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Thanksgiving: Good-Bye College Apps

November 20th, 2018

What are you thankful for this school year? Here at Study Hut Consulting, we balance our love for Thanksgiving with our duty to accurately teach US History (among other AP courses!). It can be a tall order, conveying both the joy of life and the understanding of hard facts. Many of our college hopefuls have submitted their first applications into the world — they can tell you all about this juggling act, as well. 

Thanksgiving: End of College Apps

Yes, if anything is more bittersweet than cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving, it would have to be farewells to my college applications students. I have gotten to know them better than their teachers through hours of one-on-one tutoring. We’ve conducted our interview, learned the art of essay writing, practiced idea generation and organization, and finally, distilled their personalities into a finely-crafted set of essays. As a tutor, I lose myself in the sheer excitement of the craft. But when that first “Submit” button gets pressed, it all needs to be perfect. At Study Hut Consulting, I’m proud to say that it is. 

For those students who may be reading — those, perhaps, without someone to guide them — let me tell you this: Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday for writing college essays. Let me explain. So many of my students walk in my door thinking they have nothing to say. College applications are so competitive, what can one “normal” kid possibly write about? And yet, student after student leaves with a unique, heartfelt essay. College writing, it turns out, is an act of discovery. Get excited about your life, rejoice in the smallest of moments, because even they can show your character. In short: be Thankful.  

And it’s true, sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes to see just how unique you are. That’s where our college admissions team can help. We know every student has a story to tell. We’ve helped tell quite a few. So as you sit down to write (we suggest starting with the Contact Form), ask yourself: what will you be thankful for next year?

College Apps Tutoring

December 18th, 2017

Are you looking for help with the College Apps tutoring?  Study Hut Tutoring boasts an array of experts that can help with everything from college essays to the application process itself.

College applications process

A high school student’s fall senior year can be one of the most stressful times for them. Students have to juggle the beginning of their final year and college preparation all at the same time. However, a student can lay the groundwork for a smooth college application process starting from the very beginning of high school.

Colleges require and look for specific experiences to understand who the applicant truly is; students should be encouraged to make a note of every activity, experience, honor, or award that comes his or her way in high school. It is important for students to create a resume of these activities, no matter how small; a running tally will come in handy once college applications begin. Many colleges also require an essay in the college application; before the application process begins take the time to review the essays and start to brainstorm them.

Once the college applications open, it’s now time to plan and schedule. Sitting down and completing college applications can be a daunting process. It can feel glamorous to simply visit and hear about all the great opportunities, but actually completing a slew of applications can be a not-so-fun part of the process. Completing college applications should be the culmination of many months of work, rather than an overwhelming one-time process. The most important thing to remember about college applications is the deadline for each. Students should make a detailed calendar in order to organize it all to avoid rushing through an entire college application the night before it’s due.

College counselors can also be a vital resource for students; they can help keep the student organized and give them key information about school choice. They can give personal accounts to students about the geography of a campus or the type of environment that the student is looking for and then compile a list of colleges for the student. College counselors can also put their students in touch with former students who applied to and attend the schools they are considering. Those contacts can give students advice about what to aim for and what to avoid for each school’s application.

The college application process can be overwhelming, but as long as a student is organized and uses all the resources available to them, they will succeed in their applications.

College Applications and College Essay Tutors

November 13th, 2017

I am thankful for the opportunity to work with college applications students.  What are you Thankful for this school year?

College Applications Tutoring

Here at Study Hut Tutoring, we balance our love for Thanksgiving with our duty to accurately teach US History (among other courses!). It can be a tall order, conveying both the joy of life and the understanding of cold hard facts. Many of our college hopefuls have submitted their first applications into the world — they can tell you all about this juggling act, as well. 

Yes, if anything is more bittersweet than cranberry sauce this Thanksgiving, it would have to be farewells to my college application students. I have gotten to know them better than their teachers through hours of one-on-one college application tutoring. We’ve conducted our interview, learned the art of essay writing, practiced idea generation and organization, and finally, distilled their very essence into a finely-crafted set of essays. As a tutor, I lose myself in the sheer excitement of the craft. But when that first “Submit” button gets pressed, it all needs to be perfect. At Study Hut Tutoring, I’m proud to say that it is. 

