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February 2, 2015Get Smarter Prep

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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January 26, 2015Get Smarter Prep

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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January 12, 2015Get Smarter Prep

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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December 4, 2014Get Smarter Prep

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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September 11, 2014Get Smarter Prep

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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July 28, 2014Get Smarter Prep

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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July 21, 2014Get Smarter Prep

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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May 19, 2014Get Smarter Prep

Un-learning Our Learning Process

One of the trickiest parts of working with the ACT and SAT is not only helping students improve, but also helping their families deconstruct their preconceptions about the exams.  These exams have become ubiquitous with college admissions – yet all too often, we are not approaching them in the most collegiate way!

The tests – at face value – appear to be a metric to measure what a student has learned in high school, in preparation for college.  Unfortunately, that isn’t exactly what they are!  The ACT and SAT both test material learned at one point or another during the middle school or high school curriculum, but they test it in a way that may not be familiar.  This is where a student must take their first steps toward thinking more like a college student.  They must discover for themselves the distinct differences between the two tests and the tests as compared to their school work.

As mentioned before, for most students there will not be any totally new content on the exams – yet for many students, information recall is not enough to do well on these standardized tests.  As both exams are different versions of psychometric exams, the manner in which a question is asked is often more important than the content associated.  A student therefore must be willing to “play the test maker’s game,” learning new methods to properly take the exam.  The test makers are notorious for asking questions with the words “least,” “not,” and “except” in them.  Before we even get to the content piece, we must realize the question is more about a “logic game” than anything else.

It is easy to get stuck in our learning rut, and for the most part it is beneficial in our schooling systems.  But in order to succeed on these exams we must realign our method of thinking to that of the test makers.  This alteration will lead us toward our ultimate goals: achieving a higher score in order to earn admission to the school of our choice and to become eligible for additional scholarship money to help fund our education

Caleb Pierce is a Tutor and President at Get Smarter Prep.

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May 12, 2014Get Smarter Prep

Make the Most of Your High School Summers: 4.5 Tips

We are in that magical final month of the school year.  APs start next week, Finals not long after.  And then, some rest.  Or not.  Summer is something so many families and students get wrong and we want to help our readers get it right.  Here are 4.5 guidelines to help you make the most of your summer.

1.  Get A Job

We all know that SAT/ACT scores and GPA are massively important as part of your college application.  But did you know that jobs matter too?  Jobs indicate to colleges that you have taken on an additional level of responsibility and that you have had some experience in the working world before plunging into university-level studies.

For you, the rewards are significant: a chance to earn some money (never a bad thing to start saving for college), an opportunity to make new friends, a chance to learn a new skill, and finally, a look into what real-life-work is like.

Would it be nice if your job had some relationship to what you want to study in college or do with your life?  Sure!  But if not, any job is still a good experience (even if you don’t like it, you still learn about what you don’t like!).

Our recommendation –  20 hours per week

2.  Take a Class

There are lots of reasons to take at least one class during the summer.  The two most important are the opportunity to skip ahead in high school and the option of knocking a college class out of the way now.

Let’s say you want to take Calculus in the Fall but you were in Algebra II this last year.  That means you need Pre-calculus.  What if you took it during the summer?  Most community colleges will offer a class that covers the material.  Make sure that your school allows you to skip ahead, however.  Some schools have policies in place that prevent students from using this strategy. Better to check with your high school counselor and learn the requirements before you pay for the class.

Another situation: let’s say you’ve just taken Biology and you’re due up for Chemistry.  Maybe you want to take Chemistry over the summer and go right into Physics.  Or maybe you want to take AP Chem and want to have your first year of Chem done before taking that class (a must, really).  Either way, if your school approves, you can take a community college class, not a high school class.  For the simple reason that, as long as the college you take the class at is accredited, many colleges will take the credits you earn – if not as part of your core requirements, at least as an elective.  You’re going to save money, save time, and open up more options for yourself for your high school (and college) course load.

Also, remember that if you are in “school mode” just by taking one class over the summer, getting back into the groove in the Fall semester will be easier.

Our recommendation – 1 class maximum.  Remember that summer classes cover an entire semester in either a 4 or 8 week period, so each class session os longer and there is more material to learn in a shorter time span.

3.  Do Something Different

This is really up to you.  You could volunteer or go away on some adventure for the entire summer.  And remember, you have 4 summers in high school so you don’t have to do the same thing every year, but realize that if you pick an out-of-town option you necessarily have to rule out numbers 1 and 2 on our list.  And believe me, adventures are worth the sacrifice.  By the same token, if you were to go on adventures every summer and were to neglect work or class opportunities that would be shortsighted.

