The Lyceum Institute

While November 1st is the target date for most students’ applications, Oct 15 was actually the first deadline for schools like North Carolina at Chapel Hill, UT Austin, and Clemson University, and more. Over years of tirelessly evaluating and reevaluating the design of our admissions programs, our parental leadership and admissions counseling have evolved to alleviate family stress and produce the highest quality materials. While I could monotonously list Northwestern, NYU, and other top schools our students were most recently accepted to, I won’t—yes, we help students secure impressive acceptances, but if that’s all you’re focused on, you’re already setting yourself up for a stressful admissions experience. For our families, October 15th wasn’t a day of frenzied students desperately writing essays, agitated parents filling out tedious forms, or game time compromises. Rather, some of our families were doing whatever they typically due on Tuesdays because their applications were already submitted. Others spent an hour or two putting finishing touches on materials that needed one last gloss over. But what they all had in common was their overwhelming gratitude for our support. Here are just a few of the texts we’ve received over the last few days: “Wow, I don’t know how we’d have done this without you.” “We didn’t know we were going to get this much support.” “These last few days have been amazing.” A stressful or smooth admissions experience is a choice. We prefer the smooth version. Smooth doesn’t just mean you got your materials in on time, it means you got them in on time and couldn’t be more confident about their quality in the context of admissions. We take immense pride in instilling confidence and accomplishment in our students and parents. Year after year, their results demonstrate their dedication to their own success. Our services are designed to secure that dedication. Contact us today to learn more about how we can ensure you get everything you deserve out of your admissions experience. #Admissions

Your Kid's Admissions Readiness 🙊 An overdue fireside chat 🔥 A month or so into the school year, and already our students are swamped with tryouts, rehearsals, internships, jobs, and more. Despite how easily families adapt to the change of seasons, our team wanted to quickly ping you about the bigger picture: college admissions. Not the pressure cooker version, but the one where your student is guided throughout high school to be intentional about making their best academic and extracurricular decisions because those decisions are what develop their character. Read more: https://loom.ly/wNRv4g0 #Admissions

SSAT Registration Opens Aug 1! 📝 Mark your calendars 📅 For many students, the SSAT will be their first high-stakes entrance exam. Use this as an opportunity to confidently navigate it and lay a strong foundation for high school and college entrance exams. The SSAT is highly gameable, making it the perfect introduction to test-taking strategy and confidence building. Much of what the test covers is not covered in students' school curricula, so preparing for the content is as important as the strategies. Our expert tutors specialize in addressing SSAT students' needs and struggles, providing actionable support to secure their success for the test and beyond. Heads up for parents! ➡️ Registration fills up fast! Add Aug 1 to your calendars and register ASAP. ➡️ Plan on testing a few times. Most students earn their best scores on their second or third attempts. ➡️ Jan 2025 is the last SSAT students can take in time for most of their secondary school applications. ➡️ Most (not all) secondary school applications are due between late December and mid January. Contact us today at [email protected] to learn how our tutoring can maximize the ~5 months you have to prepare.

SAT or ACT for STEM students 🔬🧬📐💡 STEM students wonder which test will better showcase their strengths. While the answer isn't black and white, here are some key points to consider: 🔬 Do colleges prefer one test over the other for STEM students? Colleges do not prefer one test over the other. While the ACT has a dedicated Science Section, it is primarily a science reading test that assesses students’ ability to read scientific research and interpret charts and graphs. Students' ACT Science Section performance makes up 25% of their composite score. While the SAT has no dedicated Science Section, 50% of students' SAT composite score is Math, versus only 25% on the ACT. 🧬 Focus on math scores and overall performance. Colleges have standards for students' composite SAT/ACT scores as well as their subscores. For STEM students, their performance on the Math Sections is most important; however, that isn’t to say their performance on English Sections isn’t. English scores help distinguish STEM students as well as affirm important skills. 📐 Test Structure There are half as many sections on the SAT as there are on the ACT (not counting the ACT Essay). When it comes to pace, SAT students have more time per question. Likewise, the time per question on the SAT only changes once, whereas the ACT challenges students to manage three different time per question ratios. That being said, the incorrect answer choices on the ACT tend to be less deceptive than those of the SAT. 💡 Bottom Line Test taking confidence is the most impactful success factor. Students should choose the test that best aligns with their strengths and test-taking style. Whichever test STEM students take, they must review the expectations for the colleges on their list. Fortunately, each test overlaps to a great extent, so students can often smoothly pivot if appropriate. Contact us today at [email protected] to figure out which test is best for your STEM student. We offer baselines for both tests and can help you interpret the results.

