Outlier.org offers “the world’s best online education.” In this review, I’ll try to poke holes in that claim. I’ll also tell you what courses they offer, how much they charge for tuition, some of the pros and cons of taking their online classes, share one alternative that could give you an even better lifestyle, and more. Continue down the page for my Outlier review.
Outlier.org believes we don’t all learn in the same way. So they teach the same content in different ways, using several different teachers in each course. Some are old school; they use a blackboard and chalk. Others prefer a pen and paper. Some use tablets. Some tell stories. Some use sports in their examples to pull you in; others use pop culture. Some are tense; others are laid back. There’s a flavor for everyone.
If you’ve seen their YouTube ads, you probably picked up on a MasterClass-y vibe. Piano music. Dark background. Same style of cuts. Well, it makes sense. Same cofounders. And you can’t really blame them. They’re making a killing in the self-education space; why not run it back, only this time for academia? “The future of online college is here,” the headline at the the top of Outlier.org reads.
I’m sure they’ll add more courses over time, but for now you can enroll in the following through Outlier.org:
Completion of each course earns you three transferrable college credits from the University of Pittsburgh. Each course features movie-quality video; hands-on, real world learning; and top instructors from schools like Yale, NYU, Cornell, and MIT.
So what about tuition? How much does Outlier.org charge per class? They’re very proud of the answer: just $400. That’s about one-sixth the cost of an average college course in the United States. But if that’s still too expensive for you, Outlier has teamed up with a company called Klarna who offers zero percent financing over 18 months. This means you can take an Outlier course for as little as $89 a month.
What about refunds? There are two ways to get your money back. Either beat the drop deadline (three days for seven-week intensive courses; and twelve days for standard fourteen-week courses) or complete the course, do all the work, and if you don’t pass, they’ll still refund you. That’s big. They stand by their product. Show me a college who will hand you multiple thousands back if you get an F.
Sure, Outlier.org will make approximately a billionty dollars with this project. But who cares? As long as their hearts are pure, which they seem to be. You can’t argue with what they’ve created here: a more affordable, perhaps more enjoyable and effective way for the average person to knock out some prereqs. On the other hand, then what? You’ll still need to finish your degree at another institution, right? Will people? Or will they just waste a few months learning the basics of calculus and then do nothing with it?
I’m definitely biased, but why invest time, money, and energy learning things that are so indirectly linked to earning potential and overall happiness? Why not take an online course that you can get an immediate ROI on? And then use what you learned to fund a life you love? Because that’s what we sell. Click below.