4.  Schedule Some Downtime

This is the most neglected item on this list.  Parents and students try to pack summer schedules and forget that recovery time – in athletics, in school, and in life – is the only way to make the “regular time” more productive.  For every 4 weeks in the summer, make sure that you have at least 4-5 days where you can relax.  No homework, no special things.  Just time off.

Our recommendation – Take at least one real day off every week.  We mean it!

4.5  Don’t Sweat Your Summer Reading

So I bring my personal experience with stacks of AP assigned reading when I was a high schooler (back before the dinosaurs had gone extinct) as well as observance of my very best students over the last decade to this point.  I don’t think you should worry about this until 10 days before school starts.  Now, this isn’t going to endear me to all the high school teachers who tell you “not to put this off.”  I just find that after a full year of pushing hard at school that there is ZERO appetite or desire – even among my best students – to pretend like the school year doesn’t end over the summer and “dig into” summer reading even a month after school ends. So rather than be unrealistic, I choose to be pragmatic.

Our recommendation – Start your summer reading – seriously and earnestly – no later than 10 days before school starts.

We hope these tips help and we hope it presents the right balance of work, study, and fun for your well-deserved block of time off!

 

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April 7, 2014Get Smarter Prep

Get Smarter Prep Teacher Training

No one who has ever made test prep a big part of his/her life “went to college” for it.  There is no “test prep” major.  Test prep is the art and science of understanding a test inside and out and being able to successfully communicate those ins and outs to students of every level.

The first place we reach out to recruit the best tutors for our company is among our existing tutors.  We’ve found that our teachers (unsurprisingly) know other great people like themselves and refer them to us.  Of course a referral bonus doesn’t hurt!

We also reach out via social media – Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, and also via Craigslist, from which we found our first hire in Kansas City, Gina Claypool.

We then have an initial interview.  Part of it is perfectly conventional; part of it is more unique. First, we sit down with each candidate and discuss GSP and answer questions. Next, we have an audition in which the candidates are required to teach us something in which they consider themselves to be experts.  Over the years we’ve been taught how to be a true Wisconsin Cheesehead, how to put up a fence, how to dress for success, and many other varied topics! We do this because we love to have fun but also because we want to see how the candidates teach something in an interesting and engaging way.

After this initial screening, applicants are tested in both the ACT and the SAT. Each of our tutors works on both tests with students at all score levels, so we have high score expectations! We make some allowance for skill lost through lack of practice (we doubt you have used the formula for volume of a right cylinder at work recently), but we do expect a minimum score to start training and a higher score to successfully complete training.

After these and other screening requirements, our teachers complete over 25 hours of training for the ACT, followed by over 15 hours of training for the SAT.  We strongly believe that our teachers must be excellent in every subject and extremely competent in both tests.  No matter what our tutors professions are in “real” life (and we have and have had lawyers, engineers, biophysicists, MBAs, professional teachers, and many more) we only want the best and most talented in teaching these exams in front of our students.  Previous success in other areas is no guarantee for success in test prep, and throughout the training process we use various methods to make sure that we are hiring the best test prep tutors.

During training the candidates are taught all of our methods and are asked to “teach back” in small segments what they have been taught by our tutors.  We normally see some attrition during this stage of training, either through self-selection or through culling based on trainers’ judgments.  We have all of our tutors help with training not just to spread out the work, but also to allow the trainees to see different styles, methods, and indeed, jokes.

After final Teachbacks, in which the candidates are asked to teach back long segments, they are tested again on the SAT and ACT.  Despite near perfect scores in the initial screening, scores often increase on the final test, further driving home the belief in these trainees that our methods work.

Finally, the management team, in consultation with the trainers, makes offers to candidates to start as a Classroom Instructor. These teachers start out teaching classroom courses. As soon as that instructor is requested by name for private tutoring, he/she gets promoted to Standard Tutor.  Standard Tutors continue to teach courses but also teach private tutoring. Promotions to Master Tutor and Premier Tutor come with consistently high score increases and consistent requests from parents.  Our Premier Tutors have made test prep an important part of their lives and quite rightfully are the very best in the city at what they do.

Now you know more about the GSP Teacher Training process and what makes our teachers the best at what they do! If you are interested in applying to work for us, please visit our Jobs page.

 

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