College Prep Builds the Resume. This Strengthens the Teen Behind It.
A 6-week program that gives self-driven high schoolers what high-performers have that others don't:
Genuine clarity on what they're building, real execution and tech skills, and a strategic plan built around who they actually are -- so every application, decision, and opportunity gets their best.
The Missing Piece
Schools do amazing work. And still -- teens who are ready to make the most out of high school need a space that's fully theirs. The research on what actually drives long-term success is clear -- and it points somewhere most programs don't go.
80
years of research show that self-knowledge and relationships outpredict grades and credentials for career success, health, and life satisfaction.
Source: Harvard Study of Adult Development · Robert Waldinger
55%
of teens hang out with friends 2+ times weekly (20+yr low)
Source: Atlantic
The research is clear: what predicts long-term success and fulfillment isn't grades or credentials -- it's knowing what you're building, having the relationships that matter, and running a system that actually works. Designing High School was built around exactly that.
A strategic plan.
Tools that make it all click.
High school goes fast. The teens who get the most out of it aren't just working hard -- they're building something, brick by brick, planning, experimenting, and adjusting as they go.
Adult Development
The quality of your relationships and the clarity of your direction predict success and wellbeing more than grades or credentials.
The philosophy behind the social fitness and relationship-building work in Designing High School -- and the reason direction comes before credentials.
Life Design
Design thinking -- the methodology behind the world's best products -- applied to building a life.
Draws on the design thinking tradition pioneered at Stanford's d.school -- reimagined for the teenage years in Designing High School.
Stixrud & Johnson
Autonomy and internal motivation -- not parental pressure -- produce resilient, successful adults.
The research behind the self-direction and execution skills curriculum in Designing High School.
The Element
When teens discover what they're built for, everything -- including academics -- gets easier.
The inspiration behind the values, strengths, and career exploration work in Designing High School.
A real plan for your four years. A clear vision for what you want to build. The tech tools and habits to make things happen.
The skills that change how you show up -- in every room, every application, and every opportunity that matters.
These are the patterns we see most often in capable, motivated high schoolers who haven't had a dedicated space for this work yet.
Capable, motivated teens are often incredible executors. The homework gets done, the activities get attended, the deadlines get met. But in all the busyness, have they really had time to scope out what all these pieces are building toward? Not just the next step -- but the full arc?
When teens get strategic clarity on their path and purpose -- and the tools to act on it -- effort gets easier. They start finding flow in their work, discovering energy they didn't know they had, and uncovering talents that were always there but never had a direction to grow into.
It's normal -- and it happens to many of us. But for teens carrying a full academic load, extracurriculars, social life, and family expectations, burnout can sneak up faster and hit harder. The energy that made them capable starts to feel like a resource that's running out.
With the right tools -- a real planning system, stress regulation practices, and a weekly rhythm that actually works -- teens don't just recover their energy. More done. More breathing room. More fun.
California now requires personal finance education starting in 2027-28 -- which tells you how essential it is. But there's a difference between learning to budget and understanding how money, passion, talent, and market demand all connect to the life you're actually building. That intersection -- what the Japanese call Ikigai -- is where the most energizing and rewarding careers tend to live.
In Designing High School, teens tackle these connections directly -- graphing real salary data, modeling financial decisions, and mapping their own Ikigai. The result is more clarity, more confidence, and a real sense of what they're actually building toward.
Most capable teens don't need more pressure. They need a clearer picture, better tools, and a space that's genuinely theirs. -- That's exactly what this program is built to give them.
A teen who knows where they're headed -- and the execution skills to get there.
Live Saturday sessions plus weekly async modules on the MPA learning portal. Rising 11th and 12th graders, Bay Area, Late Summer 2026. Application-based, intimate cohort.
All sessions, Student OS, Strategic 4-year plan, 1 year of learning portal access & 1:1 coaching session
+ Teen mindfulness curriculum included
- 7 live Saturday sessions (75 min each) + 60-min orientation + cohort presentation session
- Weekly async learning modules on the MPA portal -- personal finance, career & major exploration, AI-enhanced research, social confidence
- Strategic 4-year academic & activity plan -- built by your teen
- Student OS Workbook -- weekly execution system built on frameworks used by peak performers, adapted for teens
- Teen mindfulness curriculum -- stress regulation, focus, and the inner practices of high-performers
- Personalized strengths, values & archetype profile
- 1:1 coaching session -- parents welcome
- Personal strategy presentation to cohort -- Week 7
time TBD for 9th, 10th cohort
Built by a Practitioner
The students MPA has worked with — and the districts — share a similar challenge: the potential is clear, but the path forward isn't.
Neil Dandavati founded MPA because he'd seen that challenge up close, in a San Francisco classroom. The life design course he developed there won a national teaching award and scaled to 15 Bay Area schools and more than 2,000 students a year through a partnership with the Pearson Foundation.
Since then he's carried the same framework further, advising Alameda County district leadership on long-term planning, and leading strategy and operations at an early-stage AI company. The context changes. The work is the same.
That work is what Master Plan Academy is built on. The students and districts we work with leave with more than just a plan — they leave with the clarity and confidence to act on it.
I especially valued the clear, practical strategies for college admissions and the way you made the activities and digital tools engaging.
— Martin Medeiros, Parent of 10th grader, Alameda, CA
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