups about performance, presentation strength, and what could have gone better
Group and individual coaching with facilitators to accelerate development in top-priority areas
Reflection and integration of lessons learned
Evening fun time and bonding with your cohort!
What Students Get in the Course
Increased confidence to take on high-responsibility, complex goals and challenges
Improved capacity to perform, communicate, give feedback, and work in teams
Understanding of strengths & development areas in key skills & attributes
Paths to continuously improve these skills
Personalized growth plan from the lead facilitators
A strong story of rapid growth and increased self-awareness for a college admissions essay
The 2025 Skills for Success Course In Brief
For: Ages 15-18
Scored PSAT 1150+, SAT 1250+, SSAT 80th+, or ACT 25+
(UK: combined score of 63 across GCSE grades or 7+ holistically)
(Other cognitive ability scores are accepted)
When:
June 15 - June 27
June 29 - July 11
July 13 - July 25
Where: Boston University, Boston, MA - Residential
Cost: $5,690 - all-inclusive
Complete the Skills for
Success Application Here
Admissions & Tuition
Accepting rolling applications through March 31, 2025.
Cognitive ability results - US Students:
Futures Forge welcomes high school students and graduates to apply if they have scored over 80th percentile on a standardized cognitive ability exam such as the PSAT, ACT, SAT, WISC, or other standardized test. When in doubt, send your result and we will review it.
We will also accept five AP exams with a minimum total score of 22.
Cognitive ability results - International Students:
GCSE/IGCSE grades may be submitted with a total score of 63 or a 7+ holistically. We will also accept IB scores of 35 or higher.
Students who can demonstrate that they are in the top 10% of their class may submit their class rankings. Your country’s national standard exam results may be submitted if you rank 80th+ percentile.
Those yet to take such a test will be invited to take the Ravens Progressive Matrices (RPM) to qualify.
Interviews:
While spots are limited, these cognitive ability tests are sufficient to qualify. Qualified students will be invited to information sessions with facilitators and founders, and interviewed for their ability to learn quickly and operate in complex social dynamics.
Tuition
Costs are $5,690 total, including all teaching, materials, room and board, and meals. Some spending money is encouraged.
Merit-Qualified Financial Aid
Financial aid is available based on a combination of demonstrated cognitive ability, interview strength, and demonstrated financial need. Financial aid are currently available for US residents only. In order to be eligible for aid, you must declare for the Financial Aid Block. The Financial Aid Block has higher standards for admission for both test score and interview.
Note that financial aid funds are limited; qualified test scores do not guarantee an award. Those who receive a financial aid offer will need to go through a diligence process to confirm financial need. They are also second priority in booking interviews and choosing session dates.
90th-97th percentile test scores prequalify for a Half Scholarship (up to 50% of fees, based on total financial need)
98th+ percentile scores prequalify for a Full Scholarship (up to 100% of fees, based on total financial need)
Full Scholars are expected to provide $500 to support boarding expenses.
