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Why I Work at Get Smarter Prep

Why I Work at Get Smarter Prep

When I came to Get Smarter Prep (GSP) three years ago, I was a few months out of grad school. I had luckily landed a position as an adjunct professor at a local community college, but “adjunct” is a fancy word for “part-time.” I needed a flexible job that would allow me to continue with my adjunct position and supplement my income. An old friend was working at GSP at the time and encouraged me to apply. I ended up going through training and came out the other end as a GSP employee. I’ve been an employee now for three years, and there are a lot of reasons why I’ve stayed:

1) Flexible hours

At GSP, you can determine your own availability. I was able to say when I wanted and didn’t want to teach. I’m available most weekday afternoons and evenings. Sunday, however, is my day to decompress, ride bikes, knit, pet kittens, etc. Other tutors prefer to do more tutoring on the weekend. You get to choose!

2) Helping stressed out students

I may have just celebrated my ten-year reunion, but I still remember vividly how stressful high school was: class all day long, honors classes, pressure to get the best grades possible, college apps, and extracurricular activities. When did we ever sleep?! Students still go through that today, but you can be a beacon of hope! The ACT and SAT are just other stressors in students’ lives, but you can help ease their worries. When your student gets the score that helps him or her get into the dream college, it’s a rewarding feeling.

3) Amazing co-workers

I’ve had a lot of part-time jobs since high school, and I can honestly say that I’ve had the BEST co-workers at GSP. They’re smart, funny, caring, and always helpful. There’s never an awkward company meeting or party because I’m always elated to spend time with these people. We come from a variety of backgrounds and professions, so there’s always something neat to talk about. The front office staff deserves their own full-page description of how wonderful they are, but I will summarize and say that they make your life as a tutor easy. If you’re having issues or need something, just shoot them an email, and they will respond promptly. They’re responsive, empathetic, and just amazing.

4) A job you can feel proud of

Since graduating, I’ve run into a lot of old classmates at jobs that they’re clearly embarrassed to be seen at (They shouldn’t be because we all know college loans don’t pay themselves!). Being a tutor at GSP has always been a job that I take great pride in. Even though we follow set material, I’m constantly using my problem-solving skills. Every student’s brain processes information differently, and I have to figure out how to make everything click. At GSP, my expertise and my time are well compensated. I know I’m a valued member of the team.

I will unfortunately be saying goodbye to GSP this year as I embark on a new adventure: motherhood. Leaving will be truly bittersweet because I’ve absolutely loved this job and the people. Just reading through the reasons I’ve listed above makes me want to strap on a baby carrier and continue tutoring (but that might be distracting to the students). I hope future tutors will have as memorable time as I have had!

If you are interested in learning more about working at GSP, here’s a link to our Jobs page!

Madison Huber-Smith is a former GSP Tutor.

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Rankings vs. Fit Part III

Rankings vs. Fit Part III

In this series, Audrey dissects a recent debate over the merits of Ivy League Universities which has opened up a much broader and more important conversation – one about choosing colleges and the importance of looking beyond selectivity and rankings when choosing a school. This is Part Three of the series. Here are Part I and Part II.

So, rankings may not be that important after all. They may give us some ideas, but they are not definitive – which schools are included and how those schools are ranked vary quite a bit from one rankings system to another, and the criteria may not include the factors that are most important to an individual student.

So what is important?

This is what was important to me: I wanted my campus to be pretty. I wanted people to be nice. I wanted to be able to get to know my professors a little bit, because I learn best when I’m face to face with someone. I wanted the food to be good.

That doesn’t narrow it down much, does it? I didn’t mind a religious affiliation, but I didn’t want mandatory theology classes, because I felt I’d had enough of that in my Catholic high school, so that meant Georgetown was out. I wanted to be able to take some electives, not just courses in my major (bye-bye, Cooper Union). I was pretty committed to the idea of seasons (there goes Arizona State) and putting a few hundred miles between me and my hometown (sorry, Washington University).

