Ultimately, BEAM's success will be measured by the number of students who enter STEM careers.
In the meantime, we track indicators that show whether students are on the pathway toward STEM success.
College: The Pathway to STEM Success
In a quasi-experimental study (2024), BEAM students were nearly 1.5x more likely to major in STEM than a comparison group (students who were waitlisted or admitted but did not attend BEAM).
BEAM students were particularly highly represented in “quant-heavy” STEM majors like physics, engineering, economics, and math itself.
BEAM students were more likely to attend college and more likely to attend a Forbes Top College than the comparison group.
In 2024, BEAM students enrolled at a diverse list of great-fit schools, including Cornell, Dartmouth, Lehigh, MIT (2), Northwestern, Smith, Stony Brook University, UC Berkeley, USC (3), Vanderbilt, and Wellesley.
High School: Providing a foundation
In New York City, all public school students must apply to high school. BEAM provides 1:1 advising to ensure that students can attend high schools that will prepare them for college and with good STEM courses offerings.
Where do BEAM Students Attend High School?
| Cohort | Attending Tier 1 Schools | Attending Tier 1, Tier 2, or Trusted Schools | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 59% | 77% | |
| 2020 | 51% | 90% | |
| 2021 | 59% | 84% | 2022 | 50% | 72% |
| 2023 | 57% | 90% | |
| 2024 | 64% | 95% |
In spring 2024, 12 BEAM students received admissions offers from NYC specialized high schools, including Stuyvesant, Brooklyn Tech, Brooklyn Latin, and High School for Math, Science, and Engineering.
Tier 1 high schools have college readiness greater than 80% for Black and Latine students and offer calculus. These schools include: all specialized schools in NYC (such as Stuyvesant, Bronx Science, Brooklyn Tech); Bard High School Early College; the Beacon School; Midwood High School; Townsend Harris High School; Millennium High School; Manhattan/Hunter Science High School; and Manhattan Center for Science and Mathematics, all schools that BEAM students attend.
*Note: Less than 50% of New York City’s public high schools offer calculus. Fewer than 10% of high schools meet the BEAM Tier 1 criteria.
Middle School: Summer Growth
BEAM begins with summer programs for rising 7th and 8th graders (BEAM Discovery and BEAM Summer Away, respectively). We have three primary goals for our students:
Grow in mathematical problem solving
Increase math perseverance
Increase interest in math
Problem Solving at BEAM summer programs
Standardized tests simply do not measure the kind of problem solving we aim to instill in our students, so we assess mathematical growth at our Summer Away program using the AMC 8, a national math contest (usually taken by advanced mathematical students).
In 2024, the median student at our Summer Away program gained nearly 10% in national ranking in just 3 weeks at our summer program (we consider 10% growth a “great” outcome).
At our Discovery program, we assess mathematical growth using questions from past TIMSS exams.
The median student at our Discovery program grew .30 standard deviations (which we consider a “great” outcome) over the 5 weeks of the program.
Perseverance: “What’s the longest you’ve spent on a math problem?”
We measure student perseverance in problem solving by tracking the longest students have spent solving a single math problem, asking students about their experience before and after the program.
Before BEAM Discovery, the median answer was 1.5 hours. By the end of Discovery, it became 48 hours, more than a 3000% increase!
Interest: “are you more interested in math?”
At BEAM Discovery, 96% of students reported being as interested or more interested in math after the summer.
At BEAM Summer Away, 96% of students reported being as interested or more interested in math after the summer.
Meet consuelo
Consuelo joined the BEAM Pathway Program in 2017, when she attended BEAM Summer Away at Bard College. There she took classes in number theory and the Chinese Remainder Theorem and rode her first roller coaster. In high school, she took BEAM Saturday classes in game theory, number theory, and infinite series, and attended the Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists (PROMYS). Consuelo was part of BEAM’s inaugural Math Research Workshop, conducting original research in invariant theory. The group’s findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra. Consuelo is pursuing a degree in engineering at The City College of New York. She wrote, “BEAM has been a catalyst to my preparation for college, interest in mathematics, and developing social and academic skills that I will use in the future.” Watch a 2-minute video about Consuelo’s BEAM journey.
Meet daniel
Daniel attended BEAM Summer Away in 2019, taking classes in number theory, graph theory, and projective planes and incidence geometry. In high school, he attended BEAM Saturday classes and taught himself calculus, passing the AP Calculus BC exam as a 10th grader. With BEAM’s help, he attended the Summer Multicultural Engineering Training Program at the Colorado School of Mines and the Summer Science Program, doing research in astrophysics. Daniel dreamed of attending MIT. Working with BEAM’s college support coordinator in Los Angeles, Daniel became BEAM’s first-ever student admitted to MIT (a second BEAM student, Alexis, was admitted shortly after). He began his studies at MIT in fall 2024. He said of his BEAM experience, “BEAM taught me many things I wouldn’t have known otherwise.”
Meet ZeÑIa
Zeñia joined the BEAM Pathway Program in 2014. As a rising 8th grader at BEAM Summer Away, she took classes in combinatorics, proofs, and Hamming codes. Later she attended Center for Talented Youth programs and completed a summer engineering program at Cooper Union in New York City. BEAM also supported Zeñia as she applied to college. She graduated from Worcester Polytechnic Institute in 2023, with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering and a master’s in management (after just 4 years!). Zeñia said, “When I was introduced to BEAM, a whole new world of math opened up to me. They have played such a pivotal part in my life and continue to be one of my biggest support systems.”
Meet rawin
Rawin joined BEAM in 2018. As an 8th grader, he attended MathPath and in high school, he attended the Program in Mathematics for Young Scientists (PROMYS) and Canada/USA Mathcamp. Rawin attended BEAM Saturday classes and was part of BEAM’s inaugural Math Research Workshop, conducting original research in invariant theory. The group’s findings were published in the peer-reviewed Journal of Pure and Applied Algebra. Rawin is a Simons STEM Scholar at Stony Brook University majoring in math. Rawin wrote, “My passion for mathematics all started at BEAM Summer Away.” Watch a 4-minute video about Rawin’s BEAM journey.
Maria poses in scrubs during her radiology internship at Lenox Hill Hospital. She plans to study neuroscience in college.
Other markers of success: Continued Advanced Study
After BEAM’S summer residential program, students go on to further programs for advanced study. Dozens of students have attended programs such as Canada/USA Mathcamp, PROMYS, Center for Talented Youth programs, MathPath, the MathWorks Honors Summer Math Camp at Texas State University, Jane Street AMP, Cooper Union Summer STEM Program, Summer Science Program (doing astrophysics research), SHAPE - Columbia University Summer High School Academic Program for Engineers, various REUs, and many more; most of them go on full scholarship. In this way, students can continue their advanced study and explore the many opportunities available to them.