SUCCESS
& TESTIMONIALS
Acceptance into College and Graduate School
Since 1999, one hundred percent of applicants gained admission to their first or second-choice college or graduate school. In actuality, only one student went to her second- choice university: Dartmouth.
SAT
Students' scores have increased between 80 and 240 points. Because Joyce teaches reading, writing, and vocabulary acquisition from an educator's perspective, her students report significant improvements in their school grades.
ACT
Test takers have increased their scores between five and eight points, with one student receiving a full scholarship to a prestigious university as a result of her near-perfect score.
GMAT and GRE
Mentees achieve excellent verbal and writing scores.
Master of Arts and Ph.D. Candidates
To date, all final drafts have been accepted by candidates’ committee members.
Gifted Students
One student's story appeared in a national magazine published for teens.
Mike improved his SAT verbal score by 110 points in only six weeks. That increase, combined with his first-class personal statement, brought him an acceptance package from his first-choice university.
Joyce is a wonderful mentor and teacher. Our son Luke, a gifted math student, linguist, and musician not only gained invaluable knowledge during his sessions with Joyce, but also was highly motivated to work toward his project goal.
Joyce proved a wise and calming influence during a time when our son was under intense pressure for a particular assignment. She broke down the assignment into workable parts and set a schedule for him to accomplish at each step along the way. As a result, under her guidance, Luke was inspired to do the work and felt confident he was doing a wonderful job. Luke has thoroughly enjoyed working with Joyce and has gained many valuable lifelong skills.
Mr. and Mrs. R. Paschal
Parents of a gifted high school student
To prepare myself for my freshman year of college, I worked with Joyce for a few weeks before I graduated from high school. Her strategies and tips have helped me feel extremely confident about what I can achieve at my university!
Lindsay B.
I just wanted to thank you again for all the help you gave me on my personal statement. I must say, it would have been much more difficult to get my thoughts onto paper without your assistance and it certainly would have taken much more time than I could afford during a busy senior year. The reason I am reminding you of the help you well know you gave me is because with that same essay (with, of course, a few more tweaks) I got into Stanford University!
Many students who applied had great . . . academic successes like high GPAs and SAT scores, and I even know of some with much higher ones than mine [who] didn't get in, so I believe it was my essays that helped set me apart from the pack. For this Ms. Singer, I whole-heartedly thank you for all the time you spent reading and proofreading my essay because taking your class definitely paid off for me . . . . Again, thank you so much for helping me to achieve my dream, I will not forget it.
Macy H.
Summer Institute for the Gifted, Yale
Joyce worked with our son to prepare him for the verbal sections of the SAT. He found their sessions extremely valuable and his work with Joyce an excellent experience. Initially, her approach to vocabulary study enticed him to begin working with her. The method is very helpful particularly with the inordinate number of words required to study in preparation for the exam. Our son earned an amazing writing score and an excellent total verbal score. We give Joyce an outstanding recommendation!
Robin D. Evans, M.D.
I have known Joyce since 2003—first as a district-wide Reading and Language Arts Consultant and then as a university faculty member and writing consultant. She is an articulate, highly competent writer and educator who, as a lifelong learner, has dedicated herself to achieving the highest professional standards. She develops positive relationships with high school and university students, colleagues, and with her private clients. When Joyce served as a district-wide Reading and Language Arts Consultant, I had several opportunities to observe her conduct teacher workshops and model literacy lessons for teachers. Joyce is proficient and skillful in her work and brings unique energy and passion to her teaching and writing. An expert in her field, she remains informed about current research, which she freely shares with others. As a client, myself, I benefitted from Joyce's expertise when she edited the final copy of my Ph.D. thesis. In her long and successful career, Joyce's expertise in oral and written communication has impacted many people at all educational levels.
Monita Leavitt, Ph.D.
International Consultant in Gifted Education
While studying for the GRE, I found Joyce an invaluable asset. Then when I began writing my graduate school application essays, she used unique practical tools to facilitate all stages of the writing process. Her brainstorming techniques helped me discover my ideas from deep within myself. Later, she taught me how to convey my ideas more clearly and how to refine them in the editing stage. She also helped me identify my weaknesses and provided clear strategies to eliminate them. My writing is better and continues to improve as a result our sessions.
Andrew J. Gentile