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Harvard English, Master's in Writing | Essay, Writing & Reading Tutor
Ben F.

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Hourly Rate: $50
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About Ben

Bio

I love helping students become stronger, more confident writers and readers. Sometimes that means working through a difficult essay or personal statement; sometimes it means making sense of a challenging reading assignment; and sometimes it’s simply helping writing feel less intimidating.

My approach is less about correcting papers than helping students figure out how to write. We might brainstorm, experiment with ideas, tap into creativity, work on focus, practice getting thoughts onto...

I love helping students become stronger, more confident writers and readers. Sometimes that means working through a difficult essay or personal statement; sometimes it means making sense of a challenging reading assignment; and sometimes it’s simply helping writing feel less intimidating.

My approach is less about correcting papers than helping students figure out how to write. We might brainstorm, experiment with ideas, tap into creativity, work on focus, practice getting thoughts onto the page, or talk through what you really want to say. I give students practical techniques and tricks they can keep using when I’m not in the room. The goal isn’t just to improve one paper, but to make writing easier and more productive over time.

I have an MFA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and a degree in English Literature from Harvard. I’ve taught in the classroom and spent more than a decade in university fundraising, where I wrote high-stakes proposals and donor communications. I also ran my own tutoring practice for nearly a decade, working with roughly 200 students across thousands of hours of sessions. These experiences taught me that there’s no single formula for becoming a better writer: different students get stuck in different places, and good tutoring starts with figuring out what helps each person move forward.

I especially enjoy working with high school, college, and adult students on essays, personal statements, and general writing and reading skills. I’m also an active fiction writer, with published stories and a novel in progress, and I currently work as a professional mediator. Both have strengthened skills central to my tutoring: listening carefully, asking good questions, and helping people discover what they really want to say.

My goal is to help students become more curious, confident, and independent writers—and give them tools they can keep using long after our sessions end.

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Education

Harvard University
English Literature
University of Pittsburgh
Other

Policies

Schedule

Ben hasn’t set a schedule.

Approved Subjects

English

English

I studied English Literature at Harvard and earned an MFA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, giving me a strong foundation in both the language itself and how it's used well. I've taught English in a classroom as a high school teacher and ran my own private tutoring practice, working with students one-on-one for thousands of hours on everything from grammar and vocabulary to reading comprehension and writing skills. I enjoy working with students at every level, whether you're solid on the basics and want to sharpen your writing, or you're still building confidence with the fundamentals. My goal is always to meet you where you are and help you actually improve, not just get through the next assignment.
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

I studied English Literature at Harvard and earned an MFA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, and I'm an active fiction writer with published stories, so writing well is something I practice, not just teach. I also spent over a decade in university fundraising at Carnegie Mellon University, where I was often the person called on to draft major gift proposals and other high-stakes documents where the writing had to persuade real people and get results. I've taught writing in the classroom and run my own private tutoring practice, where I have worked one-on-one with students for thousands of hours on essays, personal statements, and general writing skills. Wherever you're at with your writing, my goal is to help you brainstorm, get your ideas down, and turn rough drafts into something you're genuinely proud to submit.
Literature

Literature

I studied English Literature at Harvard and later earned an MFA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, so I've spent a lot of time thinking about how stories and poems actually work. I've taught literature in a classroom as a high school English teacher and ran my own private tutoring practice, working with students one-on-one for thousands of hours. I enjoy engaging with all kinds of readers, from students who already love literature and want to dig deeper to students who are just trying to get a better understanding of how to succeed in their English class. Whatever your strengths and weaknesses, my goal is to make literature come alive and meet you where you're at.
Proofreading

Proofreading

I earned a bachelor's in English from Harvard and an MFA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, receiving years of training that sharpened both my own writing and my eye for what makes a sentence clear and correct. I spent over a decade in university fundraising, where high-stakes proposals and donor communications had to be error-free before they ever reached a reader, and I've done editorial work for a textbook publisher, political campaigns, and various organizations. I've also taught writing in the classroom and ran my own private tutoring practice for nearly a decade, working one-on-one with students on the final polish stage of their writing, not just the big-picture ideas. I catch what others miss — grammar, punctuation, consistency, word choice — while making sure the changes still sound like you.
Reading

Reading

I studied English Literature at Harvard and earned an MFA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh, which means I've spent a lot of time thinking not just about how to write well, but about how to read closely and understand what a text is actually doing. I've taught reading and literature in the classroom as a high school English teacher and ran my own private tutoring practice, where I worked one-on-one with students for thousands of hours on reading comprehension, analysis, and vocabulary. I enjoy working with readers at every level, from students who are strong readers looking to sharpen their analysis to students who find reading difficult and need support building confidence and skill. Whatever your starting point, my goal is to help you understand not just what a text says, but how it says it, so you can get the rewards out of reading that you're looking for.
Writing

Writing

Writing is at the center of everything I do. I earned an MFA in Writing from the University of Pittsburgh and a degree in English from Harvard, and during eleven years in university fundraising at Carnegie Mellon, I was often the person called on to draft major gift proposals, donor communications, and other high-stakes documents. I've also taught writing in the classroom and run my own private tutoring practice, where I worked one-on-one with students for thousands of hours on everything from essays and personal statements to general writing skills. I focus on direct, specific feedback, not just correcting what's wrong but helping you understand why a change makes the writing stronger. Alongside that, I'm an active fiction writer with published stories and a novel currently in progress, which keeps me thinking about writing, not just as a skill to teach, but as a craft I'm still working on myself.
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Hourly Rate: $50
Contact Ben