How It Works

NOTE: all lessons and meetings will be held online via Zoom or other video chat platforms until further notice.

College Counseling: . For students who have no idea where they’d like to attend, this step is invaluable, and kind of fun: we’ll generate a tentative list of schools based on an in-depth and creative process of self-discovery. This includes advanced questionnaires based on personality research, creative writing assignments, ‘field research’ (to be explained in session), and research projects. For those who already know their first choice, this is a great opportunity to learn of some other back-up options should their dream school not work out for them.

Afterwards, I send a series of handouts for my students to fill out: questionnaires to get them thinking about their academic and career aspirations, a checklist of tasks to see them through the application process, and a resources page for them to conduct their own research. Around eight half-hour video chats will be held where we discuss assignments and monitor progress, and follow-up questions, impromptu phone calls, or anything else along those lines will be scheduled on a case-by-case basis.

The ‘final project’ here is, of course, completing the application. I’ve designed this to help students stay on top of their to-do list over time, with bite-size tasks each week to prevent them from piling up on work the week before the application deadline. It’s a time management mentorship as much as it is a college counseling program.

Standardized Testing: The amount of tutoring done here will depend on the student’s needs, and can vary from 4 to 16 lessons. Completing a practice test before we begin working together is recommended, as it gives me important information: where a student’s percentile sits, which question types need the most improvement, and what percentile bracket to aim for. My lesson plan will be designed based on this initial information, and will be discussed during the first half of our first lesson.

Each lesson is held by Zoom, where I work through textbooks and homework assignments to help the student slowly build a varied skill set to help answer multiple-choice questions quickly and thoroughly. There are many powerful techniques out there, and sometimes these techniques alone can improve a score dramatically. That being said, I teach all my students the grammar, geometry, advanced algebra, and calculus they’ll need to get the best possible score.

Admissions Essays: This process begins with an introductory Zoom chat — I ask the student a series of questions to help me get to know them better, and then we dive right into writing. The goal here is to create a very rough draft as soon as possible. Typically, there will be anywhere between 5 and 8 follow up sessions, where I help students find their voice, feel good about their topic choice, and let go of unnecessary stress and self-consciousness.

In between sessions, we correspond over Google Docs, where I can read students’ work and provide feedback through revisions. Each revision comes at a set price.

By the very nature of most essay prompts, many students find themselves overwhelmed as they apply to college. When left to their own devices, they often fall into classic writing traps time and again: writing about ‘everything’ (and in effect, nothing), writing the essay that they think the college wants to read (rather than the one they want to write), or obsessing over that one sentence that isn’t ‘perfect’, and wasting a lot of time in the process.

My process is designed to get students out of their head and to just write the essay. Getting to the finish line can take longer for some and shorter for others, but at the end of the day, the goal is to write the essay that will get them accepted to their dream school — the bar should be set no lower. There are no guarantees here of course, but my process has helped all my students get into at least one of their reach schools.

The same process is used for main essays and supplemental essays alike, though the latter often take less time.

General Academic Tutoring and Time Management Support: I offer academic support for any high-school level subject, and I simply meet the student wherever they’re at — I purchase the same textbooks and reading material they’re using, and work alongside them, while fielding any questions they have about coursework and keeping them on track with their homework assignments. I offer eight-session packages at an hourly rate, with a 5% discount added if the package is paid for upfront.

For students seeking time management support, my academic tutoring is slightly more specialized. During the first session, I try to get an understanding of why a student might be struggling to get their work done – this can be anything from having an overloaded schedule to social stressors to simply lacking motivation. I have experience working with students who need accommodations due to learning differences as well.

This first session helps me determine the study habits/techniques that I judge will be most helpful. The neuro-scientific research behind habit-building, stress, and productivity is exploding right now, and I draw from the most up to date tools to help students incorporate these habits successfully into their busy lives. This is where the ‘coaching’ comes in. Like any skill, a habit takes practice and consistency, but also motivation, encouragement, and more often than not, someone to hold them accountable.

If you’d like to learn more or to set up a consultation, reach out to me via the Contact page.