Some students will visit an older sibling or cousin who ended up at Ohio State and fall in love with the school, without looking at too many other places or asking very many questions. And those students might well have an amazing experience at Ohio State. Many of the things that determine the flavor of your particular college experience may not show up in a brochure or even an overnight visit: a particular class you stumble upon because the one you intended to take was full and you really need something Monday and Wednesday at 3:00, or the person who lives across the hall from you during your first semester, or the little all night diner across town that no one else seems to know about. Ohio State is just as likely to deliver these serendipitous intangibles as any other school. The list of factors I’m suggesting below is not for those students, nor is it for the ones who have always wanted to attend the same school as a parent or uncle and are certain they will be accepted to that school (although I’d point out that having backups is still wise).

This list is for students who are certain their perfect school is out there, somewhere, and are tempted to turn to rankings guides to find it. This list is for students who wanted to attend the most selective school that would accept them before they read that the most selective school that accepts you might not actually be the best fit. This list is for students who are overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of schools – even in an abbreviated list like Princeton Review’s – and have no idea where to start.

Choosing a college that works for you is like folding a giant, unwieldy blanket. Which corner you start with matters less than the fact that you need to start with a corner. Once you’ve got a handle on that, you can move to the next corner, and the next, until what was a giant, uncoordinated mess is something manageable and organized. “Corners,” for the purposes of my metaphor, are geography, academics, extracurriculars, and amenities. So pick a corner, and start narrowing that list.

Audrey Hazzard is a Tutor at Get Smarter Prep.

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Rankings vs. Fit Part II

Rankings vs. Fit Part II

In this series, Audrey dissects a recent debate over the merits of Ivy League Universities which has opened up a much broader and more important conversation – one about choosing colleges and the importance of looking beyond selectivity and rankings when choosing a school. This is Part Two of the series.

In Part One, we introduced an important idea: college rankings may not be the most important factor in choosing a school. This may sound simple, but the very purpose of rankings is to present a list of schools from most to least desirable, based upon a series of criteria which vary from one ranking system to the next. U.S. News calculates its rankings based upon “undergraduate academic reputation” (assessed by college administrators and high school guidance counselors), student retention, “faculty resources” (professor salary is the largest component of this section, while student to faculty ratio is the smallest), selectivity (most of this category is determined by SAT and ACT scores,) financial resources, graduation rate, and alumni giving rate.

The Princeton Review’s rankings are composed a bit differently; schools are ranked in 62 different categories, based on student surveys. Topics are diverse, and include information on dorms, dining, health services, and the prevalence of alcohol on campus. As a student I may care quite a bit more about the quality of the food than the salary of my professors, so the Princeton Review ranking system may seem to have more to offer me than the U.S. News version.

However, the number of colleges ranked by The Princeton Review is less than 400 – just over 13% of the total number Title IV institutions granting 4-year degrees in the country. Robert Franek, who authors the guide, says: “Every college in our book offers outstanding academics.” Is the implication that the colleges and universities not included in their rankings don’t offer quality educations?

Unfortunately, the Princeton Review is less than specific in revealing the methodology used to select the schools they review, noting only that “[w]e selected these colleges primarily based on our high opinion of their academics.” U.S. News, by contrast, collects data on approximately 1600 colleges and universities, about 56% of the total schools in the country. While the U.S. News system still appears less than comprehensive, it includes far more schools than The Princeton Review.

One could certainly argue that the number of schools reviewed by any given outlet provides students with an overwhelming array of choices, and that tracking down more colleges and universities to investigate, beyond the several hundred provided, is, well, a bit silly. But understanding the underlying logic of ratings systems can be invaluable in choosing the best colleges for an individual student.

Forbes provides perhaps the most surprising ranking system. One might expect such a magazine to provide mostly financial information. And, in a way, it does. “We’re not all that interested in what gets a student into college, like our peers who focus heavily on selectivity metrics such as high school class rank, SAT scores and the like. Our sights are set directly on ROI: What are students getting out of college?” Forbes’ ranking includes ten percent weight given to RateMyProfessor scores, as well as several metrics measuring student success after graduation: graduate salaries as well as the number of students winning certain awards (Nobel and Pulitzer prizes, for example). Forbes ranks 650 schools, falling between the relatively small number ranked by The Princeton Review and the more comprehensive U.S. News list.

