ESCAPE FROM THIS FALSE ADVERTISEMENT PROGRAM!!! If I could give a zero star rating, I would. Extremely unprofessional staff. I don't even know where to begin. The admissions team took forever to reply back waited 2-3 months to get in touch. After getting into the program staff was EXTREMELY UNPROFESSIONAL. You guys were supposed to train us to get a job in the cooperate world but instead, the staff and manager treated us poorly without any support. They always tell us to reach out to them but we NEVER get a response back from staff members when we needed clarifications. So we had 3 classes business communication, CDIR, and track placement. I felt like I was just sitting all day via zoom learning NOTHING wasting time!! The grading policy was so unfair we had so little time to turn in assignments when we had multiple assignments due at the same time. When we turn in assignments late even by one minute we would get infractions by losing points for our contracts. For my speech presentation, my camera was off because of technical difficulties and I told my instructor and she gave me a 40/75 and commented that I had the hiccups during the presentation when I NEVER had the hiccups. Also, Paris was the manager for LC Achieve she would cancel everybody for 1:1 check-in meetings without notifying us and blame us for not attending those meetings. The only word she is repeating every week is the word be "transparent" she doesn't know other vocabularies. I got so sick and tired of her saying ALL THE TIME. The staff/director even took our lunches away for some shitty announcements. They don't care about us for not taking breaks and when they ask how was our lunch break we would say "we didn't eat lunch" and the staff is saying "y'all should eat....." Like seriously they should give us our break time we can't even eat with the camera on or else we could get infractions and be called out for not following workplace norms. One of the instructors gave everybody FALSE infractions for "not accepting" calendar holds and we had PROOF to her but she still gave us the infractions for punishing us and saying that it is our fault. This program is truly UNPROFESSIONAL AND WASTING TIME. I don't recommend this place at all NOT worth being all stressed out all the time. They said they are here to support but trust me they're not. I just wasted time and high school was a lot better than this. I could've gone back to college than being in this shitty-ass program. read more

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If I could give a zero star rating, I would. Extremely unprofessional staff. Warning: LONG review I recommended this program to my friend who has been wanting to make positive changes in his life, and I wish I never had. Anyway, he applied around end of October I believe, and had his interview first week of December. There was one problem though - his green card expired, but his naturalization is in process and has been delayed due to COVID. He called USCIS about it and he was told that his receipt for naturalization should be sufficient. Unfortunately, he was told by the Year Up interviewer, Tanesha, that they need a work authorization with a set expiration date, and that to submit it before the end of the year. OK - he was able to set an appointment to get a one year extension for his green card (which by the way took a lot of effort to even get one) so by mid December, he submitted the document to Tanesha's email. January came but my friend never received any update from Year Up, despite sending them multiple emails. Calling their phone numbers didn't work either. So I decided to send them a message on Facebook in hopes of getting a response back. I didn't get a response til the end of January. But prior to getting a response from their FB page, my friend actually received a call from Tanesha asking for an update regarding his work authorization and that she saw that he just sent her an email but she hasn't opened it yet. Why would you even call without first opening the email? That's stupid. The email literally contains an update regarding his work authorization. Anyway, he was told to email it AGAIN to her and that he'll hear back from them a week later. Well, surprise surprise, no update a week later, two weeks later, three weeks later, and so on. Back to FB - the agent informed me that one of the head people of admissions will message Tanesha and Cheri and ask them to reach out to my friend. There was a lot of going back and forth before finally getting an update. Last week of February--yes you're reading that correctly--my friend received a voicemail from Cheri. Guess what? Cheri said that they were just waiting to receive his work authorization and that was the only thing holding him up. He literally sent his work authorization multiple times to them with no update or confirmation whatsoever. The next day, he spoke on the phone with Cheri and was told to send his work authorization via text. Ok - he hung up and sent it. After that, no more reply from her ever again. He followed up the next week and still no reply. At this point, he had been waiting for three months now since his interview, and the start of Spring cohort was nearing. So, I messaged the agent on their FB page again. I was told that they followed up with Cheri. He received a call few days later and was told that his work authorization got denied as it is only valid for a year. What a joke, right? His naturalization is in process, and should be done before his green card extension even expires. Is it not possible for him to send them his naturalization certificate middle of the year? Why would they deny it for the sole reason it expires in a year? Don't people get their green cards renewed just months before they expire? Are they kidding? It's absolutely ridiculous! USCIS could only give him a maximum of one year because it'd basically be pointless to give him more than that as his naturalization should be finalized before his extension even expires. And why did Year Up take so long to tell him this? Two weeks before the cohort starts? He waited three months - maybe if they had told him soon enough, he could've done something about it. But it just seemed like they told him last minute on purpose. I sent a long message regarding this on their FB page, but they stopped replying to me as soon as they found out my friend got denied. So much for wanting to help us. (See screenshot) We were extremely patient and kind the whole time, as he really wanted to join the program. Unfortunately, Year Up dropped the ball on him. Sorry for the long review, just really frustrated. *might post this review on their FB page as well* read more

