Eric W.

Succeed in Math or Science from a Princeton PhD

Succeed in Math or Science from a Princeton PhD

Hello, I'm Eric and I would like to tell you a little about my scholarly career. I am a graduate of Hope College, in Holland, Michigan with a degree in Chemistry and a minor in Mathematics. I am just finishing up my dissertation for a PhD from Princeton University in Organic Chemistry. While I was an undergraduate, I was on-staff at Hope College as a tutor in chemistry and calculus for the Academic Support Center. I also was an organic chemistry teaching assistant in addition to being a research assistant in an organic chemistry lab. Since then, I have been an awarded organic chemistry instructor and graduate-level course teaching assistant at Princeton University and mentored a number of undergraduate and graduate students in organic and inorganic chemistry. I have been a tutor through Wyzant for several years and have tutored algebra, physics, and geometry. I successfully navigated the ACT, the GRE, and the chemistry specific subject GRE and have helped others to do the same.
When it comes to tutoring, I believe that my job is not to just show a dozen examples and hope that the student understands the process from those examples. I subscribe to the philosophy that one learns the most from doing. As such, I try to show students an example then work through more example problems with the student taking the lead and working towards independence on that subject matter. For math and chemistry, I like to start with the theory and then move to the application (i.e. problems). I am a patient individual and willing to go through as many as example problems as necessary for the student to understand the problem type and the subject but it is more important to me that the student can recognize and apply their knowledge flexibly than answer routine problems. I love asking questions and helping people to see the hidden beauty in these subjects.