Other ranking systems exist – focusing on everything from public service (Washington Monthly) to earnings after graduation (Money). Which rankings, if any, to consider in the college search should be compatible with a student’s goals and priorities. Because rankings systems disagree regarding which criteria are important for evaluating schools, and even which schools ought to be evaluated, rankings can’t generally be accepted without research into methodologies and some consideration of which factors are most important to an individual student. We’ll discuss what some of those factors might be in the next part of the series.

Audrey Hazzard is a Tutor at Get Smarter Prep.

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Rankings vs. Fit Part I

Rankings vs. Fit Part I

In this series, Audrey dissects a recent debate over the merits of Ivy League Universities which has opened up a much broader and more important conversation – one about choosing colleges and the importance of looking beyond selectivity and rankings when choosing a school. This is Part One of the series.

William Deresiewicz’s New Republic piece, “Don’t Send Your Kid to the Ivy League,” has generated heated debate at the New Republic and elsewhere. In the original piece, excerpted from Deresiewicz’s new book Excellent Sheep: The Miseducation of the American Elite and the Way to a Meaningful Life, the author argues that education at Ivy League institutions is fundamentally mismanaged and that our most elite institutions are producing graduates incapable of living the kinds of lives that Deresiewicz seems to think they should.

In the ensuing flurry of responses, a few critical questions emerge: What is college for? How should one choose a college?

Deresiweicz, and the authors who have joined the debate, are using “The Ivy League” as shorthand for a group of schools none of them define clearly, muddling the conversation significantly. The Ivies are, of course, a group of eight elite colleges: Brown, Columbia, Cornell, Dartmouth, Harvard, Penn, Princeton, and Yale. The combined undergraduate enrollment of these schools is just shy of 100,000 students, or about one half of one percent of the total undergraduate enrollment in the country. Deresiwiecz’s ostensible clarification that he refers to “our entire system of elite education,” including private and some public high schools, tutors, test prep, graduate school, and hiring practices, is problematic in its lack of precision. If his concern is, as it seems to be, with the entire system by which we educate and hire young people (not with the Ivy League specifically), why invoke the Ivies in the title?

Here the Ivy League is employed as a symbol of elitism, and of success – pointing to a much larger issue with the way we choose colleges. He comes closest to salient criticism of our current system when he writes: “Like so many kids today, I went off to college like a sleepwalker. You chose the most prestigious place that let you in; up ahead were vaguely understood objectives: status, wealth—“success.””

Prestige. Selectivity. Rankings. These are the criteria college lists are made of, right? Most prestigious is synonymous with “best,” which is somehow synonymous with “best for me.” In the hierarchical system of evaluating schools, the Ivy League colleges live at the top of the mountain with all other options somehow less shiny and promising.

Deresiwiecz hints at this disconnect but fails to make the next logical step: the ideal school for me may not be the ideal school for you, the most prestigious school that will accept a student may not be the one at which he or she will get the best education. If we can’t simply choose a college based on its rankings, how should we choose?

Audrey Hazzard is a Tutor at Get Smarter Prep.

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Baylor University

Name: Baylor University
College: College of Arts and Sciences
Major: University Scholars Program

1. What first drew you to Baylor University?

What first drew me to Baylor was that they offered me a full tuition scholarship, otherwise I never would have visited campus.  However, I’m glad I did because Baylor is an amazing school with tons of incredible opportunities!

2. What other colleges were you considering?

I was basically down to schools that were going to give me substantial scholarships, so Nebraska, University of Oklahoma, and Texas A&M were also in the mix.

3. How was the adjustment from high school to college?

The adjustment from high school to college isn’t as daunting as people make it out to be.  A lot of college level coursework is much more interesting than high school, so class is a lot more fun.

4. What was your favorite class? Why?

My favorite class was “Alexander and the Diadecoi” because I love history and this class relied solely on primary sources and rigorous application of classical historical study methods.

5. What clubs or groups were you involved in?

I was involved in Student Government, Model UN, the Baylor Marksman’s Association, and Brooks College.

6. Anything else you want to tell us?

I’m really glad that I chose Baylor because Baylor emphasizes a traditional liberal arts education, and that’s actually pretty rare these days.

7. In one sentence, what do you love about your school?

I love Baylor because it was the perfect place for me.

 

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Fun Facts about Audrey Hazzard

1) I’ve visited 42 states and 23 U.S. National Parks. I love road trips!