Year Up - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - San Francisco, California

The program model itself is fine but the staff has terrible, terrible people who do not belong in this line of work. You guys aren't the only program out there who are trying to change lives, I have experience with tons of other programs that employs people who will actually be empathetic and actually help the people who are ALREADY STRUGGLING, understand why their FINANCIAL TROUBLES are holding them back and work together with them. What is the point of the program to punish people to "show them what the real world work place" is like??? People would get paid more money, they would have more time on their hands when they aren't working multiple jobs AND attending training. The people who run this program aren't people who understand what struggling is like at all. Then saying we need to PROVE WE DESERVE IT. Go to therapy to handle your massive egos. The employees are terrible. You then BLAME the people who went through the program when they don't succeed and YOURSELVES refuse to grow and take accountability, the same things you guys LOVE to preach. You literally talk about how difficult networking and getting a foot in the door is, and then talk about how you can teach it, but then don't help when people ask for assistance?? I feel like that is a HUGE red flag for a program to be unable to deliver on its promises. read more

Year Up changes lives and because of Year Up I'm enrolled back in college, working full time, building a strong network, and gaining knowledge in many different things. I've learned so much from this program and I've grown into this a 2.0 version of what I use to be. I'm a graduate from Year Up and I'm now working full time for them. Prior to working here I worked in Corporate America for a company called Responsys for 2 years, a company that does email marketing. Responsys is where I was placed for my internship through Year Up and after my internship was over they offered me a job. This program help set me up for a better life and a better future. The link to documentary below will demonstrate to you what this program can do for you. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSleddhm6Bo Year Up is definitely a 5 star in my book. read more

Can you guys please stop HARASSING me. It's been close to 8 years almost since I wasn't chosen for this ridiculous program which is honestly all a scam. Their lottery approach to picking the best student is completely ridiculous. SO STOP CALLING ME FROM DIFFERENT NUMBERS! Stop offering money because I don't need it. Cut it out, I don't want to answer any survey questions at ALL! read more

I am a graduate of Year Up Bay Area and from experience, this program is definitely life changing. Two years ago, I would never thought that I would be working at a bio tech company. I didn't even think that I would have my career figured out, but I did and Year Up played a big part in that. This program opened up my eyes to the tech industry. It was 6 months of hard work/dedication of tech and business classes (accredited college credits) and 6 months of internship at one of their well known corporate partners. All the staff/instructors/colleagues were very supportive and motivational. They also matched me with a great mentor and advisors who supported me throughout the program, and I still keep in touch with them. After graduation, Year Up stayed in touch with me and every time I reached out, they were there. They also made sure that everyone had a realistic plan after graduation (whether it be a career at a company or working towards a degree) and they actually helped with achieving our goals. Overall, this is more than a tech program. This is a stepping stone into the right direction and I wouldn't change my journey here for anything. read more

In 2009 I have heard of this program. I decided to apply because I wanted my life to change. I went through three interviews and an assessment test. After those three interview I was not sure I was going to be accepted due to being possibly overqualified. However, I had to really convince them why I wanted to be apart of this program. Within the three weeks that I applied I got the phone call I was accepted. My life slowly but surely changed. After 5 months of paid classroom training and 6 months at an internship (that was paid as well) I successfully completed the program. I kept in touch with Year Up (I still do to this day). A lot of opportunities were headed my way such as me getting my Associate's Degree within 11 months and finding a full time job with competitive benefits and a salary that most people with a Bachelor's Degree make. Year Up is like applying for a regular job. Maybe you'll get it, maybe you won't. You have to apply and take that chance. I did and now I'm in a much better place in my life than before. read more

