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Award-Winning Writer/Tutor: Essays, Resumes, SAT Verbal/NU Grad
Robert P.

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1,369 hours tutoring

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About Robert

Bio

I’ve had careers in teaching, publishing, and corporate banking. I have master’s degrees in writing and business administration and graduated from Washington & Lee and Northwestern universities.

Given the above, I teach what I know: writing, SAT Verbal, college counseling, and career development.

I’ve taught at two colleges, written and edited for large newspapers and magazines for 20 years, and just retired from Truist Financial. I have hypertext links below for SAT writing, SAT...

I’ve had careers in teaching, publishing, and corporate banking. I have master’s degrees in writing and business administration and graduated from Washington & Lee and Northwestern universities.

Given the above, I teach what I know: writing, SAT Verbal, college counseling, and career development.

I’ve taught at two colleges, written and edited for large newspapers and magazines for 20 years, and just retired from Truist Financial. I have hypertext links below for SAT writing, SAT reading, personal statements, grammar, interview prep, and essay writing. I recently published my first book of essays.

I’ve helped high school students win acceptance to multiple target and reach schools, including Dartmouth, Berkeley, Duke, Georgetown, Rice, Purdue, Michigan, and Georgia Tech.

Teaching Style:
I like to root-cause problems, then get to solutions. So I ask questions and listen—closely—to what students, parents, and written works reveal about students’ needs, dislikes, and fears.
I think it’s my job to make complex ideas meaningful, to approach them in diverse ways, and to help students create good habits and break bad ones.

Reading, Grammar, SAT Verbal:
I was a poor reader as a child, but with the help of outstanding tutors I became an active, faster reader and ultimately my SAT scores helped me get into good undergraduate and graduate programs.
How can we teach reading without writing?
When editing essays, AP Language assignments, reports, and personal statements, I address strategy, logic, organization, readers’ needs, transitions, grammar, and punctuation. (The SAT writing component tests for all these.)

Business, Career Coaching:
I learned how to network, improve resumes, and prepare for interviews while working for New Directions for Women in Baltimore and Career Prospectors in Richmond, VA. I’ve taught these skills at colleges and to Wyzant students seeking internships and jobs.

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Education

Washington & Lee University
English Literature
Northwestern University
Masters
Virginia Commonwealth University
MBA
  • Licensed teacher

Additional Languages

Japanese
Spanish

Policies

  • Hourly Rate: $90
  • Rate details: Free demo classes for homeschooling and GED
  • Lesson cancellation: 12 hours notice required

  • Background check passed on 3/29/2023

  • Your first lesson is backed by our Good Fit Guarantee

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Approved Subjects

Career Development

Career Development

I’ve spent more than 5 years in the career development field helping students and job seekers retool resumes, cover letters, and LinkedIn profiles; prepare for interviews; and learn job-hunting strategies. I’ve also taught a 6-week college course on career development. With these skills, I’ve helped entry-level teammates and experienced managers win jobs, especially in business, consulting, and STEM fields, including nursing. With these same skills and 20+ years of wordsmithing, I’ve helped college students win college admissions, internships, and scholarships. As a former corporate banker, I’ve hired or helped hire developers, data analysts, front-line managers, project managers, technical writers, trainers, and process engineers. As a former newspaper publisher, I’ve hired copywriters, advertising sales staff, writers, editors, photographers, and graphic artists. For mock job interviews, we’ll wrestle with behavioral questions, salary issues, and other tough topics. For admissions interviews, we’ll drill on the basics: learning to relax, preparation, using the first 5 minutes to your advantage, asking great questions. As for resumes, there is no perfect-resume template, no ideal cookie-cutter formula. The right resume for you depends on the job you’re seeking, your seniority, your selling points, who your readers are, and what you know or don’t know about the hiring manager’s needs. I’ll study your resume, thoughtfully, recognizing from media-funded eye-movement research what readers typically don’t read and don’t want to read; and recognizing, too, that recruiters, according to Indeed, spend an average of 7 seconds reviewing a resume. I have master’s degrees in business and writing, and where the two intersect, I’m at my strongest.
College Counseling

