Makeschool admissions policy: the beginning of institutionally supported ageism?
"What age do I have to be?
Our typical student is aged 18-25, 18 is the minimum age (for legal reasons) but there's no upper age. Whether you have a CS degree and want to beef up your skills or you're a high school grad and want to jump into your career, you should apply!"
[1] https://www.makeschool.com/admissions
Startups in the Valley have a documented problem with ageism (sexism too, but let's stick to one issue at a time for now). Makeschool is not an employer, so the same rules about age discrimination do not apply for their admissions. They say that there is no upper limit for admissions. However, by explicitly providing an age range like this, it gives the impression that it will be difficult for older students to be accepted, and that they may feel out of place if they were accepted. It easily intimidates them from applying in the first place.
As Makeschool is trying to position themselves as a kind of talent pipeline into the start-up ecosystem with their partners/investors, this feels like the beginning of institutionally supported ageism in the hiring process. Makeschool is funded and/or partners with some of the biggest names in town, who also support a lot of other companies. If these companies start saying that they only take graduates from this program or programs like it... well, it all seems set up to exclude otherwise talented people discovered their love of programming or entrepreneurship after the age of 25.
I just really don't like seeing a recommended age range on a program for which there is no practical reason to do so. People can learn a new skill at any point in their life, not just their late teens or early 20s.