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This, 100%. I'm a student and, while ISAs make Lambda interesting, am mostly disappointed due to the terrible educational quality (and staff's refusal to admit

This, 100%. I'm a student and, while ISAs make Lambda interesting, am mostly disappointed due to the terrible educational quality (and staff's refusal to admit that the quality is pretty low across the board). Still, though, I've noticed the ISAs create some nuanced perverse things happening that are specific to Lambda - students attracted to the value prop are often much lower income (Lambda cited $22K average starting salary amongst their students) than the average bootcamp student. If Lambda fails them, these students may leave in worse financial prospects than they started with no safety net. The ISA also kicks in at 40% when you're only 4 weeks into a 40 week curriculum. After that point, it's very hard to leave due to sunk cost fallacy, and you are roped along wasting time, hoping for them to get their stuff together. I wish I and others left well before.

the_watcher 7y ago
The last part seems like it could easily be improved by simply tying it to the portion of the curriculum covered.
- nicesnowoman 7y ago
  I doubt they'd do that because it'd be bad for Lambda's financials.
- austenallred 7y ago
  That is exactly how it happens. It’s 10% per week for the first 10 weeks, except you don’t owe anything at all until week 4. So it’s fully locked in at 10 weeks but is gradual until then.
  - wpietri 7y ago
    That is definitely not proportional. For 40 weeks, proportional would not be 10% per week, but 2.5% per week.
    - austenallred 7y ago
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      - the_watcher 7y ago
        The pushback here is that this isn't proportional to the duration of the program. While you're right that this is proportional for 10 weeks, it's not proportional to program duration. If your position is that it's fair to charge 100% tuition for a 40 week program after 10 weeks, make that argument. Don't try to argue that 10% per week for 10 weeks is somehow proportional to 40 weeks. I'm a big fan of Lambda and am a pretty vocal defender, but this is simply misleading.
        austenallred 7y ago
        We're clearly talking past each other. Yes, I think it's fair to owe full tuition once you're past 10 weeks in Lambda School, especially given a generous 4-week dropout period during which you owe nothing.
        nicesnowoman 7y ago
        It isn't generous at all. The material only seemed to get worse and worse to the point where it's basically unbearable by the time you hit Labs at the 4-5 month mark. Those with good experiences are lucky. Many others are stuck in the worst group settings possible. You rope students in who have already quit their jobs for this opportunity. Most are going to want to hope for the best and stick it out, even if things seem fishy in the first 4 weeks. Not only that, but Lambda often changes everything up after enrollment so the marketing materials/curriculum on the website are NOT the guarantee of what is delivered. You package this chaos up as "we are constantly improving" but the early cohorts who dry-run your experimental changes suffer greatly when curriculum is so underdeveloped to the point where we have to find so much supplementary material.
        the_watcher 7y ago
        I think that's a perfectly reasonable position to take and is more generous than the alternative (as someone who dropped out of a degree program, I can attest that I wasn't able to return any of my student loans 6 weeks into the semester. I checked). I wasn't trying to talk past you. My original comment was that a specific complaint about the amount owed being 40% after 4 weeks, despite 4 weeks not representing 40% of the program, could be addressed by tying payment directly to portion of curriculum covered. You responded that this is how it works, but you redefined the denominator in the proportion from the original complaint. I don't think you're doing this in bad faith, I'm legitimately just trying to point out a response something that is clearly a frustration isn't translating how you intended.
heymijo 7y ago
I’m really sorry to hear you feel stuck. I hope you come out the other end of this with good prospects in spite of the inadequate training Lambda is providing. Thanks for adding your insight and experience to this thread.

the_watcher 7y ago

The last part seems like it could easily be improved by simply tying it to the portion of the curriculum covered.

nicesnowoman 7y ago
I doubt they'd do that because it'd be bad for Lambda's financials.
austenallred 7y ago
That is exactly how it happens. It’s 10% per week for the first 10 weeks, except you don’t owe anything at all until week 4. So it’s fully locked in at 10 weeks but is gradual until then.
- wpietri 7y ago
  That is definitely not proportional. For 40 weeks, proportional would not be 10% per week, but 2.5% per week.
  - austenallred 7y ago
    0 0 0 40 50 60 70 80 90 100
    - the_watcher 7y ago
      The pushback here is that this isn't proportional to the duration of the program. While you're right that this is proportional for 10 weeks, it's not proportional to program duration. If your position is that it's fair to charge 100% tuition for a 40 week program after 10 weeks, make that argument. Don't try to argue that 10% per week for 10 weeks is somehow proportional to 40 weeks. I'm a big fan of Lambda and am a pretty vocal defender, but this is simply misleading.
      - austenallred 7y ago
        We're clearly talking past each other. Yes, I think it's fair to owe full tuition once you're past 10 weeks in Lambda School, especially given a generous 4-week dropout period during which you owe nothing.
        nicesnowoman 7y ago
        It isn't generous at all. The material only seemed to get worse and worse to the point where it's basically unbearable by the time you hit Labs at the 4-5 month mark. Those with good experiences are lucky. Many others are stuck in the worst group settings possible. You rope students in who have already quit their jobs for this opportunity. Most are going to want to hope for the best and stick it out, even if things seem fishy in the first 4 weeks. Not only that, but Lambda often changes everything up after enrollment so the marketing materials/curriculum on the website are NOT the guarantee of what is delivered. You package this chaos up as "we are constantly improving" but the early cohorts who dry-run your experimental changes suffer greatly when curriculum is so underdeveloped to the point where we have to find so much supplementary material.
        the_watcher 7y ago
        I think that's a perfectly reasonable position to take and is more generous than the alternative (as someone who dropped out of a degree program, I can attest that I wasn't able to return any of my student loans 6 weeks into the semester. I checked). I wasn't trying to talk past you. My original comment was that a specific complaint about the amount owed being 40% after 4 weeks, despite 4 weeks not representing 40% of the program, could be addressed by tying payment directly to portion of curriculum covered. You responded that this is how it works, but you redefined the denominator in the proportion from the original complaint. I don't think you're doing this in bad faith, I'm legitimately just trying to point out a response something that is clearly a frustration isn't translating how you intended.

heymijo 7y ago

I’m really sorry to hear you feel stuck. I hope you come out the other end of this with good prospects in spite of the inadequate training Lambda is providing. Thanks for adding your insight and experience to this thread.