College Counseling

I have degrees from three colleges, including Northwestern, and have taught at two others. I have an MBA/Marketing and have helped students get into target and reach schools, including Duke, Northwestern, US Naval Academy, Georgetown, Johns Hopkins, Purdue, Michigan, and Georgia Tech. For students applying to colleges, we’ll discuss US News and World Reports vs. Poets&Quants vs. The Princeton Review rankings; EA-ED-RD; university test-optional policies; particular reach, target, and safe schools; the pros and cons of honors colleges; the Common Data Set; BigFuture; what to expect from the Common App; scholarships and financial aid; what to include in your resumes; how to prepare for college interviews; what to accomplish on college visits; how to obtain college crime statistics; and how to help your teachers and coaches write strong recommendation letters. I’ve also helped scores of students applying to graduate programs, including law school and medical schools. I’ve spent more than 340 hours with Wyzant helping students win admissions to academic programs and helping them with additional hurdles faced in these programs, including providing counsel for transfers, concerns about academic honesty, and poor grade performance. I have undergraduate and graduate writing degrees from Washington & Lee and Northwestern, respectively, and trained with the Pacific Northwest Association for College Admission Counselors (PNACAC). For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for additional details related to college counseling and to the many balls you’re juggling to gain entry to your favorite schools.
Creative Writing

Creative Writing

I’m a former assistant editor at the Shenandoah, a respected literary magazine that has published Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor. As a creative writer, I wrote and edited essays, columns, feature articles, long narratives, human-interest stories, and profiles for large newspapers and magazines over two decades and I've recently published a book of personal essays. (Writing samples are gladly provided.) I also published poetry and short stories while in college and shortly afterward. As a writing teacher, I have taught K-12 and college students how to use conflict, dialogue, description, humor, plot, character development, irony, foreshadowing, and symbolism to engage and delight their readers. And I’ve taught professional writers and students about the process of creation, especially using freewriting and stream-of-consciousness techniques. As for fiction and personal essays, I am glad to help writers with their short stories and essays. Young writers should start there. Novels can come later. I have my bachelor’s degree in English lit from Washington & Lee University and a master’s in writing from Northwestern University. For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for my approved subjects.
English

English

For English lit classes, I can help you develop your thesis statement and organize and edit your analysis of novels, short stories, essays, and other literary works. I worked for a couple of years as an assistant editor at the Shenandoah, a respected literary magazine that has published Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor. I have my bachelor’s degree in English lit from Washington & Lee University and a master’s in writing from Northwestern University. I have written poetry and fiction, but most of my published literary pieces are essays. I've also written and edited at newspapers and magazines for 20 years. Besides helping students with literary analysis, I also assist with research papers, personal statements, essays, and other compositions.
Essay Writing

Essay Writing

Over the years, I have tutored hundreds of students in writing essays for middle and high schools, and colleges. As a writer, I wrote and edited essays for large newspapers and magazines for years, and I recently published my first book of essays. Writing samples gladly provided. Those who can write, do. I have tutored students writing exposition, AP essays, persuasive/argumentative essays, and personal essays, assisting them from concept through finished work, including help with freewriting exercises, topic exploration, outlines, organization, rough drafts, proofreading, and rewrites. I have writing degrees from Washington & Lee and Northwestern universities. Where I really excel is helping students—no matter their age—generate and recognize their best thoughts, their strongest points or arguments, and then organize them logically, strategically. I find that immensely rewarding. Writing does NOT have to be frightening or impenetrable. For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for my approved subjects.
Fiction Writing

