Varsity Tutors

Varsity Tutors is a little on the pricey side. My son's tuition is very expensive already. He's in the college prep school. Initially, I was feeling like we weren't seeing the results that we had expected. However, we have seen such a drastic improvement with the second tutor. And because of the level of interaction that we have and his flexibility, if my son has a test coming up, he does not think twice to rearrange his schedule so that he can fit my son in earlier to make sure that they have a session right before the test. And they cover what's going to happen on the test. He doesn't think twice to deviate from the curriculum a little to make sure that he's adjusting to my son's little co-curriculum. So, that's one thing that has been huge. And in that case, the price is probably worth it.

Varsity Tutors actually recommended that we switch tutors because I was ready to pull back and try some other different options. The person that is like my account manager took about 30 minutes to talk to me about my son, individually as a young man, his interests, what he likes to do, and what he reads. They weren't academic questions. Some of them were, but for the most part they were more just about who my son was as a person. And he personally paired him off with this other tutor. And that's phenomenal. Also, they gave us some hours back because we weren't super happy. And so, I can't say enough. They have done everything to make this an amazing experience.

The company has been responsive overall. My account manager has been amazing. He doesn't think twice to call me just to ask how's everything going when my son had a mid-term, which was sort of gonna be a clincher on where this grade was gonna go. He emailed me the day before, and asked me to wish him good luck because he knew that that next day my son's mid-term was coming. They're so interested in seeing his success. My son is excited about learning Latin again. Earlier in the semester, he was just disappointed and sort of really dreading going to class everyday and dreading the tutoring session. And he's excited about it again.

What I’ve done is instead of my older son doing the regular tutoring, I’m having my younger one do more regular tutoring. He’s in 6th grade, and he needs some additional help on conjunctions and grammar. She’s working with him so that he has more time working on those things and what he would be able to do in class or homework. But I also have the flexibility of saying, “My younger one doesn’t need much this week, instead help out the older one using this time slot. I want you to review his essay and work with him on formulating ideas.” And it’s been working really well.

I like that it’s one-on-one and it really focuses on the needs of the child. They really tried to understand what the child needs. It’s really a private tutor but the fact that it’s online, and there’s also the option of instant tutoring, is fabulous. Because if it was a real person in my house, I’d have to be there or if it’s a real person, I might have to take my kids somewhere. The kids also love the whole online interaction because they do so much on laptop computers and phones that it really aligns with how they do things today.

The staff at Varsity reaches out to me from time to time asking how things are going or if I need anything else. They’re good at reminding me when I’m running low on hours because that’s something I don’t always have time to check. If I also notice that one of my boys or the other one needs slightly different help depending on what’s going in their English class or if they need help with certain things about reading or even if it’s reviewing a draft of something they’ve written and offering them some suggestions, I just need to send a quick email. And they totally understand, they incorporate it right away into the next session or if they can, they’ll accommodate with a special session. So to me, the flexibility in what they’re covering and how I schedule and when I schedule, that is tremendous. I just had a really great experience with Varsity Tutors. They’re very responsive, they’re working with me, they’re working with the kids as individuals, and that to me speaks volumes.

Varsity Tutors is pricey and I wish they cost a little bit less. That would be helpful but I know that their service comes with a price. Despite that, I like that they’re very open. There’s no material that goes for every kid and with Varsity Tutors, the teacher is going by my son. Instead of me pushing my son for the classes earlier, now he waits for her. So even though I cannot easily afford their service, I’ll continue longer. Either you spend 30 or 60, but if it is being used well, you don’t mind spending it. That’s how I look at it and it seems right. Being a typical mom, I keep throwing ideas at my son's teacher and she is always open to me.

At first I only wanted to try out Varsity Tutors. But after working for a while with them, I liked them. Sometimes in summer, my son would all of a sudden want to play outside more. Fortunately, whenever his teacher could, she could work with him on those hours. And whenever there is a math or science test, because I’m paying a lot, I make sure that along with the whole subject, she’s helping him with the critical thinking. So I ask her if she could suggest anything, what we should do with Akhil or if she could Google about a kind of test, and she would come back with me with the links to try or books that'd be good for his age.