2) I love to write, and I try to participate in National Novel Writing Month every year. My first year, after finishing a (very) rough draft during the month of November, I printed it out and carried it around with me for weeks. It was so exciting to exciting to have this tangible stack of pages that I had produced! (Unfortunately, I hate editing, so I haven’t done much else with it yet. Feel free to remind me that I’ve got revisions to do!)

3) I love Audrey Hepburn, and I’ve probably seen Breakfast at Tiffany’s 100 times.

4) I am gradually teaching myself to sew my own clothes. So far I’ve mostly made special occasion dresses for themed parties. I have almost no patience for patterns so I usually just draw my own.

5) I came very close to attending Arizona State University. I was enrolled in the architecture program – had signed up for classes and everything – before I was able to visit. When I finally did visit, I found that I was desperately allergic to ASU’s campus and had to change my mind at the last minute! (I ended up attending Randolph College in Lynchburg, VA.)

6) I have an inordinate attachment to Happy Bunny. I have, at various times, owned Happy Bunny socks, bags, a wallet, posters, and bath mat.

7) In between my sophomore and junior years of high school, I participated the History at Sea program put on by the National Maritime Historical Society. We sailed a tall ship (with watch shifts and everything!) and attended history lectures. The ship, the H.M.S. Rose, was later sold to MGM for use in the movie Master and Commander.

8) I believe there is a Gilmore Girls quote for every situation, but I’ve learned it’s usually best to keep them to myself.

9) Cooking is one of my favorite creative outlets and methods of stress relief. The farmer’s market is one of my happy places, and I’m always looking for ways to increase the DIY factor of my food projects. This summer, I am pickling anything I can get my hands on.

10) I attended a Montessori school from kindergarten through sixth grade, and then was home-schooled for one year before high school. I enjoyed both of those alternative educational options, but starting Catholic high school (uniforms! so many rules!) was a bit of a shock.

Audrey Hazzard is a Tutor at Get Smarter Prep.

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Randolph College

Name: Audrey Hazzard
College: Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (now Randolph College)
Major: Economics/International Studies

 

1. What first drew you to Randolph-Macon Woman’s College?

My mom attended RMWC, and I grew up hearing stories of her adventures and the traditions unique to the school (Ring Week, Stomps, Pumpkin Parade). While I considered a *very* long list of schools, ultimately RMWC felt like a place I belonged.

2. What other colleges were you considering?

My final decision was between Arizona State University and RMWC – one of the largest schools in the country and one of the smallest! (They also both offered me full scholarships.) I also considered Knox College, Saint Louis University, Grinnell College, Reed College, Cooper Union, and Simmons College. (Yeah, I was kind of all over the place.)

3. How was the adjustment from high school to college?

In some ways it was easier than I expected – I made close friends almost immediately, and I am still close with some of them today. At the same time, it’s a very demanding school – small, competitive, and intense. I was already burned out from a demanding Senior year, and probably shouldn’t have started college with a sleep deficit. A bit of advice for students: make time for sleep now! It definitely doesn’t get easier. =)

4. What was your favorite class? Why?

One of the reasons I picked RMWC instead of ASU was that I’d have more time for electives in a liberal arts environment (versus the architecture program I’d picked at ASU). I took a lot of special topics and interdisciplinary classes, but my favorite was an American Culture seminar. I was one of two students in the class, and we had two professors. We met twice a week to discuss books, essays, and current events. I read and wrote more that semester than before or since, but it was an amazing experience.

5. What clubs or groups were you involved in?

Amnesty International, The Sundial (newspaper), Bridges (GSA), Spanish Club, Environmental Club, and a valiant effort at starting a Caving Club that never quite made it to official status.

6. Anything else you want to tell us?

Dorms and food are both fantastic. I’d be lying if I said those weren’t serious considerations when I made my final decision. We a Sunday brunch, often with live music, that residents of the community would attend. Kind of awkward wandering down to brunch in your PJ’s to find a bunch of local residents in church clothes, but the food was that good!

7. In one sentence, what do you love about your school?

I loved the traditions, sense of community, and accessibility of faculty and staff.

Audrey Hazzard is a Tutor at Get Smarter Prep.

