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February 12, 2015Get Smarter Prep

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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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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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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June 30, 2014Get Smarter Prep

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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June 23, 2014Get Smarter Prep

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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May 29, 2014Get Smarter Prep

Six Reading Tips for Online

Some time ago an article suggested that yes, indeed, the Internet had not just changed the way we read, but the way we remember.  As someone who never saw anything wrong with the “old ways” of reading, I hope to offer some correctives to unfortunate trends in our society, to the benefit of students both young and old.

1.              Read all sorts of things.  Just as it’s important to have a varied diet for our health, it’s important to have varied reading to give you insights into how different parts of our society think.  You’ll have your morning internet articles, but hopefully too your work/school reading, recreational reading, and hobby reading.

2.              Don’t listen to music when doing your serious reading.  Study after study has shown that the brain cannot really pay attention to both the intensive act of reading and the reflective act of music.  The separate exercises are using separate parts of the brain, but there is enough overlap to ensure that you will not really enjoy the music or comprehend the reading.  Pick one.  You’ll enjoy whatever you choose more.

3.              Turn off your inner reader.  We find that part of the reason our students struggle with reading comprehension when they first come to us is their practice of “reading to themselves.”  What I mean by this is that they simply read aloud “in their head.”  What this fails to recognize is the brain moves many times faster than your mouth and if you can turn off that “inner reader” and allow yourself to slide into the slipstream of “brain reading” you will read not just faster, but more deeply.

4.              Keep a dictionary and notebook nearby.  Now, I still happen to be quite analog in my practices so you will see a literal notebook around me 90% of the time.  However, what are acceptable replacements are a dictionary app and a note-taking app.  The dictionary/dictionary app should be obvious: the best readers aren’t content to figure out a word using context but go deeper into a definition of the word with etymological references.  The notebook is less obvious: sometimes we get ideas from reading – sometimes directly related to the text – sometimes not related at all.  We have to be patient enough to write down our ideas, thoughts, and questions. When engaged in this practice we don’t see the notebook as an interruption of our reading but as a continuous part of it.

5.              Always have something to read.  For our parents or our students this is a good practice.  We know well that you have reading you have to do for work or for school.   But take back reading as something you choose to do on your own.  Smartphones and tablets enable us to never be far from a book, and often, you don’t have to even pay for a digital book.  Many classics and some new works are free so even if you have forgotten to bring an “old-fashioned” dead tree book, the wonders of the printed word should never be far from you in the guise of a smartphone reading app.

6.              Keep your reading speeds appropriate.   If you’re reading something and find it interesting but realize it’s going to take you more than a few minutes to read, either copy the link or leave it open in a separate tab where you can come back to it at more leisure.  I usually let those die at the end of a couple days if I haven’t gotten to them so they don’t pile up, but better to not read a good long-form piece at all than to read it quickly and poorly.  Take back your time, on your terms.

Contact us if you have further questions!

 

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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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