*Students are kept confidential. Family introductions happily available for interested parties.
Student S.2 (sister of student S.3)
GPA: 3.82 unweighted, 4.41 weighted; competitive public high school. Rank 156/622
Extracurriculars: Band captain, community involvement (relevant to majors)
Essays: Outstanding personal statement, thoughtful and precise supplemental essays
SAT: 1390 (+180 after Goat Academics)
Accepted: NCSU (committed), IU-Kelley, University of Georgia, George Washington University, Pitt (+$30k scholarship)
Testimonial:
I met Amit at the most stressful part of junior year. The only things on my peers’ minds were SAT prep and college this and that. I could not help but feel behind my friends and my twin sister. My score was below par, and after two or three attempts, I was stressed that it was not moving above my plateau of 1210. That is when my parents decided to get Amit’s help.
When I first met Amit, he scoffed at my generic mechanical pencil and insisted that I use one of his fancy Japanese pens. He said “we don’t erase anything, we use our mistakes as notes to our future self.” That was when I realized he was not your run-of-the-mill kind of guy. He carried his belongings in a messenger bag; he was beyond kooky, a little performative at times, but nothing was going to stop him.
Through his coaching, I realized I had been viewing the SAT all wrong. Amit takes the time to sit with you and understand where you need help. It did not take him long to realize that the sessions he had with both my sister and me were not beneficial for me because I could not keep up with their pace. That showed me a lot about Amit. He is very dedicated to each of his students individually and truly shows up for their specific needs.
From my friends, I heard that their tutoring experiences were not targeted to them and were more lecture based, which is not everyone’s learning style and especially not mine. Sitting with Amit through a practice SAT and breaking down my thinking process helped both of us realize what I was doing wrong. I was not fully understanding what the question was asking, I was not writing down the important parts, and I was not crossing out answer choices that made no sense.
As someone who is good at recognizing patterns, Amit helped me realize that the SAT, especially the reading section, is very pattern based. By the time I took my last SAT, I went in knowing exactly how to tackle it.
With the success of our SAT sessions, my parents decided Amit would also be a good fit to help with my college applications. I was a little hesitant at first because essays are personal, and I did not want mine to sound like an old man wrote them. After talking through my concerns with another one of his advisors, I was reassured that Amit takes your ideas and makes them stronger while still keeping them your own. I then told Amit how I would read essay prompts and would be completely blank on what to write.
He gave me the idea to write an autobiography, so over the summer of junior year, I wrote about moments in my life that stuck with me and shaped who I am. From those fifteen stories, he helped me match prompts to the right experiences. Amit was especially good at getting me to develop better essay writing skills, like making a draft and writing down my ideas. His essay editing sessions were the most helpful because he brought a new perspective and showed me what admissions officers are looking for and what my essays were missing. This developed my writing skills even more, and at the end of it, I could pinpoint areas that were lacking before they even left my typing hands.
Amit is so committed to his students and willing to help them whenever they need it. I am very grateful to know that he will respond if I just shoot him a text.
Along with teaching us, he was also willing to learn from his students. My sister and I even taught him phrases like “clock it” and came up with funny vocal stims that became part of our sessions. Do not get me wrong, there were definitely times I wanted to roll my eyes at him, but he was also a good friend and someone I could call bhaiya (older brother).
I used to constantly doubt myself and compare my success to others around me. Amit helped me see what made me unique and taught me to embrace it. In the end, he was one of the only people who truly believed in me and my success.
And to Amit, I hope this is not the last time I get to say this.
I’m tired of this, Grandpa!
– S.2