Everything you need to work the Library.
This guide walks you through accessing your library, finding your way around the sheets, using the built-in filters to narrow results fast, saving and organizing programs for your students, and getting the most out of the database.
Accessing Your Library
Lumisheets lives in your browser — there is nothing to download or install. Your account is your key.
Activating your account
Open the access link from your welcome email. You'll land on the Lumisheets Library welcome page. Click Sign up to activate your account — if you've already signed up, click Log In instead. Once you're in, you'll arrive at The Library, the home page for everything inside.
What's inside the Library
| Category | What's there |
|---|---|
| Getting Started | This guide — how to read the sheets, navigate them, and support your students with the database. |
| Programs | Summer programs, pre-college experiences, research opportunities, and academic enrichment across disciplines. |
| Awards | Competitions, awards, and distinctions students can apply to. |
| Scholarships | Scholarships by institutions in the US and UK, for both domestic and international students. |
| Service | Worthwhile service opportunities and best practices — including what to watch out for, such as "voluntourism." |
| Platforms | Places to publish work, whether creative pieces or academic research. |
| K–8 | Targeted opportunities for younger students to explore interests and get a head start on their profiles. |
| My Students | Your student roster — profiles with grade, GPA, and interests, each with its own saved list of programs. |
| Favorites | Your personal shortlist across every sheet, grouped by category, for programs worth remembering on their own. |
Within each category, you'll find a set of sheets organized by academic discipline, interest field, and opportunity type. Click a category to see its sheets, then open any sheet to start exploring.
Understanding a Sheet
Each sheet is an interactive, filterable finder. Open one and you'll see a title, a short description, a live program count, and a searchable, sortable table of entries. Tap any entry to expand its full profile.
What you'll see on a sheet
| Element | What it does |
|---|---|
| Search bar | Free-text search across program names, hosts, and formats. Start typing to narrow instantly. |
| Tier pills | Quick filters at the top — All tiers, plus the tier levels for that sheet. Tap one to show only that tier. |
| Filters | Opens the full filter panel to narrow by cost, format, eligibility, grade, and more. |
| Result count | Shows how many entries match your current view (e.g. "Showing 19 of 19 programs"). |
| Column headers | Click a header — Tier, Grades, Cost, Deadline — to sort the table by that column. |
| Expand (▾) | Tap any row to open the full profile: host, cost detail, format, selectivity, and consultant notes. |
| Save (☆) | Bookmark a program to your Favorites, to one or more students, or both — right from the row. |
What each entry tells you
| Field | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Tier | A 7-tier selectivity scale from Free/Open to Elite. Use it to calibrate fit before diving into detail. |
| Cost | Free, a fee range, or the full amount. Flag for families early to avoid surprise conversations later. |
| Format & Duration | Residential, online, or hybrid — plus length. Critical for international students with travel constraints. |
| Selectivity | Acceptance rate where known. Treat single-digit rates like college admissions and plan accordingly. |
| Deadline | The application window for the current or upcoming cycle. Always verify directly before advising. |
| Verified URL | A direct link to the opportunity, re-checked monthly. Still confirm before sharing with families. |
| Consultant Notes | Strategic context from the Lumisheets team — what makes this worth recommending, and when. |
Finding What You Need
Filtering is the skill that turns a long sheet into a focused shortlist for one student. Every sheet has its filters built in — there's nothing to set up, and nothing to save. Just open a sheet and start narrowing.
The fast path
Use the tier pills at the top for a one-tap filter by selectivity level. Type into the search bar to find a specific program, host, or format. Open Filters to combine criteria — cost, format, eligibility, grade — for a precise shortlist. Click any column header to sort (for example, by Deadline to see what's due soonest).
Most useful filters for consultants
Filter by grade. Start here, so you're only looking at programs your student can actually attend. Watch for programs aimed at students "rising" into a grade — and double-check age requirements, since some have a hard cutoff (for example, must be 16 by the start date) due to specific regulations.
Filter by eligibility. When working with non-US students, filter out opportunities limited to domestic applicants. Narrow to "Open globally" or exclude "US citizens only" to quickly clear out anything your student isn't eligible for.
