Rachel L.
Private tutor in Great Neck, NY
Education
I transferred to Barnard College, Columbia University to expose myself to more professional opportunities in 2011. There, I majored in English Literature and wrote my honors thesis on Signification, the Trace and Social Hierarchy in Marilynne Robinson's Housekeeping. At Barnard, I worked as a Transfer Ambassador, providing tutoring and other helpful resources to the recent transfer class. I also tutored students in my sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta: Columbia University Chapter. Upon graduation, I began my formal career in advertising: however, I truly missed the 1:1 connection and unique challenges/rewards I enjoyed while tutoring. Thus, I started tutoring an NYU Freshman in her first year English class, where I had the privilege of watching her develop from a D- to an B+ student. I was almost moved to tears upon reading her end of the year evaluation, in which her professor wrote: "Your writing has advanced markedly — your investigations are more ambitious, you labor to create more detailed and expressive sentence, and your crafting of form is careful and effective. I am so impressed with your accomplishments: a sincere and terrific lift on so many fronts."
Experience
Throughout the course of my academic career, I've consistently demonstrated a penchant for both writing and helping others improve/hone their writing skills. I graduated from the prestigious Millburn High School in 2009 (ranked #1 in the state of NJ based on my class's SAT scores), I earned places through competitive qualification tests in over 9 AP classes, scoring a 5 on AP Language and AP Psychology, and a 4 on AP Literature, AP US History, AP Government & Politics, and more. I also scored a 740 on my AP US History SAT II exam. While at Millburn, I graduated with honors in the top 11% of my glass (4.14 GPA), was recognized with the Magna Cum Laude National Latin Scholar Award, and was nominated for the prestigious Dwight D. Eisenhower Leadership Award by my guidance counselor and teachers for both my academic and extracurricular achievements: I was elected captain of the varsity swim team (all-conference, all-county), co-founder and co-president of Operation Smile (raising nearly $1,200), and contributions as "Specials" editor and writer for our school paper. While I have been working with children/students for the entirety of my life, from babysitting at age 11 to grading tests in elementary school; from reviewing my peers' essays in middle school to helping friends perfect their common application essays in high school, I began tutoring in a more formal setting in 2009, where I worked as a Writing Center Tutor at Hamilton College. There, I had the opportunity to help my peers improve their writing (both grammatically and structurally, while maintaining their unique thoughts and tone of voice), job applications, interview/presentation skills and more. It was this experience that taught me the subtle but important distinction between telling and teaching, and I deeply enjoyed the challenges and satisfactions the former imparted me with. In 2011, I participated in the Drop Everything and Read program, which entailed tutoring 1st graders both individually and in a group setting to improve their reading and writing skills. Few things are more exciting than seeing a student, through your guidance, grow from a performance/understanding perspective, and hone new skills and confidence that they once perceived to be unattainable.
Subject Expertise
Persuasive WritingOrganizationVocabularyCollege EssaysAP English Literature and CompositionAP English Language and CompositionUS HistorySAT Subject Test in United States HistoryHistoryAP US HistoryAP United States HistoryAmerican HistoryReadingWritingTechnical WritingSAT Writing10th Grade WritingExpository WritingACT WritingACT with Writing9th Grade Writing8th Grade Writing7th Grade Writing6th Grade Writing5th Grade Writing4th Grade Writing3rd Grade Writing2nd Grade Writing1st Grade Writing12th Grade Writing11th Grade Writing
Availability
Weekdays at any time, Weekends at any time
Can Meet
Up to 30 minutes away at my regular hourly rate
Hobbies
In addition to my love of athletics — particularly swimming, pilates, and yoga — I'm a huge fan of TV comedies (may or may not watch just a bit too much). I've been working with kids since I was 11, and pride myself on being patient, kind, and empathetic. Since graduating Columbia, I've been working in the marketing world, and had over 7 internships in editorial journalism, fashion, PR, and more. I've served as a career counselor (from middle school through college) and excel in resume and cover letter writing.
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