I am a Harvard University graduate (cum laude) with almost 13 years of tutoring experience. I have achieved perfect scores on the GRE, GMAT, SAT, and ACT, and scored in the 99th percentile on my LSAT exam prior to law school. While in law school, I was a faculty lecturer for the University of San Diego's Test Prep Program, specializing in GRE, LSAT, SAT, GMAT, and college and graduate school application essay writing.
During my time at Harvard, where I was a joint-concentrator in Comparative Religion and Philosophy (with an emphasis on Literature in my Senior Honors Thesis), I worked on a pro bono basis with Boston's Refugee Youth Enrichment Program, tutoring and mentoring ESL elementary school students of Cambodian, Vietnamese, and Cape Verdean descent. Additionally, I have tutored and coached cross-country and track and field at St. Augustine High School, Our Lady of Peace Academy, and Patrick Henry High School (in San Diego, CA) for almost 10 combined years. Furthermore, in the time between my college graduation and my matriculation to law school, I tutored full-time (approximately 70 hrs/wk!) in most high school subjects, with an expertise in and emphasis on Math (Pre-Algebra through Calculus AB), English (AP Literature and Language, British and World Literature, College Application Essays, Writing and Composition, SAT Verbal, SAT Grammar & Essay, ACT Reading & English), History (AP U.S. and European History), and Social Science (AP Government & Economics).
A number of my former students have attended and graduated from preeminent colleges and universities, including Harvard, Yale, Penn, Brown, Notre Dame, Stanford, Berkeley, Duke, Georgetown, and more. While I have worked with exceptionally naturally gifted students, I have also worked with a number of students with learning disabilities, assisting them in their individualized academic goals.
Ultimately, whatever the grade level or current aptitude of the student, I am focused on the specific needs of my students. I take a rigorously individualized approach to tutoring, tailoring my lessons to the precise, personal abilities and objectives of my students. I believe in setting long-term and short-term goals, and I believe in constructing an initial plan of study to help keep both parties (i.e., teacher and student) focused on our shared objectives.
The success of the individual student is my primary objective, and to that end I make myself endlessly available for discussion and communication outside of regularly scheduled sessions. I have routinely worked through the night to edit students' college application essays as deadlines fast-approached, and I have frequently talked to and assuaged nerve-racked students in the early morning hours before their various standardized tests (e.g., SAT, ACT, SAT-2).
If nothing else, I am patient. I'm on your side, and I'm here to assist you. I understand that you've sought out tutoring because a particular subject is difficult and/or daunting for you. I can sympathize with that. I have been academically intimidated, and occasionally over-matched, having attended very competitive undergraduate and graduate schools myself. I also recognize which advisors were able to help me and which ones were not. In turn, I've learned how to be patient while remaining resolute in jointly pursuing a scholastic goal.
Lastly, I am in a perfect position to sympathize with the challenges facing students, as I myself am about to become one again! I am currently preparing applications to Ph.D. programs in English Literature which I will submit this fall (2013) in hopes of matriculating in Fall 2014. Though I am trained as a lawyer and occasionally assist my fiancee with her litigation work at her law firm, teaching, coaching, and mentoring remain central to who I am and what I care about. That will never change.
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