Filter by tier. Calibrate a shortlist to your student's strength. Each sheet is organized into tiers — usually beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels (the tier names vary by category). Build recommendations that match the student while hedging for risk.
Sort by deadline. Sorting by Deadline helps you plan a student's year — surface the earliest deadlines to act on now, and map upcoming ones into a roadmap. Where shown, Deadline type and notes add detail, such as multiple windows or rolling submissions.
Filter by cost. Use this early when budget is a constraint. Narrow to free entries to build a no-cost shortlist before introducing paid programs.
Filter by format. Use this for students with travel restrictions, or families who won't send a student abroad. Narrow to online or hybrid to surface remote-friendly options.
Saving Programs & Building Student Lists
Unlike filters, which reset the moment you leave a sheet, saved programs stick — to you, or to a specific student. This is how you turn a research session into a working shortlist you can come back to.
The Save icon
Every row on every sheet has a small star icon on the right, under "Details." Click it and a short panel opens with two kinds of destinations: Favorites, your own personal shortlist, and Students, a checkbox for each student on your roster. Check any combination — a program can be favorited and assigned to two different students at the same time, if it's relevant to both.
Favorites
Favorites is your own running shortlist, independent of any one student — useful for programs you want to remember, keep an eye on, or recommend broadly. Open it from the menu on any sheet. Saved programs are grouped by category (Programs, Awards, Scholarships, and so on), and each category can be collapsed once you've reviewed it, so the page stays manageable as your list grows.
My Students
My Students is your roster. Add a student with their name, grade, GPA, and areas of interest, plus any free-text notes. Once a student exists, they'll show up as a checkbox option in the Save panel on every sheet — check their name on any program to add it directly to their list.
Open a student's profile and you'll see everything you've saved for them, pulled live from the sheets — tier, summary, grades, deadline, and a link back to the full entry. Remove a program from a student's list at any time with the small × on its card.
Sharing a student's list
Each student's profile has a Print / Save PDF button. It opens your browser's print dialog with a clean, family-ready layout — no navigation, no save icons, just the student's profile and their programs. Choose "Save as PDF" from the print dialog to create a file you can email directly.
Best Practices
Lumisheets is a research tool, not a recommendation engine. The best consultants use it to accelerate their own judgment. Here's how to get the most out of it.
Working with Programs
The most common mistake is filtering by tier first and eligibility second. A Tier 1 program your student can't apply to is worthless. Filter eligibility before anything else, especially for non-US students.
Students and families get paralyzed by long lists. Narrow the sheet to the 5–10 most relevant entries, then apply your judgment to cut to 3–5 realistic targets. Quality over quantity.
URLs are verified monthly, but programs change between updates. Before telling a family about a specific program, open the link and confirm it's still running, deadlines are current, and eligibility hasn't shifted. Sixty seconds — and it protects your credibility.
Working with Awards
Most awards reward demonstrated work over time — publications, competition results, sustained projects. A student who discovers an award in 11th grade rarely has time to build the portfolio it requires, such as programs. A student aiming at mid-tier universities shouldn't gun only for Tier 1 national competitions. Build a portfolio that pairs realistically winnable Tier 2–3 awards with aspirational Tier 1 targets.
A national win in a subject the student isn't applying to study is weak signal. The strongest awards reinforce the student's academic narrative. Cross-reference the Awards sheet against the intended major and filter accordingly.
Working with Saved Lists
If a program looks promising, save it in the moment — to Favorites, a student, or both. Coming back to re-find something you saw earlier costs more time than the two extra clicks would have.
A student's saved list works best as the shortlist you've already vetted, not a dumping ground for anything that seemed relevant. Remove entries once a student rules a program out.
Staying Current
Lumisheets is updated monthly. Here's what that means for your workflow:
Broken or changed links are fixed. If you spot a broken link between updates, email us and we'll fix it right away.
Application windows are updated each cycle. Still verify directly before advising — programs sometimes shift deadlines mid-cycle.
Programs, awards, and scholarships that launch or come to our attention are added, with a consultant note where it helps your planning.
You'll receive a quarterly refresh email summarizing the major changes. The latest refresh notes are also pinned at the top of The Library page in the member area.
Getting Help
We answer every subscriber email personally. For any questions, corrections, or updates, write to us at hello@lumisheets.net.