Fiction Writing

I’m a former assistant editor at the Shenandoah, a respected literary magazine that has published Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor. As a writer, I wrote and edited essays for large newspapers and magazines for 20 years. As a teacher, I have taught at two colleges and worked with hundreds of Wyzant students. I have my bachelor’s degree in English lit from Washington & Lee University and a master’s in writing from Northwestern University. For fiction writing, we’ll address plot, symbolism, character development, foreshadowing, good vs. poor dialogue, and point of view, but my emphasis will be on conflict and good writing. To ensure your story is really a whole, I’ll challenge you to define the conflict that is propelling it forward. And I’ll push you to write well. You may create really strong stories, but editors won’t wade into them unless they believe you have “control of the language.” As for fiction writing, I have written poetry and fiction, but most of my published literary pieces are essays. I’ve recently published my first book of personal essays. As for my lessons, I’m a great fan of short stories. You should start there. Once those stories are published, you might consider a novel, not before.
GED

GED

Getting your GED is really about the language arts and math components. If you have those mastered, you are well on your way to passing the test. In teaching GED, I like to concentrate first on reading/writing for language arts, including the essay test. (As for the essay, I wrote editorials, essays, and other news articles under daily newspaper deadlines for almost two decades, so I have an assortment of tricks I share.) After language arts, I like to knock out the social studies and science components, then finish with math, so it’s still fresh when you take the test. I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in writing and have hypertext links on my full profile for grammar, vocabulary, and writing. I also have a master’s in business administration, which is a math heavy discipline. I enjoy teaching GED as nearly all the students I’ve had over the years were serious about getting the certificate for career advancement, recognizing that the return on investment was worth it.
Grammar

Grammar

I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in writing, including from Northwestern, and have taught middle school, high school, and college students. I have also written and edited at large daily newspapers. In grammar, we focus on parts of speech, pronoun case, agreement, fragments and comma splices, verb forms, punctuation, and sentence sense. To my mind, what’s important in teaching these staples of good writing is that they make sense for students, as much as possible. At least, that’s my aim. And when our good-writing guides or rules don’t make sense, which happens, we commit them to memory. Or while we might not remember a rule, we remember that there’s “some kind of rule” about, say, lie versus lay, and we Google it. I use three different textbooks to teach grammar, depending on a student’s knowledge and purpose. The simplest of these texts is a GED primer. Another is a college handbook, and a third is a very useful workbook that I’ve used to teach attorneys and financial professionals. For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for my approved subjects.
Homeschool

Homeschool

I can work with homeschooled elementary students on compositions, reading and math. I have an English degree from college and followed it with a master’s. I also have an MBA, which of course involved a great deal of math. I can teach grammar, punctuation, vocabulary, reading, but where I really excel is helping students mine and recognize their best thoughts, best ideas, as they ready the groundwork for their stories, book reports, essays, and other compositions. I have two personal essays on my full profile if they help you make your decision. Also, if you’d like to interview me, I can easily set up a quick meeting for us in Wyzant’s online demo room. Thank you for considering me for a homeschool role.
Interview Prep

Interview Prep

I’ve spent more than 5 years in the career development field helping students and job seekers retool resumes and prepare for interviews. I’ve taught these skills in a college course, to Wyzant students, and to job seekers at New Directions for Women in Baltimore, MD, and at Career Prospectors in Richmond, VA. I’ve helped students prepare for college admissions, internship, and job interviews, including helping military service academy applicants for Congressional nomination interviews. As a former corporate banker, I’ve hired or helped hire developers, data analysts, front-line managers, project managers, technical writers, trainers, and process engineers. As a former newspaper/magazine publisher, I’ve hired copywriters, advertising sales staff, writers, editors, photographers, and graphic artists. For mock job interviews, we’ll wrestle with behavioral questions, salary issues, and other tough topics. For admissions interviews, we’ll drill on the basics: learning to relax, preparation, using the first 5 minutes to your advantage, asking great questions. I have master’s degrees in business and in writing. My MBA concentration was in marketing.
Literature