This program is a joke! I applied online Mid December 2013 I had a set date for my Group information session that I took time off work to make it to. I received a phone call from Kelsey the morning of, about an hour before arriving that it will need to be rescheduled because everyone in the office was sick. I agreed to the next scheduled date of December 27th 2013 Arrived that day as one of the only individuals that followed dress code and carried myself with a professional manner and was even used as an example of how students were expected to dress by Yem. I stayed later to speak with Yem the coordinator of the group information session who did very well at presenting the opportunity. He gave me a sense of hope I would be accepted into this program. At the end of the group information session I scheduled the soonest interview I could, January 13th 2014 I made sure to have completed every required document before my interview *Personal Statement *College Transcript that I paid extra to have early enough for my interview *Signed and sealed Letter of recommendation from a Senior Network Engineer that has seen my skill level *My High School Diploma *Social Security card and Birth Certificate *Personal References I was able to turn in all the paperwork that would be needed to complete the application process. So the interview was scheduled for Jan 13th 2014 at 1 pm. I arrived 15 minutes early as told by Kelsey. My interviewer however must not have got the memo, because she arrived 45 minutes late. I was able to watch others go into their interview complete their interview and leave before I was interviewed. When she finally arrived I did mention the substantial amount of emphasis that was put on responsibility and being on time during the group information session. The interview went really well, with zero hiccups, plenty of laughs and assured that I was accepted, even confirming how well I did left me with a feeling of success. Today January 21st 2014 I received an email stating that I was not accepted, and that they take their time and thoroughly review every applicant and reach a decision as a group. There is contact information to find out how to strengthen your application for the next session. After calling periodically from 1 pm to 5 pm going straight to voice mail I decided that the professionalism that was displayed in these last few weeks has deemed this program to be a waste of time, and a joke to all entry level positions in the technical field. My unfulfilled explanation for which part of their decision left myself unqualified was my main concern. Myself being one of the only White (non minority) in the group left a salty taste in my mouth as to this programs target "Urban Youth" If I would have known that meant they have a quota or a no whites policy I would never have wasted my time applying. However now my friends, family, social networks, and YELP will know of my experience with this sub-par and possibly racist organization offers. read more

Year Up gives young adults a great opportunity and a second chance to live an awesome successful life. As an student, graduate, and Staff member at Year Up, I have learn great skills from technology, to business, and building a strong network with corporation partners (Twitter, EA games, Yelp, Zynga, and more). Year Up defines the word CARE in capitol letters. Young Adults (ages 18-24), i advise you to apply if you are interested in technology and business. There are also great alumni's who has struggle in the past and Year Up change their lives from graduates like Mike Carter (class 8) and So Yem (class 4) two inspirational young adults that came from nothing to being successful. Here is a Documentary of Sotheara Yem must watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KSleddhm6Bo&list=PLDzG5xh5Ru1eB2Xn-ZSfMjUqm9mq1jN2g&feature=player_detailpage read more

Year Up is the best non-profit in San Francisco--I know, I looked for 2 years to find them, and now that I have, I am delighted. Giving back by mentoring and helping the bright students at Year Up achieve their full potential is one of the most rewarding experiences around. The Year Up team/staff is top notch, very professional, and focused on measurable results, which is all very refreshing. There is no complacency or "go home at 5" attitude here; these folks are committed. If you are looking to give back just a couple hours a month (or more if you want) look no further, Year Up is a great spot! read more

YearUp provides highly motivated urban young adults the necessary expertise, experience and support to realize their full potential. Students in the program begin with six months of training. For me, that involved learning about and working with computer hardware and developing other skills that tech companies here in the Bay Area require. After the initial six months of instruction, students are paired with a tech company that partners with Year Up. I was lucky enough to earn an internship with Twitter, where I have been working for four months. The first two weeks of training at Year Up are designed to get you out of your shell, helping you open up emotionally. On the first day, we were encouraged to get up in front of our entire group and tell our story. This was an empowering and heartfelt experience for me. I remember walking out that day the happiest I've ever been in a long time. Experiencing my colleagues' heartbreaking stories, from where they started to where they have ended up -- and what they have become now -- is something I'll always remember and treasure. Year is a wonderful program for anyone interested to join!! read more

Year Up gives young adults a great opportunity to get a head start in Corporate America. As an student, graduate, and now a Staff member at Year Up, I have learn great skills from technology, to business, and building a strong network with corporate partners (Facebook, Bank of the West, Salesforce, Google, Facebook, Etc.) Year Up has given Urban Youth ages 18-24 a chance at life. With the support of great staff members and colleagues, everything is possible. Year Up is a very close community more like a family. There are people here willing to help you in every way. They also have great staff member that are willing to help Alums with the success after Year UP. They are willing to support you and help you with searching for jobs or help you get back in to school. Everyone that has came through the front doors of Year Up has a story. It doesn't matter the situation. If i wasn't for Year Up I wouldn't be where I am today. Year Up has really changed my life for the better. read more

