An Exciting Opportunity for our Students to Shine!

We are thrilled to announce the new Ivy Options & Lumiere Education Mentored Project Program. University campuses around the world are filled with academics and students who conduct compelling research and complete groundbreaking projects. In diverse academic disciplines ranging from psychology to engineering and history to marketing, these leaders are making discoveries and devising effective strategies that change our world. At Ivy Options, we have seen that amazing insights are not limited to college campuses. When we look at our students, we are delighted by the way that minds have been opened and futures have been shaped by research. Based on the impressive experiences and results that our students have had with Lumiere Education, we are partnering together to offer two bespoke programs:

• The 12-week Mentored Project

• The 16-week Mentored Project Plus (+ support for publication or a larger-scope project)

In the Mentored Project, students will work one-on-one with a mentor as they write a research paper, complete an artificial intelligence/computer science project, or undertake another custom project – ranging from a maker project for engineers to writing and publishing a book. Ivy Options students have worked with Lumiere’s Ph.D. mentors from MIT, Princeton, the University of Cambridge, Georgetown, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and more. They have found their mentors to be incredibly supportive and full of ideas; the opportunity to work closely with leading academics in a field of interest has undoubtedly inspired our students and helped them gain admissions to universities such as Brown, the University of Chicago, UC Berkeley, Tufts, Carnegie Mellon, USC, Boston College, Boston University, LSE, King’s College London, and St Andrews.

While Lumiere currently offers research and AI programs globally, the Ivy Options collaboration offers unique flexibility. For a student hoping to create a curriculum, start an organization, write a novel, build a prototype, or devise a program to meet a specific need, the Mentored Project will help them receive the necessary support to make their vision a reality. High-level advice from expert mentors on aspects such as scope, idea generation, project management, and target audiences or partners will ensure that our students start and complete impactful projects!

For those who hope to publish a research paper or create a larger-scope project, a great choice would be the Mentored Project Plus, which also provides one-on-one sessions with an academic mentor. In addition, students conducting research receive support from a writing coach and publication specialist. If a student wishes to create a large-scale AI model or prototype, the Plus program would be more suitable as well. Moreover, for students hoping to develop a project for a significant competition, journal, or conference, Lumiere offers the six-month Fellowship program, an option that our students may upgrade to or even choose from the beginning depending on their ambitions. All programs will be available to Ivy Options students at a discounted rate and through a streamlined application process.

There are many benefits to conducting research or completing significant projects while in high school. The most obvious is the chance to develop academic depth and breadth. While some students go deeper into known interests, extending far beyond what they can do in high school, others discover unexpected passions. For example, one student knew that she loved her psychology class at school, but a specific research project revealed that industrial psychology, the branch that relates to the business world, was most exciting to her.

A second benefit is the ability to tailor a project to a distinct subject or intersecting academic areas. So many students have interdisciplinary interests. One of our students loved both space science and medicine. Her Lumiere research project on radiation protection for astronauts helped her address both of these topics in one research paper. Another student combined engineering, materials science, and community service in a fascinating maker project for disabled parents.

Research experience is helpful to students as they prepare themselves for university and even high school research like the IB Extended Essay, AP Capstone course, or A-level Extended Project Qualification. One of our students who conducted research with Lumiere in the spring of his junior year told us how much easier it was for him to complete his IB Extended Essay because he’d been so well trained by the program. Another student highlighted her high school research project on her resume when she went off to college. When she applied for a summer research position in a new lab on campus, she shared her astrophysics paper with the professor and was offered a place – even though they’d not previously hired a freshman student researcher.

Research and project work also help students develop essential problem-solving skills. On a practical level, students learn to manage their time and ask insightful questions. Furthermore, if a line of inquiry comes to a dead end or results don’t align with their hypotheses, they are challenged to find solutions. When working with a graduate student mentor, they receive guidance through these difficulties while learning how to perform high-level tasks that their mentor sets for them. On a deeper level, students can choose to research specific problems and issues that are meaningful to them, and in so doing, they can propose ideas that make our world a better place.

Finally, research and projects have undoubtedly helped our students stand out in admissions. All the benefits above have contributed to compelling stories while evidencing students’ intellectual curiosity. Our seniors have shown universities that they are excited about learning and that they value the training that research provides – in other words, they are ready to thrive in a challenging university environment. Those who have published their work or taken it further through other related endeavors have also proven that they can make an impact.

Please speak to your counselor about our Lumiere collaboration. We are excited for you to begin a journey of exploration and discovery – we are confident that you will enjoy the ride and take away tangible benefits that could last a lifetime.