Literature

For English literature and AP English classes, I can help you develop your thesis statement and organize and edit your analysis of novels, short stories, essays, and other literary works. I’ll ensure you use MLA style and sound evidence to back up your claims. I have my bachelor’s degree in English lit from Washington & Lee University and a master’s in writing from Northwestern University. I have written poetry and fiction, but most of my published literary works are essays. I've taught middle school, high school and college students and written and edited at newspapers and magazines for 20 years. I also worked for a couple of years as an assistant editor at the Shenandoah, a respected literary magazine that has published Dylan Thomas, W.H. Auden, William Faulkner, and Flannery O’Connor. Together, we will interpret short stories and novels using rhetorical and situational analysis and will discuss multiple literary devices, including symbolism, conflict, themes, irony, and foreshadowing. For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for my approved subjects.
Personal Statements

Personal Statements

Contact me if you have a rough draft or no idea where to begin writing your personal statement. My job is to help you recognize your story and mine the details, anecdotes, and insights to enrich it. I have writing degrees from Washington & Lee and Northwestern universities, and wrote and edited essays, editorials, and human-interest stories for large newspapers and magazines for two decades. I also have an MBA, with a marketing concentration. Many of my students have been accepted into target and reach schools, including Dartmouth, Berkeley, Duke, Georgetown, Rice, Purdue, Michigan, and Georgia Tech. Over the years, I’ve taught at two colleges and helped hundreds of students with their Common App personal statements, extracurricular activities lists, professional statements, statements of purpose (SOP) and letters of continued interest (LOCI) for admissions to elite high schools, colleges, and graduate programs, including law and med school. For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for my approved subjects.
Proofreading

Proofreading

I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in writing, taught at two colleges, and proofread students, jobseekers, and professional writers copy for two decades. I’ve proofed dissertations, capstone projects, resumes and cover letters, theses, research papers, white papers, persuasive essays, personal essays, personal statements, literature reviews, manuscripts, editorials, op-ed pieces, and news articles. In proofing copy, I read for content, logic, organization, grammar, punctuation, usage, wordiness, spelling, formatting, faulty parallels, fragments, shifts in tense, mood, voice, or person, and other mechanics.
Reading

Reading

Have you ever watched the eyes of a really good reader, moving left-right, left-right, left-right down a page? It’s like watching windshield wipers slowly descending. I didn’t read that way when I was young. Rather than slowly advancing down a page, my eyes advanced and then retreated. I’d read seven words, say, and then revisit three. It took me forever to read a textbook chapter or novel, and even then my comprehension was poor. So I took a one-day speed reading class. In it, students learned techniques for skimming and using our peripheral vision to take in meaningful clumps of words, not just individual words. I didn’t suddenly become a better, faster reader. That took work, but I began that day to appreciate that we don’t have to read all books, articles, and letters the same way. At the same time, with the help of teachers, I began to read more actively, searching for main ideas, claims, the author’s purpose, inferences, and conclusions. If you’d like to work with me, I’ll teach you what I learned over the years about improving reading comprehension and speed—from teachers and tutors, from my research, and from years of practice.
SAT Reading

SAT Reading

I was admitted to Washington & Lee and Northwestern universities, in part, because I tested well on the SAT reading exam. I have taught at colleges, written professionally for 20+ years, and helped scores of Wyzant students to spot trick SAT questions/answers and to read passages more actively, for purpose, claims, main ideas, inferences, and conclusions. My students have been accepted into target and reach schools throughout the nation, including Dartmouth, Berkeley, Duke, Georgetown, Rice, Purdue, Michigan, and Georgia Tech. I teach reading from a writer’s perspective, so students readily learn how and why SAT passages are structured the way they are. I also help college prospects with their admissions statements, and testimonials on my full profile reflect this. As for the SAT, I use The Princeton Review’s 800+ SAT Practice Questions 2025 text for the reading and writing sections of the test.
SAT Writing