The Year Up program is the best non-profit I've been privilege of being part of, as student and as board member of the Alumni Association. This program has completely changed my life by teaching me the necessary skills (business communications, professional skills and tech skills) to help me enroll back to college, find a full time jog and most importantly to build a strong professional network. I owe my professional career to Year Up and I encourage every young adults to apply this live changing program. read more

Year Up Bay Area is a great non-profit organization. I am currently enrolled in this program as a IT trainee. Year Up is helping me master my Communication and IT skills. I will soon be starting an intense 6 month paid internship with one of their top sponsors. Throughout this program I have learned and gained so much that if I had quit today I would still leave a changed person! Year Up is changing this world! You can help too!!!! read more

Year Up - House warming party at Year Up SF - Community Service/Non-Profit Near Me - San Francisco, California

I owe my whole career to Year Up. This organization takes young adults that have capability to succeed, but are stuck in the perils of urban life for whichever reason, and gives them an opportunity to get started in working in the corporate/startup world or becoming a college student. My story was that I had to go to work to pay for school which took up the time for homework... right before I was accepted, I was in a place where I was just working two jobs just to hope to save money for school. Year Up gave me the break I needed by giving me a stipend for working hard in their program, and valuable experience that made me hirable in many careers. My peers were all inspirational people that were willing to go through intense training in Professional Skills, Business Communication, Technology, and then either IT or QA. The program creates high expectations for students, and I had never been so motivated to turn in my homework on time before going to Year Up. Because of Year Up's caring and supportive staff, I was able to have my QA Internship placed at Zynga (they felt it was the best fit for me) which allowed me to experience a type of work that I never knew existed. I enjoyed what I did so much that it showed in my performance and I landed a contract job for a year at Zynga in January 2012. I've been doing QA ever since. read more

So, I applied for this program last year. You fill an interest form and attend one of their information sessions. There, you will watch a presentation, take a test, and then schedule an interview. They want a lot of stuff from you: diploma, high school and college transcripts, recommendation, and an essay. Interview questions are pretty easy: why do you wanna join? What do you bring to the table? Do you have any challenges? Etc. This is a very long process and you could have multiple interviews. I got a conditional offer but I had problems with one of their forms due to something else that was going on in my life. They were kind in extending the deadline for me because of that, so they get one star for that. When I finally submitted the required form, the lady helping me said that she gave me the wrong form and that I should reapply for the next session. I'm thinking what the hell? You gave me the wrong form. Why do I have to reapply and go through this again just because the form was different? So, I tried calling them because I had a question about the application process and that was a massive pain in the ass. If you call them, you will probably not get a real person. I would call them every other day for a month and I've only talked to someone once (I couldn't even understand them). I've gotten a call back once, I asked the person to call me back in an hour or two. She didn't. Finally, they answered my question but when I looked for an available date for the fall 2016 information session, I missed all of the deadlines and if I wanted to apply, it would have to be for the spring 2017 session. I only missed it because I was waiting to talk to someone. Completely unprofessional, if you have people calling you, call them back. By this point, I was pretty pissed, I wasted almost a year with these people, I had to graduate later. I was also really disappointed because I really believed in their mission. If you get in, great, you got lucky. I don't know why they treated me that way. read more

It was great in the beginning and staff at the time were great. I had an amazing support system with my cohort members but during internship I felt as though I was set up for failure. My manager and I did not mesh well and so far as my team members I felt ostracized. I knew it was too good to be true of ever being employed. A whole year was wasted and I'm back to working a dead end job. So now I'm not only unsuccessful in my career path. I'm emotionally and mentally damaged from the year up program. read more

This place will not help me get a job after graduation I was hoping they would help but nobody helped at all. I was told that since I cant find a job i should find something in retail....ARE U KIDDING ME. You guys trained me to get a job in coperate america now if thats the case I could of just stayed struggling in college. I feel as if they dont care about there students only about head counts and money donations unbeleavable. read more