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Extracurricular Activities and College Application

Extracurricular Activities and College Application

It is general knowledge that college admissions officers first look at test scores, grades, and the rigor of courses students take in high school. However, what are also important in the admissions process are a student’s extracurricular activities. Students are a representative of the college they attend, and it goes without saying colleges care about the character of the people they admit to their school.

Extracurricular activities are a good indicator of what a student does during his time spent outside of school. In other words, what a student is doing over summer vacation and on the weekends, gives admission officers a good idea of what kind of individual they are considering admitting to their college.

No doubt about it, volunteerism is very important, however admissions officers are looking for real hands-on involvement. There is a difference between the student that volunteers once to collect money for a charity and the student who spends every Saturday helping clean up city parks. The student that dedicates more time is the one that is most likely to receive his or her admission letter.

Most colleges aren’t terribly picky about how you spend your time outside of the classroom as long as it is apparent you are doing something meaningful. While they won’t be able to notice that you spend four hours a day on your smartphone, they will notice if there is a lack of activities on your application.

Leadership

As long as you can make evident to the admission officers that you have accomplished something meaningful, that you are committed, have initiative, and leadership skills, you are on the right track. When admissions officers evaluate extracurricular activities, evidence of leadership and dedication are taken into consideration during the admissions process.

Evidence of leadership is a phrase that comes up frequently during the admissions processes and it very well might be what separates a student granted admission from those that end up waitlisted. Leadership can take many forms. The more selective a university or college is the more judiciously a student’s leadership role is assessed.

When to Start

Your freshman year of high school is the perfect time to explore multiple activities as you continue to discover what you are good at and what motivates you. By sophomore year your list of activities should be trimmed down and your focus should be on the three to four projects that you are generally interested in and enjoy. By the time your junior year rolls around, you should have established the activities you feel the most passionate about and should attempt to become an officer, leader, or president.

During your senior year visiting various colleges and the college application process will begin to take up a lot of free time, so now more than ever it is important to be certain that your extracurricular activities are ones that are meaningful and fulfilling. Students should try and stay involved in their extracurricular during their summer vacations. Colleges are always interested to see any indication that students have done something more than play video games during their break from school.

Interests and Talents

When choosing activities your talents, skills, and academic interests can come together to make sense of whom you are and who you want to be. Try to participate in activities that are related to and support your future major.

You may not know what you want to do with your life when you are 17, but if you have a good idea of what you want to focus on when you eventually attend college, begin pursuing these fields sooner rather than later both inside and outside of the classroom. Whatever your interest, find an activity that supports it. 

But before you decide to sign up for all of the activities your school and community offers, remember that quality outweighs quantity every time. Dedication to your chosen extracurricular activities shows the value of your involvement. While Student A may attend nearly every club her school has to offer, Student B only joins two but is more involved, organizing outings for the environmental club and being the vice president of the school’s drama club.

The level of involvement is more important to the admissions office than breadth. Use the time spent on extracurricular activities wisely by trying things that interest you and then choosing the ones that are the most meaningful to focus on. Extracurricular activities are one key way students can exhibit their individuality and showcase their passions, and perhaps most importantly, in the admissions process appear more interesting and potentially superior to the other applicants.

If you need help with the college application process, contact Get Smarter Prep and we will gladly help you every step of the way. 

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Classes or Private Tutoring?

Not only do we help students decide whether they should take the ACT or SAT, we also help them decide the best tutoring option for them. Should a student be in a private tutorial or a class? After the question about which test to take, which is by far the most important question to answer, this is a crucial one.

The first consideration is price.  We work within your framework.  After that discussion, we use two major determinants to guide your decision: score desired and time available.

Score Desired

How much of an increase do you need?  If it’s simply a matter of a point or two, private tutoring might be the best bet.  It will allow your instructor to be surgical and purposeful and work only on the areas you need.

Our classes follow a set curriculum, covering each subject equally, but there is still time for some individualized discussion. First, we have a maximum teacher-to-student ratio of 1:6.  Very often our classes only have 3-4 students in each section because we group our students based on their Pretest scores.

Secondly, after each exam (we take a Midterm and a Final) we meet with each student privately to talk about the takeaways from that test and to adjust strategies and goals for the next test.  