SAT Writing

I have undergraduate and graduate degrees in writing, taught at two colleges, and have helped many high school students prepare for the SAT’s writing component. The SAT’s writing questions test your knowledge of rhetorical synthesis, transitions, and rules for Standard English, including sentence structure, punctuation, and usage. What’s key in revisiting these good-writing rules or guides now is to understand why many of them make sense. And when they don’t make sense, which happens, we need to commit them to memory or at least recognize potential grammatical pitfalls in SAT questions. In any event, these are areas where I excel. For two decades I was a teacher and writer/editor at major metro newspapers and magazines. In the SAT writing component, the authors are asking you to be a good editor. I use The Princeton Review’s 800+ SAT Practice Questions 2025 text for the reading and writing sections of the test. For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for my approved subjects.
Vocabulary

Vocabulary

Before launching a series of vocabulary lessons, I want to talk to the child and a parent to gauge how the student learns best. (I will assume here that the student is young.) Assessment questions will include these and others: 1. Which helps the student most in learning new words _ hearing, seeing, or writing them? 2. Does the student like to read? If not, why not? What book is the student reading now, in which language? What are the child’s interests? 3. What television shows does the child watch, in which language? Which language is spoken at home principally? 4. Do any of the student’s friends have extensive vocabularies? We can’t teach children new words in a vacuum, without context. Words have denotations and connotations, equally important. This is why students are forever asking about new vocabulary, rightfully: “Put it in a sentence.” My writing and teaching credentials are tucked into my full profile at Wyzant. Beyond that experience, I studied Spanish for four years in high school and my wife is Japanese, from Nerima.
Writing

Writing

Over the years, I’ve tutored students writing persuasive/argumentative essays, personal essays, research papers, literature analysis, and other compositions. I’ve tutored students in middle school, high school, and college on writing pieces from concept through finished work – including freewriting exercises, topic exploration, outlines, organization, rough drafts, proofreading, and rewrites. I’ve taught at two colleges; wrote and edited essays, editorials, and other articles for newspapers and magazines for two decades; and coached technical writers and analysts to write clearly and concisely at Truist Financial. Where I really excel is helping students _ no matter their age _ generate and recognize their best thoughts, their strongest points or arguments, and then organize them logically, strategically. I find that immensely rewarding. Writing does NOT have to be frightening or impenetrable. I have writing degrees from Washington & Lee and Northwestern universities. For more details about me, please see the hypertext links on my full profile for my approved subjects.

Examples of Expertise

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Ratings and Reviews

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Reviews

Hard to find writing Expert

My HS senior hit a roadblock on one of the college application prompts and reached out to Robert for help. After the first session, my daughter ran to me screaming "Robert is sooooooooo gooooooood!" Robert was able to quickly connect to my teenager and provide very inspirational advice, and my daughter was able to write the essay after only one session. Robert then continued to work with my daughter on the essay per our request, and my daughter just submitted the essay she's very proud of days before the deadline! Robert is knowledgeable, patient, friendly, and super approachable! He is the best of the best!

Franccini, 35 lessons with Robert

Helping me to Grasp Grammar

As a Business Development Analyst, clear and effective communication is essential to my role. Yet, I’ve struggled with grammar throughout my life—it never quite made sense to me, and this challenge has repeatedly hindered my professional growth. Working with Bob has been a turning point. He introduced frameworks and principles that finally made grammar feel approachable and logical. What once felt like a confusing jumble of rules is now starting to make sense. Bob’s ability to tailor his guidance to my professional context—drawing from his own experience in the business world—helped me identify the specific areas I needed to focus on to improve my communication and credibility at work. Thanks to Bob’s support, I’m gaining the confidence to tackle grammar head-on and remove a long-standing barrier to my career advancement. I’m truly grateful for his insight, patience, and practical approach.