For those students who may be reading — those, perhaps, without someone to guide them — let me tell you this: Thanksgiving is the perfect holiday for writing college essays. And no, I’m not just being cheesy (save that for the potatoes). So many of my students walk in my door thinking they have nothing to say. College applications are so competitive, what can one “normal” kid possibly write about? And yet, student after student leaves with a unique, heartfelt essay. College writing, it turns out, is an act of discovery. Get excited about your life, rejoice in the smallest of moments because even they can show your character. In short: be Thankful.  

And it’s true, sometimes you need a fresh set of eyes to see just how unique you are. That’s where our college admissions team can help. We know every student has a story to tell. We’ve helped tell quite a few. So as you sit down to write (we suggest starting with the Contact Form, below), ask yourself: what will you be thankful for next year? 

Redondo Beach College Application and Essay Tutors

June 6th, 2016

The modern-day college application and essay tutoring process can be rather overwhelming. With transcripts, letters of recommendation, resumes, SAT and/or ACT scores, supplemental writing questions, essays, etc., it can be a lot to handle.  But do not fear, Study Hut is here to help you execute properly and efficiently.

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Our college applications & essays tutors will guide you through the entire process. First, they will assist you with conducting an in-depth college search based on your major choice and interests. Then, they will help you to create a varied list of schools and stay organized to ensure all submission deadlines are met. Our tutors will also aid in building a resume as well as requesting transcripts and letters of recommendation.

 

Most importantly, our tutors have a special set of skills and will help you masterfully write all the essays required in order to paint you in the best light for prospective universities.  An original essay is all you need to set yourself apart from other applicants.  Taking the time to create a well written essay before you’re bogged down with work in the Fall will not only increase your odds of getting into your dream schools, but will also make you more confident during the application process.  Our tutors know how to help you bring out your inner writing genius and will help you write an essay that makes you shine.

 

Finally, once all of your applications have been submitted, we will help you apply for scholarships that are tailored to your skills and interests.  There’s nothing better than finding schools that will pay you to attend their campus in the fall!

 

Study Hut offers three College Application Tutoring packages:

Skimboard: three universities;

Shortboard: six universities;

Longboard: ten universities;

 

Eliminate your worries by starting early! Dedicating a small amount of time to your college applications during your summer vacation will save you endless amounts of stress during fall semester, so you can just focus on your classes and enjoying your senior year!

Newport Beach College Essay Help

September 29th, 2015
Newport Beach College Essay Help

Students work 1-on-1 with experts to complete essays and applications

Looking for Newport Beach College essay help?  Well, you’ve come to the right place.  Study Hut Tutoring in Newport Beach is armed and equipped with local grad students who have graduated from top universities like Columbia, Loyola Marymount, and UCSB to name a few.  Since we began in 2006 with just one small office, we have grown to help hundreds of students earn acceptance to their top universities.  What’s our secret?  Other than having a penchant for writing, we know what universities are looking for, and we know how to get to know you: so we can help your personal statement exude your most admirable qualities.  Your personal statement functions like an interview.  It’s paramount to be true to yourself, yet each sentence needs to fulfill a specific need and serve a specific function.

So how does the process work?  We begin with a free, informal 20 minute consultation.  From there, we can help you determine the best approach to have your personal statements completed, on schedule, so you needn’t worry.  Because the process is so tailored, it’s important we discover which of our college services is right for you.  We not only offer help with Newport Beach college essays, but we also help with resumes, letters of recommendation, and the applications themselves.

So whether it’s Newport Beach college essay help or tailored work executing college applications, we have you covered.   We look forward to hearing about what you’re looking for:  we have an expert ready to spice up your writing, and dazzle your admissions officers.  After all, there is no better feeling than finishing early, focusing on senior year, and opening that special envelope granting admissions to your top college pick.
For more info, fill out the contact form on this page and we will hit you up either by phone or by email.  Looking forward to getting you geared up!

Top Choice College

March 6th, 2015

Hayley started coming to Study Hut her freshman year of high school. She came almost every day to work on all of her challenging classes with her tutors. From studying for insane math tests to acing AP English, Study Hut has always had Hayley’s back when it came to helping her get her achieve her best.

