Startup: Scholars Protutoring

Graduating into the world

When I graduated from UC Berkeley in 2010, it was right into the great recession. And I was hearing the same story over and over again from my fellow classmates: "I've been applying for jobs for the past several months and haven't found anything yet." 

At that point, I was like "I don't want to waste months of my life applying for jobs." You do not gain valuable skills scouring the internet for jobs, filling in the same info over and over again on application forms built for Windows 95, and writing custom cover letters and resumes. Some may argue you gain writing and communication skills, but there's no feedback you rarely hear back. There isn't even the courtesy rejection notice, sometimes they're even too lazy to pull off job postings they've already filled.

I wanted to spend that time improving my skills and experience, so that hiring me becomes an obvious choice.

Being different

So what'd I do? I opened a tutoring service! The hourly pay is decent, it's enough to make rent, food, and basic necessities without spending a lot of time (compared to working minimum wage). Plus I was still on the pre-med track at the time, so I'd be practicing the MCAT topics while teaching them to other people. (It worked wonders by the way, I scored a 98 percentile on my first try).

So I came up with a snazzy name and put together a craigslist ad. Response rate was meh. I was getting a single lead every week or so.... But this was when I noticed most tutoring ads like my own were really basic paragraph by paragraph style ads, whereas real estate and other business ads had pretty formatting built in. This was when Craigslist supported HTML ads, and I decided to make my own and differentiate myself from the pack.

It was one of my first journeys into programming, and it was >frustrating< This was before I knew about linting and developer inspection consoles, which makes the job Much easier, but I got through it.

It looked nice and tripled my lead rate! After that, I started to post my service on more sites like Yelp and UniversityTutor, I had unconsciously discovered the idea of widening the funnel.

The actual tutoring experience was actually pretty fun and interesting. I was a bit of an introvert, so I really got used to talking with people. Also because I had to explain all these different concepts and could tell right away if they didn't get it, it also sharpened my communication skills in that sense too. Plus there isn't anything more satisfying then your student originally coming to you with "oh my god, I might fail", seeing that slow but steady progress, and then your student is getting A's, setting curves, and correcting you! I did my job!

Legit! Jing is a great tutor, he has really helped me improve my knowledge and grade in chemistry. He explains everything clearly and gives study tips. Finding a good private tutor is hard with all the weirdos out there, so go with Jing because he is a normal guy! ......or bear. HA!

Jing's the BEST! He's patient, understanding, and very knowledgeable. Organic chemistry is not easy due to the amount of information needed to be learned in the very short amount of time, yet he's able to decipher it and make if digestible.

This is the second semester I've had Jing as a tutor, and I would definitely recommend him to anyone looking for help in science classes or pre-med prep. He explains difficult concepts in a way that's easy to understand, and goes the extra mile to make sure you're prepared! He's also patient and an overall nice guy, which makes him very easy to work with, especially on concepts that can be frustrating or that a professor didn't cover very well to begin with. 

Jing has been incredibly helpful in getting me to understand physics. He is very patient and guides me until I discover the answers on my own, which really helps me learn. Since working with him last semester, I have improved my test scores from C's and D's to an A on my first exam this semester! I'm so grateful to work with Jing!

Jing helped me with familiarizing myself with Chemistry again after a 7 year hiatus. Jing was very knowledgable and helpful as a tutor. He was not only able to answer all the questions I had, but explained further if he thought it would help me understand general chemistry themes better. He also showed me tips on how I could make Chemistry easier for myself. The best qualities about Jing is his patience and good attitude. He was extremely patient with me, and I felt comfortable asking any question. If I didn't understand something, he could break it down into even simpler terms. The tutoring session I had with him was very successful and I highly recommend this tutor. 

At the end of the day, I was still scrapping by, but reading these comments and realizing how I helped and enabled their lives makes me proud of the choice I made. Plus after spending so much time teaching and explaining these concepts (which were MCAT topics) honed my own understanding leading me to achieve a 98.5 percentile MCAT score. So looking back, this is what gave me the belief that I could continue to trust these off the beaten path choices to take me down the road I want.