How can colleges and universities keep an open gateway to the science disciplines for the least experienced first-year science students while also maintaining high standards that challenge the students with the strongest possible high school backgrounds? The Science Advancement through Group Engagement (SAGE) project targets cohorts of less well-prepared, high potential science students as they progress together through the first two years of undergraduate science courses. A study in chemistry revealed that retention of the first cohort of SAGE participants through the gateway chemistry sequence more than doubled that of both historical and contemporary control groups. Moreover, by the fourth course, Organic Chemistry 2, SAGE participants performed as well as students who arrived at university with the strongest possible high school backgrounds. Because of national trends in high school student science preparation, the positive impact of this program disproportionately affected women and students belonging to underrepresented minority groups.