When it came time to start looking at colleges and filling out her college applications, Hayley knew exactly who she wanted to have help her along the way. Hayley worked on everything related to college with her tutor Laura. Laura had watched her grow through the years both academically and personally.   She helped Hayley narrow down her list of schools to apply to so they were left with only the schools that met all of Hayley’s requirements. They sorted through safety schools, reaches, and Hayley’s top choice: San Diego State University.

Hayley and Laura spent a lot of time making sure that Hayley’s personal statement was perfect. Because they had worked together for so long, Hayley felt comfortable opening up to Laura about her ADD. Together they crafted a series of car analogies that related her experiences with ADD to her school work and other areas of her life. They brain stormed and remembered Hayley’s greatest academic accomplishments and personal triumphs for the other sections of her applications, and made sure not a single question was left unanswered. They patiently waited to hear back from schools. As acceptances rolled in Hayley kept checking for SDSU. They were delighted when they found out she was accepted!

How to Avoid Stress During the College Application Process

October 29th, 2014

No matter how prepared you are, or how much research you have done, the college application process is always stressful. It’s a big decision after all, and which college you go to will affect the next few years of your life! However, there are a few easy tricks we’ve learned during in all our college app sessions to help lower those stress levels!

 

1. Exercise

Sweating it out will help cure any college app jitters, or help you get past that writer’s block keeping you from finishing your personal statement for your dream school. Do some relaxing yoga or if that’s not your style, push yourself in an intense spin class. You’ll be so focused on trying to keep up, college apps won’t even cross your mind!

2. Treat Yourself

Grab a milkshake or one of your favorite snacks. There’s a ton of great food in the South Bay. It is a quick way to pick yourself up and mentally refresh yourself in the middle of apps.

3. Have Someone Else Read Over It

Having a teacher or tutor look over your application can be beneficial for a few reasons. They may catch any grammatical errors you may have overlooked. They can also help you remember an important academic achievement that you might have forgotten about that would be perfect for your college application.

4. Manage Your Time

Don’t try and save all your essays and applications until the day before they are due. Servers get overloaded, computers crash, and you won’t do your best work if you are trying to cram in three essays in three days. Work on it a little bit at a time over the course of a few weeks. You will write a better essay and keep yourself from having a melt down.

 

While applying for colleges and filling out college apps may be stressful, you should focus on how exciting it will be and all the opportunities you are going to have, no matter where you end up!

Newport Beach College Night

October 8th, 2014

As the summer turns in to fall and the school year takes hold, high school students all over the world become immersed in the complex ritual that is the college application. This task may seem like an unbearably daunting one and the defining moment for the rest of your life (it certainly did for me). However, like the beginning of any grand odyssey it begins with just a few, simple steps. The first of these is learning what your options are. In other words, what colleges are out there and what do they have to offer?

The best place to find this out is from someone who knows about the college or university firsthand. Luckily for those in the Newport-Mesa area, over 200 colleges are sending representatives to the College Fair at the OC Fairgrounds Building 10 tonight, Wednesday, October 8th from 6:00pm to 9:00pm.  More College Fair info

Meeting with a representative to find out more about a college is a great way to narrow down your options and figure out which campuses are worth visiting in person.  This college fair is also the perfect opportunity to find out about all of the different programs that a school offers. While you might have your heart set on a particular major or career now, it never hurts to make sure that a potential alma mater also has other programs that you are interested in.  After all, if you are anything like me you want to not only get a good academic education but also meet interesting people along the way.

If you are still feeling overwhelmed about the application process, there is no need to fear. Here at Study Hut we have years of experience with college applications and can help you break down your odyssey in to a few, simple steps. Follow this link to find out more about how Study Hut can help you get in to college: https://studyhut.wpengine.com/packages/college-apps/

Summer Test Prep Classes

July 7th, 2014

With summer underway and the Independence Day holiday weekend behind us, our enrichment programs at Study Hut are in full force, and learning is back on the agenda.

Tonight we begin our ACT small-group course, which runs Monday and Wednesday evenings for the remainder of summer.  Our SAT small-group course also begins tomorrow evening, and runs through the rest of summer on Tuesday and Thursday evenings. Students are excited to learn concepts that they either missed in high school or have not yet learned, and they are even more eager to go over their practice tests and learn time management and question prioritization strategies for both the ACT and SAT.  Students in previous classes at Study Hut Tutoring have learned all about the tremendous benefits of having an ACT tutor or an SAT tutor in their corner.