Clayton, 29 lessons with Robert

SAT Reading + Writing Tutoring

We’ve been working with Bob for about half a year, and we’ve started studying for the SAT with him over the summer. He’s super helpful and knowledgeable about the content covered in the SAT, and over the summer, we’ve gone from an average of 720 on the reading-writing section to scores of 780-800. His tips are really helpful, especially on the grammar/technical questions, and he also has a lot of super useful review tips for reading, as well as some great tips for essay writing and structure. He’s also really friendly and nice to work with! :)

Victor, 30 lessons with Robert

Outstanding Tutoring Sessions

Robert helped my son improve in English Composition II. He offered very knowledgeable grammatical explanations, paragraph organization, and helped create a clear outline for his essay. His focus on grammar was outstanding; he found weaknesses and helped my son to improve. He also provided perceptive writing tips, such as techniques for improving arguments, creating a more concise approach, and honing his general writing style. My son connected with his professional attitude and capacity to clarify difficult ideas in a simple manner. We are very happy with him. Thanks Robert

Fady, 2 lessons with Robert

A tutor who went above and beyond all expectations!

Robert is a fantastic tutor who helped my son with his GED. He is a dedicated and thorough professional who is also extremely patient. My son enjoyed the lessons that he shared with Robert. For anyone looking for a tutor, I highly recommend Robert! He is a must-select! Robert, thank you for everything! I truly appreciate your hard work and dedication to working with my son; it means so much to me.

Raymond, 59 lessons with Robert

Robert was a great tutor for interview prep

Robert was very helpful in preparing for college internship reviews. He also helped with resume review / improvement. Definitely more ready after our session. Thanks for the great advice!

Chris, 1 lesson with Robert

Incredible level of passion

Robert was instrumental in helping me re-strategize how I communicated my story in my personal statement, GPA addendum, and character & fitness section. He brought an incredible level of passion and enthusiasm to the process, making what initially felt overwhelming into a productive and engaging experience. He didn’t just edit my work—he pushed me to think deeper about my experiences, refine my narrative, and present my story in a way that felt authentic and compelling (no clichés). In addition to the structural improvements, he meticulously cleaned up my grammar and sentence flow, ensuring my writing was polished, professional, and impactful. His keen attention to detail and ability to enhance clarity while maintaining my voice was exactly what I needed. Most importantly, working with him gave me confidence in the quality of my final submissions. I walked away from the experience feeling proud of what I had written and assured that my applications would present the best possible version of myself. If you’re looking for someone who is not only knowledgeable but also genuinely invested in your success, Robert is the perfect guy you want in your corner.

Musa, 12 lessons with Robert

Law School Applications and Personal Statement Expert!

I have worked with Bob for a few weeks now and will continue to work with him until I finish my law school applications. Every session has been incredibly helpful and constructive. We go through my essays line by line and work out how best to emphasize my points and how to properly answer the questions that need answering. Bob is very patient and has provided me with so much support and direction during each of our sessions that writing these essays has become somewhat simplified. I spent 6 months tinkering with my essays (I hated all of them) but Bob knew exactly where I wanted to go with my personal statement and intuitively helped me reconstruct and redraft my essays. I would absolutely recommend Bob to anyone looking for help with law school applications - or any applications in general!

Adam, 5 lessons with Robert

Grad School Engineering Personal Statement

As a senior planning to apply to grad schools for engineering, Robert was amazing to work with. I met with him 4 times over the course of writing my personal statement, he helped me set up the format and we brainstormed ideas together. He saved me a lot of time and effort through giving me the tools I needed to put together a wonderful statement. He is very passionate, considerate and truly cares about the success of his students. He answers very quickly and is lenient with any schedule changes. He helped give me criticism when I got stuck and gave me his advice whenever I faced writer's block. He knows what college admissions are looking for and goes above and beyond to provide his students with the steps they need to be successful. I am very grateful for the time I spent with Robert and I am thankful for the advice he gave me. Thank you for everything Robert!

Aseel, 3 lessons with Robert

A lifesaver for writing college applications to engineering schools!!

Mr. Robert is fantastic! Passionate, authentic, and genuine. He has a unique yet simple approach to essay writing and is great at summarizing your essays, to help you see the bigger picture and deeper meaning behind it. He taught me how to write in a way that resonates with readers, rather than just listing accomplishments like a resume. He boosted my confidence in writing. I would definitely recommend him for help with college essays!

Rebecca, 4 lessons with Robert