Customized English Language Tutoring: Learning and Confidence Starts Here

Alana has a Bachelor’s degree from Brown University and a Master’s from Yale, where she is pursuing her PhD. She has served as a Scholarship Application Advisor at Yale as well as a Writing Tutor for three years. As a tutor, Alana helped dozens of students prepare application essays for graduate school, prestigious fellowships, and competitive internships. She also assisted students through planning their application process by making schedules and deadlines for them, editing their essays, and helping them brainstorm about big topics and future plans.

Alana is passionate about helping applicants discover and express their authentic selves to admissions committees. She believes that applying to college is a process of self-discovery and professional decision-making that can be exciting and enjoyable. Alana’s favorite part of the admission process is helping students choose which schools to apply to and helping them write their personal statements. She believes this essay is a challenging but incredibly rewarding document that allows students to dive deep into the aspect of their personality and skill set they care about most. This process should be exciting and even enjoyable, and Alana is excited to help students get it done and get it done well.  

As a coach, Alana specializes in planning and managing the application process by creating schedules and deadlines tailored to each student's unique needs, aspirations, and plans. Alana is flexible and works with students’ schedules to ensure they receive personalized attention and guidance throughout the application process. She enjoys guiding students and helping them showcase their personalities, skills, and aspirations.

Her greatest strengths as a coach are her enthusiasm, genuine care for students’ futures, and her detail-oriented nature. She conducts thorough research and planning to ensure that her students and their families feel supported throughout the application process. Alana genuinely enjoys helping applicants edit and brainstorm writing assignments, research schools and programs, and make schedules.

When she's not coaching, Alana loves to run with her dog, go antique shopping, embroider, read, take barre and spinning classes, hike, and garden.

Jennifer has a Bachelor's degree from Northwestern University and a Master's and PhD from the University of Virginia. While at Northwestern, she served on the admissions team as an interviewer. 

Jennifer is excited to help college applicants navigate the college application process and recognizes that it's a very exciting time in their lives. She understands that it can be stressful, but with the right mindset, it's all about finding the best fit and looking forward to new adventures and opportunities in life.

Jennifer loves helping applicants realize their strengths and gifts and helping them focus on the joy and positivity of any journey rather than solely on outcomes. She is passionate about teaching students how to break large projects into manageable, bite-sized pieces within a larger framework to accomplish a lot relatively quickly. Her approach to coaching is to have fun along the way and connect personally with every student she works with. 

As a coach, Jennifer recognizes the significance of personalization in the college application process. She invests time with each applicant, delving into their motivations and interests to articulate a compelling case for their candidacy at their desired college. 

During her time on the admission team at Northwestern, Jennifer observed that while some students come to interviews fully prepared and brimming with enthusiasm, others offer generic answers that fail to convey a genuine passion for becoming a Wildcat or attending college. Jennifer firmly believes that personalization is key to positively impacting the application process. If students neglect to demonstrate their specific interest in a particular college, it can significantly diminish their chances of being admitted.

When Jennifer isn't coaching, she enjoys reading, traveling, spending time with family, exercising, and learning.

Sue has a Bachelor's degree from Cornell University, where she served on the admissions team. She has tutored over 50 students, assisting them with college admissions essays, rhetorical writing, SAT prep, English speaking and listening, and general academic guidance. Professionally, Sue has over 15 years of experience as a tutor, essay coach, and academic success counselor.

Sue is passionate about helping college applicants gain admission to their dream schools. As a first-generation immigrant and the first person in her family to attend college in the United States, she fully understands how overwhelming and lost students can feel when beginning their college admission journey. Sue feels the proudest and happy when she can demystify the admission process and help students effectively showcase their unique personal narratives. 

As a coach, Sue uses her expertise to take a holistic approach tailored to each individual. She provides step-by-step guidance and organized schedules to manage deadlines and reduce anxiety. She is passionate about forming strong bonds and creating a calm, warm, and encouraging environment. 

Sue has learned that a student's self-perceived shortcomings or "failures" are often the source of their greatest personal development story, which makes for a great personal essay topic. She also encourages her applicants to understand that the college admission application is not just about grades, test scores, or what's written on the resume – it is a beautiful opportunity to self-reflect and proudly exhibit your unique persona.

Sue has helped applicants gain acceptance into the country's top universities, such as Cornell University, Carnegie Mellon University, New York University, and the University of Michigan. 

When Sue isn't coaching, she likes writing about Korean film and literature, crocheting, watching documentaries, and being a couch potato with her dog Oliver.