Time Available

We believe that generally, the more time you have to work on test prep and the more prep you do, within reason, the more your score will increase.  But not all our students have that time (they’ve built extremely scheduled lives!) or come to us with a lot of time (sometimes we don’t see students until Fall of their Senior year with one test on the calendar that will make their application deadline).  For those students, if their scores fall within certain ranges, the Course for either the SAT or ACT makes a lot of sense.

Answer: None of the Above?

You might say at this point that you want to be in a class, but your schedule is simply too unpredictable or unusual or strange for our standard schedules.  We have a hybrid model for you: our Semi-Private Tutoring.  Sometimes we are able to match students who have very similar score profiles and who want a custom course.  Other times a group of 2 or more friends who play the same sport or who have a similar schedule come to us.

Now it’s important to note that with the Semi-Private Tutoring, as with all our tutorials and courses at GSP, we let the score do the talking.  If it turns out that two students who came to us dead-set on working in a course together shouldn’t even be taking the same test (one student may show really well as an SAT tester and the other may show more potential for the ACT), we’re going to tell them.  We’re always going to focus on a student’s goals and the best environment for each student.

Whatever path you decide to take, we are confident that you will join thousands of satisfied GSP alums and families in getting the score you need for the school you want.  We hope to see you soon.

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A Short History of Get Smarter Prep

With a strong reputation among our local schools and having helped thousands of families in the greater Kansas City area achieve the scores they needed for the schools they wanted, one might think Get Smarter has been around for ages.  This month we put another academic year behind us and next month we celebrate our ninth year in Kansas City (not quite ages, yet), and we hope to be around many more years.  As we reflect on nine years of score improvements, educating families about college, and answering numerous questions about this process, we thought we would share a short history of how we got here in the first place.

The story starts in 2004.  Stephen Heiner, the founder of Get Smarter Prep, was in Southern California.  He taught test prep part-time but loved it so much he wanted to do it full-time.  He tossed around ideas, recruited from among the best he knew, and then took a weekend retreat with several other colleagues and talked about aspects they liked from the big-box companies and things they didn’t like, and came up with a small-group focused firm.  The goal was to teach fewer students per class, because more personal attention meant higher score increases, period.

It was successful for two years, building up a strong practice within Orange County, California.  Stephen wanted to leave the area to move to a part of the country with a little less stress, a lot less traffic, and a more reasonable housing market, among other reasons.  He had family near Kansas City and had always liked KC when he had previously visited.  He did research on the area, looking at demographics and the schools, and decided to leave the sunny climes of California to move to Kansas City. In July 2006, Get Smarter Prep (GSP) opened its doors in Overland Park, just a few doors down from where our current offices are today.  (As an aside, for those of you who have ever spent time in Southern California you can appreciate what a sacrifice it was, even for half a year, to take on Kansas City weather.)

There were a couple things that the founder didn’t know going in: 1) how much the market had to be educated about these tests and how coachable the tests really are (people thought you either did well or you didn’t, but there wasn’t a real consensus city-wide that there were reliable methods to beat the test and improve scores); 2) how long it would take to get the first paying client (it happened in December 2006).

From January 2007 until the present day, GSP has grown our practice. We’ve even been privileged enough to have a teacher who was part of the first training class still be with us: Gina Claypool.  We’ve learned that the best way to get new clients now is the way we got clients in the first place: word of mouth.  Nothing creates belief in a company like someone you know directly benefiting from a company’s services and then telling people they know about it.  This isn’t to say we don’t do other things.  We advertise in selected print pieces.  We manage our social media and search engine presence.  We sponsor school teams and/or calendars.  We also sponsor or have booths at college fairs and other similar events.  We give talks at schools to calm parents down about college or about the PSAT or about any of these standardized tests that only scare because people don’t know the truth.

As we move into our 9th year the spirit of the founder is still strong at GSP. We still focus on small group classes and private tutoring.  We still stay on the phone with parents until we’ve answered every question they have.  We still have the highest standards for the teachers we recruit and we make sure that they have quarterly continuing education to maintain our standards.  And we still remain dedicated to our raison d’etre: “The score you need for the school you want.”  We hope to be able to serve you sometime soon.

 

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