Before October 2012, I was working part-time for $5/hour (under the table, shh) at a local gas station and full-time at a college which corrupted my financial aid and nearly had me with no options but to quit school and work to live. -- A situation either known equally or worse in many young adults of my generation today. Now, I'm a full-time employee in Silicon Valley at a fortune 50 company and a part-time college student. Initially walking into these doors, I had no idea what to expect. Like my soon to be colleagues and now life long friends, I was desperate, eager, and curious. What the program shares about what your experience will be like is what it will be like; no frills. You earn the effort you put in. It will consume your time more rigorously than ever, so don't sign up for this program if you don't have your personal life situated to be away for 10+hours a day for 5 days a week for 1 whole year. You leave with technology skills and insight into top performing company's in the Bay Area, and with your own effort, you can find a career that truly fits you. I landed a position as a Communications Specialist; a role far from technical. I truly love my "day in the life", and without a doubt did Year Up Bay Area had plenty to do with it. Chase read more

Aft graduating from Year Up for a year and a half and also being the first class, I realize how many good and tough times my classmates and I went through. But overall this is a great program. I graduated from high school and went straight to here to get trained in the tech field. My classmates and I got to go on some field trips to look at the tech industries around the San Francisco. We also had a lot of speakers talk to us about how they became successful through the years. I would recommend this program. read more

I thought the main goal for this program was to help young adults, specially those like me who came from foster cares but it is not. I was not able to get in the program because of the waiting list or some unknown reasons. I waited 2 years and my age was already passed the eligibilty requirement. I found out that people got in this program are those who are young adults but not the once who really needed. Any youth can apply if u don't work, from rich family, or make some less money. This program does not really help the once who really need read more

YearUp is a phony program that has flawed statistics of their achievements; as they only report statistics of the current cohort that obtained the internship. The Year Up student is paid a monthly stipend of beyond way lower than minimum wage, an unlivable wage. In addition, most of the instructors are unqualified to teach the students; most of them do not have experience working in the industry, no college background, and inability to actually teach technology related subjects (they just show you youtube videos for the most part). In fact, some of them are rejects of internships that actually know bare minimum. Furthermore, you would be better off learning technology-related subjects via Youtube, Coursera, Edx, Udacity, and various other platforms. Consequently, education wise, this is a complete waste of a year, you would way be better off taking community college classes at CCSF where they actually teach you tech related subjects or joining a coding boot camp. Looking back, this has been my biggest regret and waste of my precious time. Additionally, my cohort of the year 2015 over 70% students of people are not working in fortune 500 or working at all; I am in contact with most of them through various means. If you do get employed, you will be working contract based jobs that require whatsoever no training. These positions are easily searchable via the job listing boards. Personally, I completed the network and administer course in CCSF and Coursera and I am currently employed without any support from YearUp whatsoever. In fact, I will be getting promoted to Senior Reliability engineer in a matter of a year. Please note that the alumni services are terrible. The college credit you earn through the program are useless towards any degree for only one course is transferable communication class. And Yes that was my favorite class. Rest of 22 credits earned will put you in academic probation in future for excessive units. So, if you do end up enrolling do yourself a favor and do not enrolled in any classes at Foothill other than the communiction course. The resilt will put straint on your transcripts which will further unquaifly you from various college services if you choose to return. If you are wondering how I did in the Year up a program, I earned multiple achievements certificates at the end of each training cycle. Most of these certificates were tech awards, communication award, leadership, and various others. On the side note, they will decide what type of training you will do after 3 months. Wanna you be a Project manager? Well, no Anonymus, we are putting you in Tech if you like or not. In other words, you get no choice. The staff contribute to huge favoritism of students; therefore, you wanna make sure your advisor is the director of the program or in placement management (sarcism). In conclusion, I took the effort to write this review to warn that this program is not all sunshine and rainbows as it claims. Moreover, seeing the state of my cohort graduates working at a retail store, subways, Starbucks while attending college pushed me to this write this. They could have simply stayed in college for the one extra year or simply worked for a whole year earning minimum wage or more stable income. Yes, the 450 a month stipend is not enough in the Bay Area. The education is a bare minimum and can be learned on your own in matters of 2-4 weeks. If you truly care about your precious time, then spend it accordingly. I always wish I could somehow earn my Year back that I spent on this program but unfortunately I cannot. But you still can make the choice read more

