Effective Princeton College Counselor & SAT/ACT, Math, Biology Tutor

Daniel L.

I am a Princeton University Molecular Biology major with 7+ years of teaching experience. I specialize in college counseling and SAT/ACT prep, and have highly successfully taught topics ranging from arithmetic to competition mathematics (AMC), basic sciences to competition biology (USABO), and elementary reading and writing skills to college-level essay writing. In high school, I scored a perfect 36 on my first attempt at the ACT, earned an honorable mention in the United States Biology Olympiad, won “finalist” status in the National Merit Scholarship competition, and was among my school's top AMC scorers four years running.

As an undergrad at the top-ranked university in the United States, I fully understand the ins and outs of the college process. I know what makes a good essay and how applicants can distinguish themselves from the rest of the pool. I have helped applicants significantly boost their SAT and ACT scores, tune their extracurriculars to best match their desired fields of study, choose recommenders, and craft the strongest personal and supplemental essays possible. Most college counseling students start with me in the spring of their junior year, yet I have also helped younger students prepare for their admissions cycle by identifying extracurricular opportunities for them and helping them achieve top academic performance in high school.

Outside of college counseling, I have tutored students ages 7 to 18 in individual and group settings. A common teaching approach I use is to introduce new concepts with example problems that we work through together. I then explain each strategy and help the student through another problem, encouraging them to explain their thinking step by step. Finally, I let the student tackle a problem independently. Once a student can articulate why a method works, they are truly ready to apply it on their own. While this method suits many students, I understand that everyone learns differently and pride myself on being adaptable within and outside of lessons.