Introducing ILUMIN Education’s New Consultant: Brian Kang
Elton Lin
We are incredibly excited to welcome Brian Kang to our team!
Read MoreILUMIN Blog
Helpful tips about college admissions, test preparation and just being a better student, leader and person from ILUMIN Education.
ILUMIN Education Ranked Top Admissions Consultants of 2025
Elton Lin
Exciting news: ILUMIN Education has been ranked one of the Top Admission Consulting Services Providers of 2025 by Education Insider!
Read More10 Reasons Why You Don’t Need a College Consultant
Elton Lin
The college application process can feel overwhelming, but do you really need a college consultant? Many students and families navigate applications on their own, and with enough time, research, and persistence, you might not need outside help. However, before you make your decision, let’s explore some common reasons why people think they don’t need a consultant—and why they might want to reconsider.
Read MoreCongrats to Our 2024 ED/EA Students!
Elton Lin
Happy New Year, and a warm congratulations to our ILUMIN students who got into their dream schools through the early application round, including Early Decision and Early Action! We're thrilled to announce that some of our students have been accepted to schools including Caltech, Claremont McKenna, Duke, NYU, Princeton, Reed, and Santa Clara University.
Read MoreWebinar Transcript: Strengthening Supplemental Essays
Elton Lin
We’ll be discussing five main types of supplemental essay prompts, which you can see listed here. Although the terms like “Why Us?” and et cetera are not necessarily the official terminology, it is really helpful for students so that they can learn how to identify the real questions that they should be answering.
Read MoreWebinar Transcript: How to Get Started on the Common App Personal Statement
Elton Lin
Many of you have probably heard of the Common App—really big platform, supports over a thousand colleges in their college application process—and kind of at the forefront of that is the Common App Personal Statement, or the Common App essay, which gets sent to every college that you apply to through the Common App.
Read MoreWebinar Transcript: Breaking Down the UC PIQs
Elton Lin
We’re going to take a look at some of the PIQs. For a lot of our seniors—definitely if there are any younger students, you are more than welcome to join to get a bit of preview of what’s in store—but this is mostly going to be geared for a lot of our incoming 12th graders who are going to be doing the college essays and applications coming on.
Read MoreWebinar Transcript: The Digital SAT vs. The ACT
Elton Lin
This is a transcript of a webinar from August 2024, a recording of which you can find on our YouTube channel. Thank you again to Ivy Method Tutors for co-hosting this webinar with us!
Read MoreWebinar Transcript: Pathway to Med School: High School Tips for Medical School Success
Elton Lin
This is a transcript of a webinar from August 2024, a recording of which you can find on our YouTube channel. Thank you again to Samantha Castro-Rico, Ivan Chan, and William Kerr for coming to share their personal thoughts and experiences surrounding their own pathways to med school!
Read MoreIs Early Admissions Evolving? UChicago’s Early Early Decision and Others
Elton Lin
This past summer, The University of Chicago announced their binding Summer Student Early Notification (SSEN) application option: high school seniors students who have previously completed one of UChicago’s summer programs can now apply to the university between September and mid-October—earlier than the ED1 timeline. This development adds to UChicago’s wide range of early application options; the institution already offers ED1, EA, and ED2.
Read More