"Whatever you can do, or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it". -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Year Up proved this quote real and practical to me. I graduated from this program in Jan 2013 with valuable hard and soft skills that are required/preferred to be successful in corporate America.This is an amazing life changing program which equip young adults with constructive positive attitude towards the things they are passionate about. America's fortune 500+ corporations are being benefited by the outstanding valuable services that Year Up students bringing on the table. Year up staff is highly intelligent and hard working. They strongly believe in the Year Up' s mission to close the opportunity divide. They work smart and hard to uncover the strengths students have and equip them with skills to place them at the internship where they can be highly productive and follow their passions. According to my strengths and skills I developed at Year Up,I was place in Facebook as an IT analyst intern and now I am working at Facebook as Telecom Expense Management Analyst. We are solving world's biggest problems and all the staff, students, and Alumni are dedicated to contribute to this goal by doing what they are passionate about with full faith. That being said, this is a very intensive program with high expectations so getting accepted includes different layers of screening process. Remember that there is no gain without pain and in this case reward is totally worth it. Year Up is a successful organization which is making a huge impact in our society. So, if you believe in making difference then come join Year Up to support as a mentor,student,staff,investor or in many more ways. read more

Great program for young motivated adults. It is the best place for gaining new IT and Business Communication skills. Amazing stuff. Love this place, would recommend for everyone. read more

Year Up is an excellent program designed to give those who have the drive to succeed, yet who face many of life's obstacles at an early age. I am a product of the program and am excited to have gone from cleaning pools to earning a career in I.T. read more

this program is a waste of time and money i would not recommend this program to my dog, save your self,time, and your wallet. 98% does not pass read more

The reviews with the low to the lowest stars are true. This program may act professional but the way they spoke to me was not. Highly unacceptable especially if they want someone to work & play on the same team as them. I'm just so applaud by their actions & unprofessionalism. I felt like I was harassed because I might not be good enough to fit into their program. Sorry! I had 2 jobs at times. read more

This program was easy during their 5 months of training. They have a few great teachers and staff. But everything turned upside down during my internship. I was being discrimated against at the internship and the school did nothing about it as they claim they do. I was over worked and they knew I was barley taking breaks. I agree with other people on the reviews. They don't help people who are in need. They help young lazy adults who live with their parents that are to lazy to go to college. My so called "coaches" told me its my fault for being discrimated. They said it didn't matter how I felt. Mind you they were both Caucasians women. Another caucasian women who is always late acted like I was a criminal (I have a very clean background). They had no intentions of switching me to another internship as they do for very few people. The get $30k per student, so it makes sense why they don't look out for a students best interest. Once they fire you, they take the rest of the money for their own Salary. I knew people who did the program both graduates and non graduates. They all told me to watch out for certain staff members because they will turn on you. They were completely right. They go completely against their own mission statement. They people who work here don't Care about you, they are just there to get a paycheck. There was so much more that I can't even write it all on this page. Sad and pathetic. read more

My pros & cons of this program which the other yelpers forgot to mention: Before I say my pros & cons of this program I'll like to tell you how I found this program. So few weeks ago my friend told me about this program so I Google,Yelp & YouTube this program. This program sounded very interesting that I signed a interesting form or whatever it was on their website. I went to the information group session. It was good I guess. The guy who was talking to us was saying how much this program changed his life, and how each seat is $20,000 (I think) I was really interesting now knowing that they partners with EA & Twitter. So after that he said that we will be taking a test. It's reading & you have to write an essay. I said to myself "nobody said we had to take a damn test"!!!! Was the test even necessary? So after that you will go schedule an interview. BTW you will have to write a personal statement for the interview part. The interview questions are a little hard but some are easy. If you don't "pass" the test you won't get it. This part is a little F'ed up to me, because how it the person on the phone said it. So 2 days after my interview I got a call from this person. I thought "well, I'm not going to get in anyways because I don't remember how to write an essay" so the lady said "Hi, we wont be processing your application because your standards doesn't meet with our standards (or whatever how that person said it). Basically I didn't get in because of my essay... AN ESSAY. ARE YOU KIDDING ME. WHATEVER. That essay was NOT that damn serious. The only way you can get into this program if you can write a good essay. I'M NEVER COMING BACK TO THIS PROGRAM. Pros: Yes this program help you get internships at: Facebook, EA, Twitter, Salesforce, Zynga, Bank of America etc. You get paid during your internship while you're at Year Up. If you're interested in Business or technology (like me) then come to Year Up. Cons: You have to wear business clothes. This place is not only a program but it's a school. Write a good essay for the test part and you will get in. GOOD LUCK TO ANYBODY WHO GETS IN. read more