Let's Get Ready is a non-profit organization

Non-profit organization

Nonprofit organization is neither a legal nor technical definition but generally refers to an organization that uses surplus revenues to achieve its goals, rather than distributing them as profit or dividends...

 that provides free SAT and college preparation to low-income high school students. Programs are based at colleges and staffed by trained college student volunteers. Let's Get Ready is the largest network of student-run college access programs in the U.S., serving approximately 2,500 high school students per year. . Let's Get Ready's mission is to "expand access to college in America by mobilizing, equipping, and empowering a movement of college students helping high school students get to college.".

History

It was started in 1998 by a group of college-aged students in Westchester, NY. It spread from a local program to Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

. In 2000, the College Board

College Board

The College Board is a membership association in the United States that was formed in 1900 as the College Entrance Examination Board . It is composed of more than 5,900 schools, colleges, universities and other educational organizations. It sells standardized tests used by academically oriented...

 gave LGR money to replicate their program in NYC schools. In 2007, Goldman Sachs

Goldman Sachs

The Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. is an American multinational bulge bracket investment banking and securities firm that engages in global investment banking, securities, investment management, and other financial services primarily with institutional clients...

 gave the New England

New England

New England is a region in the northeastern corner of the United States consisting of the six states of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut...

 LGR programs $400,000 to help expand their programs. This money accounted for 1/3 of the budget for these programs. , LGR ran 40 programs throughout the Northeast. The program has a partnership with Teach for America

Teach For America

Teach For America is an American non-profit organization that aims to eliminate educational inequity by enlisting the nation's most promising future leaders to teach for two or more years in low-income communities throughout the United States...

.

What it Does

LGR runs afterschool programs that prepare students for college and tutor them for the SATs

SATS

SATS may refer to:*South African Theological Seminary*Singapore Airport Terminal Services*Small Aircraft Transportation System*Stansted Airport Transit System*The National Curriculum assessment in the UK at ages 11 and 14....

. The course is open to high school Juniors and Seniors.

LGR program managers recruit highly skilled college students who are passionate about education and/or college access to serve as paid Site Directors. New Site Directors are chosen for each site each semester, although there is room for continuity. Site Directors recruit talented college coaches and eager high school students, typically working with a site partner, which may be a community center (for example, LGR works with the Goddard Riverside Center), a college program (for example, LGR works extensively with the CUNY Black Male Initiative), or a high school (for example, LGR runs a program that sends Columbia students to Frederick Douglass Academy). LGR then provides training to the college coaches and support to the Site Directors, and the program begins.
Each student receives 39 hours of completely free SAT preparation lessons, including practice tests, and 15 hours of college guidance. Students and coaches often develop powerful bonds, and many coaches return year after year. Students average a score increase of 110 points; many students have increases of 300-400 points. Over 90% of program graduates go directly to college after high school.

Fall and Spring

Barnard College

Barnard College

Barnard College is a private women's liberal arts college and a member of the Seven Sisters. Founded in 1889, Barnard has been affiliated with Columbia University since 1900. The campus stretches along Broadway between 116th and 120th Streets in the Morningside Heights neighborhood in the borough...

Boston College

Boston College

Boston College is a private Jesuit research university located in the village of Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts, USA. The main campus is bisected by the border between the cities of Boston and Newton. It has 9,200 full-time undergraduates and 4,000 graduate students. Its name reflects its early...

Clark University

Clark University

Clark University is a private research university and liberal arts college in Worcester, Massachusetts.Founded in 1887, it is the oldest educational institution founded as an all-graduate university. Clark now also educates undergraduates...

Columbia University

Columbia University

Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...

Fairfield University

Fairfield University

Fairfield University is a private, co-educational undergraduate and master's level teaching-oriented university located in Fairfield, Connecticut, in the New England region of the United States. It was founded by the Society of Jesus in 1942, and today is one of 28 member institutions of the...

Harvard University

Harvard University

Harvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...

Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College

Mount Holyoke College is a liberal arts college for women in South Hadley, Massachusetts. It was the first member of the Seven Sisters colleges, and served as a model for some of the others...

New York University

New York University

New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

University of Pennsylvania

University of Pennsylvania

The University of Pennsylvania is a private, Ivy League university located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. Penn is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States,Penn is the fourth-oldest using the founding dates claimed by each institution...

Tufts University

Tufts University

Tufts University is a private research university located in Medford/Somerville, near Boston, Massachusetts. It is organized into ten schools, including two undergraduate programs and eight graduate divisions, on four campuses in Massachusetts and on the eastern border of France...

Vassar College

Vassar College

Vassar College is a private, coeducational liberal arts college in the town of Poughkeepsie, New York, in the United States. The Vassar campus comprises over and more than 100 buildings, including four National Historic Landmarks, ranging in style from Collegiate Gothic to International,...

Wellesley College

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University

Wesleyan University is a private liberal arts college founded in 1831 and located in Middletown, Connecticut. According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, Wesleyan is the only Baccalaureate College in the nation that emphasizes undergraduate instruction in the arts and...

Spring

Baruch College

Baruch College

Bernard M. Baruch College, more commonly known as Baruch College, is a constituent college of the City University of New York, located in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, New York City. With an acceptance rate of just 23%, Baruch is among the most competitive and diverse colleges in the nation...

Colgate University

Colgate University

Colgate University is a private liberal arts college in Hamilton, New York, USA. The school was founded in 1819 as a Baptist seminary and later became non-denominational. It is named for the Colgate family who greatly contributed to the university's endowment in the 19th century.Colgate has 52...

Cornell University

Cornell University

Cornell University is an Ivy League university located in Ithaca, New York, United States. It is a private land-grant university, receiving annual funding from the State of New York for certain educational missions...

Princeton University

Princeton University

Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....

Summer

Boston, MA

Bridgeport, CT

Brockton, MA

Bronx, NY

Brooklyn, NY

Dorchester, MA

Harlem, NY

Lawrence, MA

Manhattan, NY

Mount Vernon, NY

New Haven, CT

New Rochelle, NY

New York City

New York City

New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

Queens, NY

Stamford, CT

Summit, NJ

White Plains, NY

Worcester, MA

Alumni

The organization has over 10,000 alumni who have studied at prestigious universities across the country. Alumni go on to become leaders in diverse fields with a passion for their communities. The organization prides itself on the number of program participants who have returned to LGR as coaches, Site Directors, and staff members, continuing the cycle of service.