How We Help

The areas in which we believe we add the most value to our clients include the following:

School Visits

We plan and organize college visit itineraries for our clients. Our knowledge of the local geographies and individual university offerings helps our clients optimize their time and makes for more productive visits. Additionally, through our broad network of relationships, we can arrange campus meetings with students, professors, and administrators, greatly enhancing the standard information sessions and tours offered by each university.

Standardized Testing Strategies

We help students with important decisions regarding standardized test-taking, including choosing between the ACT and the SAT and how best to apply to test-optional schools. We have long-standing relationships with a broad range of ACT/SAT preparation companies and private tutors. Although we do not provide tutoring ourselves, our knowledge of the process and our close relationships with tutors help provide the best outside support to maximize the chances of improving a student’s test scores. We maintain close contact with these tutors throughout the full term of our work with the student to ensure we are well briefed on the student’s progress and aligned with the tutor to best serve each student’s needs. Furthermore, in many cases, the strength of these relationships results in our clients receiving exceptional, high quality tutoring at a substantially discounted price.

Advisory services for students with learning differences

Our team has assisted many students with various learning differences over the years. Depending on the needs of the individual student, the range of services we offer in this area include: introductions to learning difference specialists (including educational psychologists and standardized testing tutors); review and evaluation of educational psychology reports and accommodations suggested for secondary/high school and standardized testing; assistance with registration for accommodations with both the ACT and SAT Boards; ongoing support regarding timing and execution of required steps involved in the university admissions process; advice on disclosure of learning differences in the Common Application and university-specific essays; provision of updated and relevant information relating to formal and informal support available for students with learning differences at prospective universities; and post-enrollment guidance regarding accommodations to be requested and how to best liaise with the university’s office for students with learning differences.

Specialized Expertise (Academic, Sports and Arts)

Many of our clients have special talents and interests that they are committed to continuing at the university level. At Syzygy, we have built a team of experts with deep industry experience and expertise in a broad range of sports, arts and academic areas to advise our clients throughout the admissions process. These experts assist our clients in several areas including: creating list of targeted universities; specific application requirements (i.e., portfolio preparation, sports videos); and communication with relevant university departments and faculty members/coaches.

Interview Coaching

Many of our clients are required to participate in interviews for a variety of academic and professional endeavors, including college admissions, merit-based and other scholarships, and work internships. We work closely with our clients to help prepare them for these interviews. Our interview coaching services include: assisting the students with researching and understanding the position or role for which they are interviewing; helping the students enhance their self-understanding and self-awareness; providing advice regarding the students’ presentation skills; and mock interviewing.

Communication and Cooperation with Secondary Schools

Secondary schools are required to submit four major pieces of information to universities: school profile; transcript; counselor reference; and two teacher references. When helpful, we use our knowledge and experience from teaching and counseling in international secondary schools to assist our students’ counselors with better representing a given student’s activities and accomplishments in a way that makes sense to admissions officers.

Extracurricular Activities

In addition to academics, extracurricular activities continue to play an important role in college admissions decisions. We assist our students in their efforts to identify and secure extracurricular activities outside of their school environment including work experience, summer programs (academic, leadership-focused, and other), as well as academic and other courses.

Merit-based Scholarships and Special Programs

Our students have won eight Robertson Scholarships in the last nine years. This scholarship pays all university expenses including tuition, room, board, and books for all four years at Duke University or the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. In 2020, merit-based scholarships awarded to our students included the Karsh Scholarship at Duke University (covering full tuition and all expenses ) and the Army ROTC scholarship at The University of Chicago (covering full tuition). Our students were also awarded merit-based scholarships in 2020 at the following universities:

• American University

• Bryant University

• Fordham University

• George Washington University

• Johnson & Wales University

• Maryland Institute College of Art

• Marymount Manhattan College

• University of Miami

• Northeastern University

• Ohio Wesleyan University

• Ringling College of Art and Design

• Rollins College

• School of the Art Institute of Chicago

• St. Lawrence University

• The New School/Parsons

• The Savannah College of Art and Design

• College of Wooster

• Our students have also had significant success gaining admission to special university programs such as the Huntsman Program at the University of Pennsylvania and the Brown-RISD Dual Degree Program.

Additional Services

Depending on the specific needs of the student, Syzygy also adds value in many other areas including: mentoring; study habits; course selection; video portfolios; resumes; and post-acceptance protocol.