One time, I asked her if she could give him a good and creative homework. And she thought ahead and told me that Akhil came up with a small story and it has A to Z alphabets in it. I liked that. So my son was thinking and writing something. Then one day, she said something about this book that everybody said to write about. She told my son not to worry about it. She told him to just write to her about the author and the content. She makes sure he gets the interest in what she’s doing with him. And he likes her, so that is working well. If at all I cancel one of his classes, my son gets mad at me.

Other than that, I lost my job for a while and we changed the session for only one class per week. So there hasn't been much advancement or change with my son but I don’t blame his teacher for that. Still, I see that my son has more potential. There was change when he was doing twice a week but there is a bump in his thinking and his spoken English. Still, I always recommend Varsity Tutors and I tell others that the best part about going with them is, you get your money's value and they're flexible. Sometimes, if you don’t go to the class, you lose the money. But with the Varsity, you can cancel ahead of the time and adjust something. You can go back and see that moved. So I tell them that instead of you spending $30 and you don’t enjoy the fruit of it, you should rather spend 60 with Varsity.

I was down and had a really intense recovery. I tried to learn the material and get my body to cooperate enough with me, so I can go in and take my exam. Danielle was really flexible in trying to help accommodate me, wait for me, and deal with me with regard to that because there were some times I couldn’t even sit and do the tutoring. There were times I had to stand the whole time and we would be tutoring for two or three-hour sessions. Sitting wasn't an option and that was uncomfortable. She would be really patient if I needed to take a five-minute break and we would come back.

I also handled the finances at my church, which was a big deal, so sometimes, we would tutor for an hour on Sundays, then I would have to take care of business and she would tutor again. We were doing two a day and she would do groundwork, research the class, and dig in and see what was coming. She would be telling me, “Well, this is coming up. So, we need to focus on this.” It was more than just tutoring the actual material because she was really teaching me the material. She was taking the course for me, too, when it got harder because she would figure out what was next.

My personal life was getting in the way, so there were some things that I had to neglect. There was some homework I can't focus on and we were trying to nail with it, and that’s what we did and I got an A. We would calculate, “Well, what do we need to do to do this?” “Yes, this homework is not getting done. We're gonna do the work to learn them.” I took time in hours in having to go through it and we focused on that and drove the study guide so I can do well in the test, and I really did.

It was an incredible experience. It was very expensive, but it was very worth it. Danielle was incredible and I couldn’t imagine how she could be any better. I passed Calculus. I would tell my friends and family to get their credit card and worry about it later. I didn’t just pass, I actually got an A. My professor was highly impressed with me. In sum, I was able to be prepared because Varsity was there. I was able to accomplish the work because I had them to back me up.

As a parent, I love Varsity Tutors and the teachers/tutors they assign because of their flexibility, the quality of the teaching/tutoring they offer my child, the positive attitude of the instructors and outstanding customer service the company offers. I was also impressed with the wide range of tutoring options they are able to provide both, online and with in-person tutoring sessions.

This year I added my other two daughters to the Varsity Tutors’ roster. Melania 11 and Victoria 10 will be getting help with math on an ‘as needed basis;’ and, eventually, Melania will work with Alexandra as soon as she starts French. But our primary objective for this year was to get an online vocal coach for all three girls and to arrange online Clarinet lessons for Melania and Victoria. The girls have been taking piano and violin for several years, but are just now beginning the clarinet. So with full packed schedules across the board, our only option was an online class on Sunday afternoons – and Varsity Tutors delivered!!!!

Efficient, Effective, Convenient, Flexible, Positive, Encouraging, Helpful and Worth Every Penny – that’s Varsity Tutors!

Jake was so blessed to have Charles as his tutor and together they pinpointed Jake's issues. The convenience of face to face over the computer with realtime white board interaction was the perfect way for my son to learn. After each session Jake was excited to share with me the "ah-ha" moments he had and how awsome Charles was as a teacher. This program is well worth the cost. Jake is a firm believer in varsity tutors and now that he passed calc 2 and is on to calc 3....I will buy enough sessions to get him thru the whole semester and avoid Jake getting in a bind at the start of the class. I hope Charles teaches calc 3 because I know my son wants to request him! Thank you, thank you, thank you!