Whether a student needs help with SAT math, critical reading, writing, or some combination of these, having a top Study Hut tutor has shown to make a huge difference in students’ scores.  Our small group ACT and SAT classes have helped to earn students an average of over 200 points of improvement from their original scores, and many students improve 300 or more points.

At the Hut, we strongly suggest making a game-plan early so as to ensure that your son or daughter has the maximum amount of time to make the gains that he or she desires.  The test preparation process is, after all, about opening as many doors as possible, both for college and for opportunities beyond.

If your son or daughter has not yet taken a practice SAT or ACT, now is the time to see where you stand.  We offer free full-length SAT and ACT diagnostic tests, and we also provide free consultations to parents and students after the test so that you can fully understand your results.  Please email info@studyhut.com today to sign up at any of our beach-front locations.

Applying to Colleges

April 2nd, 2014

As you begin to think about applying to college, you need to think of different ways to diversify yourself and make your application stand out. You are more than a G.P.A. and an SAT score! How can you challenge yourself to be different? One of the best ways to do so is to engage in meaningful and interesting extra-curricular activities. If chosen correctly, you can greatly improve your application and help yourself land a spot in college. So what types of activities do schools like to see? Below is a list of ten EC’s that may just help you be a slightly more competitive applicant than your friends. Below, I have compiled a list of both general and specific activities. Whatever you decide to do, try to take a leadership role and stay very committed to your role. By no means should your list be limited to ours, nor should you feel obligated to have every activity on your list of experiences. Rather, find something that you love, stick with it consistently, and make a positive impact. The following are organized in NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

 

· Sports: Colleges love seeing students engaged in sports. It shows that you are able to step away from your studies and do something completely different. It shows that you are well-rounded and have abilities in addition to your academic ones. Work hard and try to score a leadership position (such as captain of your team). This shows leadership and good work ethic.

· Student Government: This shows colleges that you can communicate with your fellow-classmates and teachers for things that are important to the greater good. It illustrates leadership, ability to prioritize, and the ability to determine what is important. If you were elected, this also shows that you are able to appeal to your classmates and convince them of your abilities to lead.

· Volunteer for the Underserved (Community Service): This is a very broad topic. This can incorporate anything from providing meals for the homeless to offering medical care to citizens of third-world countries. Whatever you choose to do, make this a priority because it shows that you are a compassionate individual motivated to provide aid to those in dire need.

· Environmental/Animal Volunteering: Help out your local green club or volunteer at the animal shelter. It shows that you spend your extra time helping to make things better than they were before.

· Musical Activities: Are you a musician? Do you have a passion for audible beauty? Find a way to develop this interest. Join a band. Volunteer at a clinic that provides music therapy. Enter in music competitions and win awards so that you show that you have a passion that is apart of you. Colleges like to see passionate individuals involved in these types of things.

· Writing: If you are a writer, do something that requires this skill. Write music, poetry, articles for your school’s newspaper, short stories… Whatever you want! Writing is an invaluable communication skill that colleges love in an applicant. If you can find a club or put your writing in any type of publication (big or small), this will make you stand out.

· Start a Club: If you are interested in anything (hopefully you are interested in something), start an on-campus club. If a club for this interest already exists, come up with another club that provides something different. It brings like-minded people together and engages them in something they love to do. Just as importantly, it shows great leadership and initiative in you as a founder and leader of a club.

· Get a Job: Your parents aren’t the only ones telling you to get a job. Colleges respect the student who works. This is probably one of the less important EC’s on this list. However, it does show that you take responsibility seriously and that you have some degree of understanding of money.

· Learn a Language: Your Spanish teacher may care about the different between por and para. However, colleges LOVE multi-lingual students. Get involved in a mult-cultural club and learn how to speak a different language. It shows that you are more worldly and diverse. It also helps you communicate with a greater number of people.

· Follow your Passion: If you enjoy art, enroll in painting classes and stick with it. Paint as many pictures as you can. If you enjoy science, enroll in a summer research program at a university. This shows that you have interests and that you take initiative in your life and in making yourself a better, well-rounded person.