General Program Questions
1. What is Brightspark, and how does it help students get into top universities?
Brightspark focuses on personalized Spark building. All students have unlimited access to our team of subject-specific experts, but our core expertise lies in mentoring students to develop impactful spikes for their admissions profiles. In our experience, grades are merely the starting point for discussions around admission to Ivy League–caliber schools.
2. At what age or grade level should a student start the Brightspark program?
Our main Track 1 program, with a cohort of 15 students per year, starts at the beginning of Grade 10. This timing provides the ideal timeline for developing a Spark theme, working with a paired mentor to publish a research paper, and securing a company placement for a Grade 11 summer internship.
3. How is Brightspark different from other college admissions programs or tutoring services?
Brightspark programs differ in two key areas: individualization and results. Most programs focus on optimizing course schedules and offering general advice on which extracurriculars to pursue. However, students aiming for Ivy League or equivalent top-tier schools often already know—or are motivated to discover—what activities to pursue. A program that simply offers course tutoring and general advice is not particularly useful to them. Brightspark focuses on the how—the “leveling up” of current activities. We help students move from being members of school clubs to becoming presidents, then hosts of international case competitions and hackathons, and ultimately founders of nationally recognized organizations. This is achieved by pairing students with one-on-one mentors for research paper guidance and securing internship placements. On the essay side, students receive personalized instruction through one-on-one classes with the founder.
4. Is Brightspark only for students interested in Ivy League or top-ranked universities?
Not necessarily. A few of our students choose to apply only to Canadian universities but want to maximize their chances of admission, along with scholarships, to the most competitive programs—such as UBC’s Computer Science, University of Toronto’s Engineering Science and Rotman Commerce, McMaster’s Health Sciences, McGill’s Health Sciences and Pre-Med, University of Waterloo’s Engineering and Computer Science, Western’s Ivey Business School, Queen’s Commerce, and other specialized programs like the University of Calgary’s Biomedical Engineering and the University of Alberta’s Petroleum Engineering.
5. How are students selected to join the Brightspark program? Is there an application process?
With the limit of 15 students for Track 1, the program must be selective to maintain the highest quality for current students. The three core criteria are diligence, starting profile strength, and humility, each weighted equally at one-third. Applicants must submit their most recent high school transcript (PDF), a one-page description of their top three current extracurriculars, and a brief one-paragraph introduction outlining their ideal university goals.
Mentorship and Academics
6. How are mentors chosen, and what qualifications do they have?
Mentors are industry leaders, not merely professionals, and are a limited resource, as each mentor remains paired with a student for at least a year. They are at the forefront of their respective fields, not simply working within them. In academia, our mentors include professors and leading Ph.D. research students. Currently, our mentors cover sectors including technology, finance, health sciences (biology- and chemistry-focused), business, English, philosophy, and economics.
7. What if my child doesn’t know their primary interests or career goals yet?
The core goal of Brightspark is to help students discover their passion while simultaneously developing their profiles to a competitive level for elite university admissions. Half of all Brightspark students discover their passion during the program, rather than entering with a specific spike already defined.
8. What does the mentorship process look like on a day-to-day basis?
The standard time commitment is two one-hour classes per week: one essay session and one meeting with the mentor. Each student’s case usually differs.
Research, Internships, and Extracurriculars
9. Are internships guaranteed, and what types of companies or industries do students intern in?
Internships are guaranteed and specifically tailored to match the limits of what a student’s abilities can handle. At the upper level, placements include hedge funds, VC firms, UBC science labs, the Berkeley Artificial Intelligence Research (BAIR) Lab, the MIT Media Lab, the University of Toronto’s Vector Institute, Algorand, Notion, Google, and GitLab.
10. What is the Spark Network, and how does it support students’ career development?
The Spark network refers to the current year’s students and their paired mentors. While in high school, the Spark network is made up of current Brightspark students going through the same growth process as part of one of the high school tracks. In the past, students have collaborated with fellow Brightspark students on extracurricular activities—such as hosting joint case competitions by linking two high school clubs, forming close-knit trading teams to compete in the Wharton Trading Competition in Pennsylvania, or co-authoring scientific papers on specific gene sequences while conducting research at Cornell. After graduation, the Spark network becomes the student’s ongoing relationship with their mentor and the founders. In the current year, graduating students have secured direct placements into internships and full-time roles, as many mentors are hiring managers within their subject areas.
11. Does the program help students publish research, and how competitive is this process?
The specific journal a student submits to for publication depends on the topic they have written about. For example, one of our past students interested in trading and finance submitted his research paper to the Open Journal of Business and Management (OJBM), Journal of Emerging Investigators (JEI), Journal of Student Research (JSR), International Journal of Scholarly Research and Innovation (IJSRI), Curieux Academic Journal, The Schola, National High School Journal of Science (NHSJS), The Journal of Research High School (JRHS), STEM Fellowship Journal (SFJ), Stanford Intersect, and The Whitman Journal of Psychology. The research and publication process is extremely competitive. As a result, students who either complete a full research paper for their portfolio or achieve publication in a student research journal significantly increase their chances of admission into Ivy League and equivalent-caliber schools.
Application and Admissions Support
12. How does Brightspark support students with college essays and personal statements? Does Brightspark provide assistance with scholarship and financial aid applications?
The essay portion of a student’s admissions profile includes all university-specific essays, the Common App personal statement, Common App extracurricular filings, financial aid statements, and scholarship essays. The essay writing component of the student’s application is completed with one of the founders and covers all supplemental essays required for financial aid and scholarship consideration. In our experience, students admitted as international applicants from Canada to top U.S. universities often receive both scholarship and financial aid support.
13. What role do mentors play in the college application process?
Research learning and writing, plus guaranteed internship placement. Founders work directly with students on the essay writing component.
14. Does Brightspark assist with applications outside the U.S., such as in Canada, the UK, and Europe?
While Brightspark specializes in helping Canadian high school students gain admission to top universities in the U.S., we have also assisted students in applying to leading universities around the world.
15. What are Early Decision and Regular Decision applications, and does Brightspark help with both?
Early Decision is a binding type of admission in which, if a student is admitted, they are committed to attending the university. In almost all cases, Brightspark students apply to both types of admission.