Our policies on what's expected from
our students, refunds, and moreDesignlab offers two tracks for students to choose from.
UX Academy is a rigorous academic program. In order to graduate, you must meet the following requirements.
You must complete 100% of the assigned readings & projects with mentor approval according to the course schedule, and submit iterations for projects based on mentor feedback.
You may not fall more than 40 hours behind the course schedule.
Throughout the course, your work will be evaluated and approved by your mentor. We expect that through practice and iteration, your deliverables will meet a baseline level of quality. Two weeks of buffer time (one per phase) are built into the course schedule to allow you to make extra iterations on your design work.
In case special circumstances come up (travel, medical emergencies, etc.), we allow you up to two pauses, each one week long, to use at your discretion throughout the course. During a pause, you will have access to your coursework, but you won’t be able to schedule mentor sessions. Students who wish to pause for more than two weeks total must withdraw from the course, receive a pro-rated refund, and re-apply to enter the program in a future cohort.
You must attend all of your 1-on-1 mentor sessions, meeting with your mentor regularly according to the program schedule (refer to Program Overview above).
Out of respect for your mentor’s time, if you need to cancel or reschedule a session, you must give your mentor at least 24 hours notice. Failure to do so will result in the session being forfeited and counted towards your session limit with that mentor (for the purposes of this graduation requirement, a forfeited session counts as an attended session). You may forfeit no more than two sessions during the program.
You must attend the minimum number of Group Crits specified in the Program Overview above.
Some of your Group Crit session requirements may be excused by Designlab, for example in the case of certain holidays. In the case that Group Crits are specified as optional for a certain time period, you would not be required to make up those sessions.
We reserve the right to withdraw you from UX Academy at any point throughout the duration of the program. Reasons for withdrawal include, but are not limited to, failing to meet any of the requirements outlined above.
If you’re unable to receive an offer for a design role (full-time, part-time, freelance, internship, or apprenticeship) after successfully completing UX Academy and six months of Career Services, you may be eligible for a full tuition refund.
All students must meet minimum program requirements to stay enrolled in Career Services. We have a specific set of additional requirements if you’d like to remain eligible for the Tuition Reimbursement Guarantee.
All students in Career Services | To remain eligible for the Tuition Reimbursement Guarantee | |
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Set up a Huntr BoardWhen you start Career Services, you’ll receive an invitation to set up your job hunting board. You must accept the invite, set up your account, and share your board with your career coach. |
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Respond to Coach communicationsYou must respond to all Coach communications within 48 hours |
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Attend weekly Coaching sessionsYou must attend Coach sessions every week for the first 18 weeks. You may not forfeit any Coach sessions. |
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Community GuidelinesAll students must uphold our Designlab Community Guidelines. |
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Start Career Services immediatelyYou must begin Career Services immediately after passing your Portfolio Review and graduating, without taking a pause or break |
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Complete assigned workIf you’ve yet to land a role after your first 18 weeks of Career Services, Designlab provides you 6 additional weeks of curriculum to support your job search. You must follow along with this curriculum, attend additional assigned sessions, and complete all required work. |
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Location GuidelinesYou must focus your job search on a maximum of two cities from our approved list below, and you must be located within commuting distance of one of those cities before beginning Career Services. You must also be eligible to work in your target city legally, and be above the age of 21. |
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Apply to jobsYou must apply to at least five jobs per week in your target location(s), unless you and your Coach agree to focus instead on initial stages of the job hunt such as portfolio/resume improvement (only appropriate within the first two weeks; students must begin applying to roles no later than Week 3). You must track all jobs applied, add a link to a screenshot of your job application or confirmation email to the notes, and move each job applied through appropriate stages in Huntr. |
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Follow up on job applicationsKeep your Huntr board up-to-date with follow-up efforts and additional communications. If you do not get a response from any of your initial job applications, you must follow up in some way at least one time to attempt to gain feedback. |
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Attend networking eventsYou must attend at least two networking events or meetups in at least one of your target locations per month. You must provide the event link and document your attendance via the monthly Progress Checkpoint or they do not qualify as completed. |
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Apply for relevant rolesYou must be searching for a UX Designer or Product Designer role. UX Academy and Career Services are designed to help students land generalist positions (UX Designer, UX/UI Designer, Product Designer). Our system and curriculum are not designed to support junior-level students pursuing specialized roles (UX Researcher, UX Strategist, UX Analyst, etc.) at this time. |
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Keep us informed of news in your job searchYou must complete the “I’m Hired” form to notify Designlab of any employment offer you receive (full-time, internship, apprenticeship, or contract role). |
To retain eligibility for the Tuition Reimbursement Guarantee, pauses in Career Services are not permissible under any circumstances.
Should you need to take a break or delay starting Career Services, we can pause Career Services for you. We’ll continue to provide up to 18 sessions with your Coach, however you’ll no longer be eligible for the Tuition Reimbursement Guarantee.
Breaks or delays longer than two months will be considered an election to opt out of Career Services.
The Tuition Reimbursement Guarantee does not apply to students who have been convicted of a felony in the last seven years.
You must submit a request, in writing, to Designlab at hello@trydesignlab.com no later than nine months after starting Career Services. You must provide evidence that you fulfill all the eligibility requirements listed under Career Services above.
By participating in the UX Academy program, you are agreeing to share your outcome data with us when we request it. Personal information will be kept confidential but may be used in outcome reporting.
Last Updated: August 13, 2019