Our Application Process - Why It is So Unique and Effective

At Futures Forge we want to assemble the strongest possible teams across all our courses: smart, motivated peers who can match your intensity and push you to grow. That’s where we put our energy.

To make that possible, our application process is built to mimic the real world. In work, you use every tool available, including AI. If we required essays, we would expect AI to write them, and we would never waste time reading thousands of generated pages. So we cut that step entirely.

This is a sharp break from the traditional college model, which is built around elitism, scarcity, and perception of value. There, you’re asked to pour time into assignments, like essays that are rarely interesting, only to have a stranger scan them and decide if you’re “in.” These tests don’t really measure ability. You’ve likely seen the same thing at other summer courses or in similar processes yourself.

Instead, we put our effort into building a better experience for you next summer.

What Matters in Our Process/What is Important

Our perspective is that in order for you to maximize growth you need to be surrounded by similarly able peers. For that reason, we have a minimum cognitive ability requirement to ensure you can keep pace with the speed and complexity of our courses.

We’ve expanded this pool by a degree of 10 percentiles in the last year. This is because our pedagogy develops skills far beyond what typical tests measure and we’ve found students shine in different ways. Alongside this the GPA option has been included, however if you qualify using GPA, you’ll have to take part in a cognitive ability assessment before attending. This is because GPA is an unreliable measure of cognitive ability or other skills: grade inflation, the art of “advocating for the A” with a teacher, and other highly subjective factors mean that we do not put much weight in it (and this is becoming increasingly true of top employers as well).

Alongside ability, we also consider age when forming groups. While ability is the core driver, age alignment ensures that team members can connect socially as well as intellectually.

The Steps in Our Application

The application process for all courses begins with the pre-application steps:

Pre-Application (Same for All courses)

Our first step is for you to be screened to make sure you know what you’re getting into, and understand the high performance skills and the methodology we use. You’ll get constant feedback. That’s why we use AI for our screening interview , and that’s why we train you to pass it.

1. Pre-Application Registration

Provide basic information and indicate your interests.

2. Initial Cognitive Review

Submit a verified cognitive ability score. This confirms you meet the minimum standard and helps us see how you’ll perform in team-based learning and group for similarly able peers.

3. Demonstration of Understanding

Complete an AI-powered interview with coaching. This step ensures you understand the high-performance learning model and constant feedback culture. It is not designed to trip you up or knock you out if you have done your research.

Once you have completed the pre-application, you may then officially apply for our courses. Here we test your understanding deeper with written responses and a live online interview. We have a 100% interview requirement. Live human being interview. Curating a strong class is critical for us. 

The Skills for Success process looks like this:

4. Intro Video

Record a short video introducing yourself. This lets us see your communication style and enthusiasm.

5. Live Interview

Every applicant interviews with a real human. We look for motivation, readiness for team-based work, and openness to feedback.

6. Response to Feedback

After your interview, you receive feedback and respond to it. Your ability to adapt and improve based on feedback is central to our pedagogy.

What We’re Solving/Why This Process

Last year, we saw two consistent issues:

• Some students didn’t fully understand what they were entering and were shocked by the intensity.

• Some wasted their interview trying to bluff their way through.

We have removed both problems. The new process makes expectations clear from the start and filters for students who are serious about growth.

The Bigger Picture

Team-based learning is the core of the Futures Forge pedagogy. Research shows young adults learn more from peers than from authority figures. We tap into that power by curating a motivated, high-performance group and teaching you how to give and receive feedback.

Our screening ensures that every student in the program can perform in this system. Once we know you well, we can accelerate your entry into other courses such as the FLC.