Education Marketing Video Production
Make School
Read Full Transcript of This Video
Transcript: Make School
**Jeremy Rossman, Co-Founder and CEO, Make School:** So here's the thing, the app is the new resume. And with that in mind, how are you going to spend your summer?
Make School Summer Academy will teach you how to design, program, and launch your own iPhone app.
Every summer, high school and college students from over 50 countries come from around the world to study at Make School.
Listen to what our instructors and students have to say.
**Make School Student:** First of all.
**Make School Student:** It's like a whole new world you're really able to create anything.
**Make School Instructor:** The Summer Academy is a two-month long hackathon.
**Make School Instructor:** If you create an app, you'll probably post it to the iTunes app store.
**Make School Student:** And it was cool then seeing like, hey, someone downloaded over here in Europe, someone downloaded here in America.
**Make School Student:** It's amazing!
**Make School Instructor:** The community is really geared for that kind of 13 to 25, all the way from middle school through college-aged people.
And they want to be in a room full of 100 people just like them and make friends and have fun all summer.
About This Video
Make School Summer Academy is an iPhone app development program in San Francisco that draws high school and college students from over 50 countries each summer. The program runs like "a two-month long hackathon" — and if you build something, you'll probably post it to the iTunes App Store. Students have watched their apps get downloaded in Europe and America in the same day. The video opens with the premise: "the app is the new resume." That's not a tagline — it's the actual argument for why a high schooler should spend their summer learning to code instead of doing something else. The <span class="strong">student recruitment video</span> works because it doesn't sell the program abstractly. Students and instructors describe what the experience is, and the claim makes itself.
How do you film a student recruitment video that converts applicants?
Let students describe the experience in terms that matter to the next applicant. In the Make School video, 'it's like a whole new world — you're really able to create anything' and 'it was cool seeing someone downloaded [my app] in Europe' do more than any program description could. The pitch in the video is also unusually direct: 'the app is the new resume.' A future student either connects with that or they don't. That specificity filters in the right people.
What should an education program look for in a video production company?
Someone who can structure a short video around a single, clear argument — not a list of features. Make School's video is organized around one idea: that building a real app is the most valuable thing you can do with your summer. Everything else — the hackathon format, the iTunes App Store, the 50 countries, the community of 13-to-25-year-olds who want to be in a room full of people like them — serves that argument. A production company that gets that structure makes the video work.
Why are student voices important in education marketing videos?
Because programs can say anything about themselves. Students can only describe what they actually experienced. 'First of all, it's flowing' and 'you're really able to create anything' are not polished testimonials — they're honest reactions, and that honesty is what makes them useful to someone deciding whether to apply. The instructor voice in the Make School video adds structure (two-month hackathon, iTunes App Store, the age range of the community), but the student reactions are what make the program feel real.
Who benefits most from this type of recruitment video?
Education programs with an outcome that's concrete and demonstrable — not a feeling, a deliverable. Make School's outcome is an iPhone app posted to the iTunes App Store. That's specific enough to be meaningful and verifiable. Programs in coding, design, film, culinary arts, and other skill-based fields have the same advantage: the work exists when you're done. A video that shows the work and the people doing it is more persuasive than any program overview.
