The programs

Each year proves the next one.

Grade 9 stands alone. Grades 10 through 12 build in sequence, each year resting on the one before it.

By grade

Four programs, four years.

Fees for each are on the schedule we send with your consultation.

Lemma 9 09Grade Nine

Foundation & Direction Intensive

Most students do not need ongoing college counseling in Grade 9.

This is a year for exploration, growth, and strong academic habits — discovering interests, taking on real academic challenge, and joining activities a student genuinely enjoys. Not admissions strategy.

The engagement is two planning meetings with parent and student, three hours in total, covering academics, course selection, extracurricular involvement, and summer opportunities. Afterward, families may reach out with occasional questions as new decisions arise.

Included

Two meetings with parent and student (3 hours total)
Academic planning and course-selection guidance
Discussion of interests and extracurricular exploration
Summer planning recommendations
Written summary with recommendations and next steps

Lemma 10 10Grade Ten

Direction & Depth

Tenth grade is the transition year — from exploration to intentional growth.

Students are no longer just sampling. Academic choices start to shape future options, and activities should show progression rather than randomness. This is the year we move from broad exposure to real depth.

Meetings are scheduled each quarter, with email support throughout the year and a 48-hour response time.

Included

Quarterly student and parent meetings
Academic planning and course-selection guidance
Extracurricular involvement and interest development
Summer planning and enrichment recommendations
Access to your counselor between meetings

Lemma 11 11Grade Eleven

Strategy & Positioning

Grade 11 is the most important year in the college admissions process.

By now, students have academic interests and extracurricular commitments taking shape. The work is bringing those threads together into a coherent, authentic trajectory — decisions about academics, testing, summers, activities, and college planning that reflect genuine strengths.

Rather than chasing activities for the sake of admissions, we develop depth, direction, and long-term growth.

Included

Bi-weekly meetings through the academic year
Academic planning and course-selection guidance
Standardized testing strategy
Summer planning and enrichment guidance
Extracurricular and activity review
Preliminary college list development
Access to your counselor between meetings

Lemma 12 12Grade Twelve

Application Strategy & Execution

Grade 12 is an execution year.

With direction, involvement, and personal growth already established, the focus shifts to presenting a student's experience clearly and authentically. We work closely with students across the application cycle — college list, application strategy, and every component of the application itself.

The goal is not to tell a story that sounds impressive. It is to tell the right story, honestly and effectively.

We do take students who begin in Grade 12, and a good deal can still be done in a single year. But the year runs on external deadlines, so senior enrollment closes 1 October. After that date we work with families by the hour, as availability allows.

Included

Individualized college list and application strategy
Regular meetings through the application cycle
Common Application and supplemental essay guidance
Multiple rounds of review on the personal statement
Activities list and application review
Early Action / Early Decision strategy
Interview preparation
Deferral and waitlist response through spring
Access to your counselor between meetings

Alongside the work

Additional academic support

Students enrolled in a college guidance program may also access tutoring and test preparation — mathematics, physics, computer science, and standardized testing — so academic support and college planning work together rather than in parallel.

Project Lab

The independent project, actually built.

Computer science only. Available on its own, without a counseling program.

Project Lab ∎One semester or two

Scope it, build it, ship it, explain it

Most advice about passion projects stops at “you should have one.”

That advice is useless on its own. Choosing a project a student can genuinely finish, that is technically real, and that a reader will find credible is the hard part — and then someone has to sit with them while they actually build the thing.

We work in three phases. Scoping settles what the student will build and why it is worth building. The build runs as working sessions in which the student writes the software and we teach, review, and debug alongside them. Ship and document gets it deployed, into a public repository, and written up so the student can talk about it in an interview without hesitating.

The student writes every line. We are not willing to build a project for a student and let them present it as their own — colleges rescind offers over exactly that, and a project someone else wrote teaches nothing and proves nothing. The version history ships as part of the work, because a repository showing real progression, false starts and all, is more convincing than a polished app that appeared from nowhere.

You end up with

A deployed, working piece of software
A public repository with an honest commit history
A written project narrative for applications and interviews
The ability to explain every decision in it

Start with a conversation.

An initial consultation is a chance to talk through where your student is now, what they are drawn to, and which program fits the year ahead.

Book a consultation