By the time you are typing "Lumiere vs Polygence" into a search bar, you have already decided mentored research is worth doing. The remaining question is which program to trust with your child and a few thousand dollars. We are YRI, we are the third column in this table, and we would rather show you an honest side-by-side than pretend to be an unbiased blog that mysteriously reaches a verdict. Every competitor fact here comes from their own published materials as of September 2026. Where something is our opinion, we say so.
The table
| Lumiere | Polygence | YRI Fellowship | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Core price | ~$2,600 entry; publication tracks ~$4,800; intensive tiers $8,000+ | ~$3,000 core; pods from ~$495 | $2,997, or 3 x $999 |
| Length | ~12 weeks | ~10 sessions | 10 weeks, then continued until publication stage |
| Mentors | Largely PhD candidates at brand-name universities | Large marketplace, varied backgrounds | Full-time PhD mentors, network of 1,000+ |
| Designed outcome | Scholarly experience; publication at higher tiers | Open-ended project, any format | First-author paper submitted to a peer-reviewed venue |
| Publication support | In upper tiers | Possible, not the design | Included at the single price |
| Publication rate | Not prominently published | Not prominently published | 87% of Fellows publish |
| Competition prep (ISEF, JSHS, etc.) | Not the focus | Not the focus | Included; 73% of Fellows place |
| Named, verifiable outcomes | Limited | Limited | 29 public case studies with venues and DOIs |
| Reach | Global | Global | Students in 50+ countries |
The one-paragraph version of each
Lumiere is the category's biggest brand: polished, structured, mature. Its mentors are largely PhD candidates, its philosophy emphasizes the scholarly experience over guaranteed outputs, and the tiers that focus on publication cost several times its advertised entry price. You are paying partly for the brand, and the brand is real.
Polygence is the flexible one: roughly ten sessions, any topic, any output from paper to podcast, with a cheap group entry point. The trade is variance. The program is whatever the student and their marketplace mentor make of it, which is wonderful for exploration and unreliable for reaching a specific outcome like a publication.
YRI is the outcome one. One price, one design: original research with a full-time PhD mentor, finished into a first-author paper and submitted for peer review, then carried through the competition season, ISEF, JSHS and the rest, with the same work. 87% of our Fellows publish, 73% place at competitions, and we continue past the ten weeks until the research reaches the publication stage, because journals do not run on program calendars.
How to choose in three questions
1. What is the actual goal? A wonderful learning experience, choose Lumiere. A creative project on the student's own terms, choose Polygence. A publication and a competition record that an admissions officer can independently verify, choose YRI.
2. What does the quoted price actually include? This is where comparisons quietly break. Lumiere's entry price and its publication-track price are very different numbers. Polygence's price buys sessions, not an outcome. Our price includes the publication path, and if the paper is not through by week ten, we keep going at no additional cost.
3. Who exactly is the mentor? Ask every program this, including us. A PhD candidate partway through their first research cycle and a full-time PhD who has run the cycle repeatedly will give your child different things. Neither is bad. They are different products, priced strangely similarly.
The proof question
Any program can write a persuasive comparison page, including this one. So end your research the same way we tell our own students to end theirs: verify.
Our outcomes are public with names, venues and DOIs at yriscience.com/results: papers in IEEE, Springer and Elsevier venues, a Regeneron ISEF 2026 qualifier, a Best Oral Presentation at an IEEE conference in Tokyo, students admitted to Brown, Johns Hopkins and UT Austin, one Fellow whose research became a venture selected for a Wharton pitch competition, another running a seven-figure health-AI company at 16.
Ask Lumiere and Polygence for the same page: named students, verifiable outcomes, and a straight publication rate. If they can show it, weigh it honestly against ours. If they cannot, that silence is also data.
The bottom line
All three programs are legitimate, and the worst outcome is not picking the wrong one. It is paying for one thing while wanting another. Decide whether you are buying an experience, a playground, or an outcome, and the right column picks itself.
If it is the outcome, apply here. Rolling admissions, applications reviewed within 48 hours.
Download the YRI Fellowship brochure
The program, the outcomes, the mentors and the tuition, in one PDF you can read with your family.