CommonApp Prompts came out in Feb! ✍️ — So what are you waiting for? ⏳ It's no secret how long it takes to compose a strong essay, and of all the essays you'll write in your life, these ones matter most. What is a great essay's secret ingredient?—TIME. Our Application Essay Coaches aren't just writing tutors—they themselves have successfully navigated academic application processes from undergraduate to doctoral work and the myriad grants, research programs, residencies, and scholarships along the way. They can help you do what you can't do without them: make meaning out of your experiences, develop the most compelling version of your story, and present it how admissions officers most hope to receive it. What does that mean? Here's a student to consider: 👍 Loves STEM, robotics career is impressive, straight A's in Math and Science, dSAT is 780 Math and 720 English. Isn't a big talker, perhaps somewhat reserved when it comes to why and how questions. 👎 Has never really thought about why they love robotics, they just do. Likewise, isn't really sure why they have worked so hard at Math and Science. They believe they want to major in engineering, but they don't know in what capacity or context, or how their contributions will add value to the field. The college's on their list are the most prestigious ones, but the student hasn't done any research on them. Without a coach to guide them from brainstorming to storytelling to revising, their essay will most likely unnecessarily repeat other application materials and miss an opportunity to establish intentionality, authenticity, and voice—the three most important criteria of any application essay. There's no shortage of students with great grades and test scores, but in most cases, those features are the minimum to play, not what gives you your edge. There is no better step you can take at this time than reflecting on what makes you you and why that is so special. For more information or to get started with one of our essay coaches, contact us at [email protected].

Trying to figure out what is going on with your kid's English skills? 📚✍️🔤 Here is one reading assignment you don't want to skip! This is a heartfelt message from Lyceum's English department, which has the privilege of being at the Bermuda Triangle of English teachers' expectations, students' reading and writing abilities, and parents' search for effective support. We're writing to demystify what's going on at the center of these forces and how you can best navigate them. Read more: https://loom.ly/Bb8mOkE

🎓 Attention high schoolers and parents! 🎓 Have you taken the March dSAT? 📝 There is more to the score report than meets the eye. 📊 We're here to help! On March 9th, 2024, high schoolers nationwide inaugurated CollegeBoard's dSAT, the digital version of the SAT. In the same way the test has changed, so too have the score reports. For starters, "Question and Answer", the paper SAT score report add-on that allowed students to see each of the problems on the test, is no longer being offered, making the dSAT score report's data less actionable. Likewise, the dSAT score report shows how students fared across the dSAT's 8 domains, but omits the content each domain comprises. Contact us for a FREE review of your student's score report to ensure that you're not overlooking or misinterpreting important performance data. Our expert tutors will provide specific suggestions that can help you reevaluate your test prep strategy to better achieve your goals. E-mail [email protected] with your score report attached to schedule a free score report evaluation. We are eager to unpack your student's results and provide personalized recommendations for their next attempt. #dSAT #CollegePrep #ScoreReport #TestPrepSuccess

Many students arrive at SSAT Math tutoring with little to no geometry skills. While the majority of other SSAT Math concepts are accessible to them, their deficit in geometry is often too large to make up for in the time they have to prep. In response to this trend, we're excited to introduce our Geometry Bootcamp, a highly concentrated 1-month small group offering designed to provide specialized geometry instruction with no shortcuts so that students can arrive to their fall SSAT prepared for the whole Math section. For more details and to enroll in the class visit: https://lnkd.in/eJEvqbFX

Is test-optional still a thing? As many of you know, both Dartmouth and Yale have announced that they will once again require test scores. This decision has renewed discussions about the role of standardized testing in college admissions, especially after several years of test-optional admissions. What factors are leading schools to reconsider test score requirements? 1. Test Scores are a better predictor than grades of a student's ability to succeed in college. 2. Admissions officers often interpret scores in the context of the student's environment. Scores that are lower than X college’s average score, but higher than a student’s school or district’s average score could signal one’s ability to overcome obstacles and thrive. 3. Contrary to popular opinion, some schools believe that increasing their economic diversity can be achieved by reinstating the standardized test requirement and using it as a tool to better highlight students' potential for college success in the context of their experiences. While standardized testing in itself will never provide a complete picture of a student's value, it has the capacity to tell more about them than what we might expect.