Andrew’s Letter to Parents

Dear Parents,

Before moving to New York in 2004, I was a top tutor in the Tampa Bay area. I learned my trade from the most reputable tutor in town, Ed Black, and for several years I helped both public and private high school students get in to the colleges of their dreams. When I left Tampa for New York, I thought I knew everything there was to know about tutoring for standardized tests. As it turns out, I had A LOT more to learn. My tutoring experiences in Tampa helped me get my foot in the door at one of the most distinguished firms in Manhattan. But to earn my stripes, I had to prove that I was a great tutor. And I had to prove this in the most competitive tutoring market in the country. The thing about New York City is that it is ultra-competitive. Like you, parents in New York City want to give their kids every advantage possible. So they enlist the best tutors they can find, beginning sometimes as early as the 8th grade, to help their child achieve amazing SAT or ACT scores. I quickly learned that to compete in the cut-throat New York City environment, I had to enhance my approach and take my level of commitment to new heights. And I am sure glad I did. As I was forced to dig deeper, I discovered that each tutoring session had the potential to be a crucible for real growth and transformation in each of my students; a growth that would help them not only achieve a higher score on a test but also self-actualize. I no longer consider myself solely a tutor of subject matter, but instead a coach of valuable life skills. Without exposure to the New York tutoring standard, I may never have become the coach I am today. I have witnessed firsthand the very real difference between a top New York coach and the rest of the field. Only a small percentage of the country lives in New York City. Why should they be the only ones with access to the best in test prep?