Olya T.

About Olya

I am a professional writer of commentary and literary essays. I have worked as a columnist and essayist for Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and other publications, including NPR, and have had my blog posts picked up by various online and academic outlets. My writing is also featured in a nonprofit website and in an international European forum.

I am multilingual and I taught essay-writing, literature, and ESL at UNC. I have taught upper-level writing classes and writing workshops at other universities. I am also a judge of a literary contest, sponsored by a nonprofit.

I enjoy helping others improve their written and oral language skills and am gentle and encouraging of all student efforts. As a skilled writer, teacher, and editor, I can help you produce polished writing that you will be proud to submit. I have worked with elementary students, middle schoolers, high school students, college students, graduate students, and adult professionals.

I specialize in writing (both introductory and advanced), including essays, college essays, research papers; academic papers, theses, business writing, creative writing, and literary writing.

I can help you craft and fine-tune applications to selective colleges; the common app; master's and doctoral programs; law schools and medical schools; and internship, fellowship, and scholarship programs. I can help you create compelling and original college essays and personal statements that will make you stand out. (After all, it is the college essay that often makes all the difference in admissions.)

I tutor ESL to professionals who want to improve their language skills for the workplace, and I help students who are aiming for a high TOEFL score to get into selective colleges.

I also tutor high-achieving students for the ISEE, SAT, and ACT, and I focus not only on strategies but teach the underlying concepts the students are being tested on. I can also help you do well on the writing portion of these tests.

In teaching writing, I stress clarity, organization, and support as a basis for all good writing. I include lessons on style and grammar when applicable. I relate these methods to all forms of writing and to all the disciplines. My goal is to help students develop the ability to think and write analytically, no matter what the topic and to enable them, through writing, to take part in a larger dialogue about the world.

My students show concrete improvement in their analytical skills and an improved ability to present a unified and tightly structured argument. Improvement is also reflected in their understanding of the writing process and in their own evaluations of their work. My students also report an enhanced interest in and a renewed excitement about the field of writing.

I am also a member of the New York Learning Specialists Group. I am a professional writer of commentary and literary essays. I have worked as a columnist and essayist for Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, and other publications, including NPR, and have had my blog posts picked up by various online and academic outlets. My writing is also featured in a nonprofit website and in an international European… Read more

Policies