For students who are assigned to us as middle schoolers or as ninth, tenth, or even eleventh graders, we begin with an evaluation of both the work that the student has completed and what the school offers.  To help us, we request a student’s transcript, any testing they’ve completed, and a list of activities outside the school. 

 

During this assessment, we create a plan so that your student takes advantage of his or her school’s courses, takes courses outside of his or her school if necessary, and knows which exams to take and when.  Simultaneously we will be considering unusual opportunities that some school systems offer that are not well known to families.  Some of these are listed below.

 

Our intention is to develop an academic and extracurricular strategy that will make your student  competitive for admission to the colleges to which he or she will eventually apply.   As an example consider Noah, a rising ninth grader from New Orleans who wants to earn a PhD in Astronomy to pursue a career.  Our recommendation includes contacting his school guidance counselor to be sure that he is enrolled in the school's only science course; planning to attend one week of Camp Kennedy Space Center next summer ( he will need to use the GoFundMe platform to raise monies for his camp tuition and travel); visiting Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge) which is the nearest top-quality school to offer a degree in astronomy; and taking the free online University of Arizona Astronomy class this summer.