My Nonprofit Reviews

I became aware of Let's Get Ready when I began helping my oldest son with the college admissions process about 7 years ago. Living in a suburb with a very good public school system, we were fortunate to have all the resources we needed to navigate a process which is daunting, complicated and very competitive. After attending a small local fundraising event for Let's Get Ready and meeting some of the motivated, bright students who had gone through the program, had subsequently gone off to college and were on a trajectory that would bring them success in their lives, I was drawn to the program and wanted to help. I had never really thought about the fact that low-income students typically apply to college at a great disadvantage socially and economically - if they apply at all.

Let's Get Ready is an innovative program that expands college access for motivated, low-income students by offering free intensive SAT preparation and college admissions counseling. Volunteer college students are trained as tutors and mentors, who provide the SAT instruction and college admissions guidance along with the encouragement and inspiration students need to succeed. Best of all, many of the high school students who attend Let’s Get Ready become program volunteer coaches (tutors) and site directors when they enter college.
Seeing the program in action is exhilerating. Many of the students come from broken homes, live in dangerous neighborhoods, travel great distances to come to the program and nevertheless are enthusiastic and grateful for the preparation they receive. The coaches are excited to work with these students and form lasting bonds with them. And because coaches and students are so close in age, they relate to each other in a way that is particularly impactful and meaningful to all parties involved.
In addition to receiving SAT test instruction which includes lessons in math, critical reading and essay writing, the students are helped with every step of the college admisssions process. They recieve help with college selection , college essays and also with filling out financial aid forms and obtaining scholarship money.
Being on the board, I have had the opportunity to meet several of the high school administrators and community organization partners with which Let's Get Ready runs its programs. They all have the highest praises for the program and contend that not only are more students attending college, but many are attending reach schools they never would have considered had it not been for their participation in the program.
The statistics confirm Let's Get Ready's success. Scores increase on average by 110 points, applications are completed on time, fafsa forms are filled out by deadline and 93% of our program participants go directly to college after graduatiing high school. Further many of the students come back to the program as coaches and some have even started programs on the campuses of the colleges they attend.
Let's Get Ready has changed the lives of over 10,000 high school students and offered a rewarding and life changing volunteer opportunity to over 4,500 college students since it's founding in 1998. And, it is fitting to state here that it was founded by a Harvard undergrad who realized that low -income high school stdents lacked the critical resources and supports that she had when applying to college. This is why the model works so beautifully. It was conceived by someone who had just gone through the process herself.
In summary, Lets Get Ready is the most cost-efficient and effective program out there. It offers both instruction and mentoring that helps large numbers of students change their lives and acheive their dreams of a college eduation in a way that no other exisiting program can.

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