Inner Genius Prep

I highly recommend inner genius prep! Lisa and everyone are so kind and the most helpful people your going to find for your college applications/​essays. I truly don’t know what I would have done without Lisa’s help on my college essays!

I’ve worked with Inner Genius Prep since I was in 8^th grade, and am now a senior in high school. I was admitted to Bard College early action this fall and have continued to work with IGP on my other college applications. I was also tutored by IGP for the ACT, on which my score rose six points. My tutors have always been incredibly caring and motivational and have helped me succeed academically despite my learning disabilities, including ADHD. Lisa, the owner of the company, has helped me work through my test anxiety and has always been a supportive influence who has been there for both my older and sister and me far beyond any other tutor I’ve ever worked with (and I’ve worked with a lot of tutors)! I’m very grateful for all the help IGP has has given me and highly recommend them to anyone needing test prep, college essay support, writing coaching or help with test anxiety. I’ve referred a ton of my friends to them and everyone is very happy with their services, including my best friend who was just admitted to Northwestern early decision.

I suggest anyone looking for assistance in college prep take a beat before assuming that all of the maximum-​star reviews are legitimate. I’ve given them the two stars instead of one because I take responsibility in paying them for literally — email exchanges which proved worthless. I originally contacted them regarding my son’s application for Spring 2016 (it’s a long story which I’ll spare you, but suffice to say he was in the top 8% of his class, got a 32 on the ACT already and had been accepted at great schools for the fall).
Ultimately, we needed –quickly — any insight into schools that offered spring admissions and assistance with FA forms. Lisa (owner) pushed very hard for their not-​inexpensive services (for example, even though he had a 2060 on the SAT, she suggested he retake it and work with one of their «Top Tier» tutors, eight sessions for $ 1680).
Although the hourly rate is $ 150, they insisted (by basically telling us) that we would be meeting with Tamara for 90 mins ($ 225). However, Tamara wasn’t available for 11 days and in that time, my son put together his essays and application. In the meantime, th. ey sent several Paypal «bills,» encouraging paymentBy the time she was available, I agreed to still meet with her to discuss the FA forms. She then informed me she wasn’t qualified to do so and suggested we cancel, which we did.
I offered to pay them for their **email time** and assumed it would be about $ 50, but they charged me $ 150 ($ 155 for paying with Paypal) saying Tamara had «already done» research on schools, and that we had «changed our minds» (absolutely untrue; I kept them abreast of what we knew, had done, needed). Since I was paying them, I asked for the «research» which arrived several days later and consisted of rushed, cobbled together list with the names only of less than 10 schools — and four of them had incorrect information. It was information we had before we first contacted them.
The bottom line — they may be perfectly helpful for your high school junior who really needs help getting into a state school — but they will push you to sign up for as much as they can. Given our experience, I’m not only suspect of their actual abilities, but the «glowing» reviews. This is just my experience. Again, I could’ve just canceled and wouldn’t have been legally obligated to pay anything for their inferior email assessments and suggestions — that was clearly my choice. I just suggest you be VERY wary.

Inner Genius Prep is great. The whole team is a pleasure to work with and has your child’s best interest at heart. My son had a great experience working with Peter — an amazingly smart and encouraging tutor. Not only did his scores go up, but his confidence level, too. I will definitely be calling on Inner Genius next year for my daughter.

Lisa and her team helped me through the application process for graduate school. My experience vastly exceeded my expecations— Inner Genius was instrumental in putting my best forward in the application process. Lisa was great throughout the entire process: brainstorming, writing drafts, and editing. All in all, a great experience.

If you are looking for SAT, ACT, Subject Tests or ISEE tutoring Inner Genius Prep​offers personal tutoring with excellent results! I can’t say enough great things about the attention and quality assistance that both my children recieved during the stressful process of studying for the SAT and applying to colleges.
Between the two kids we worked with IGP for about 5 years. Over that time, the entire family build lasting relationships with the tutors through mutual respect and trust. My children have very different learning styles, and IGP was able to tailor the pace and focus of the tutoring to serve each child’s needs. We are thrilled with the colleges that the kids were accepted to, my son is a Freshman at Pomona College, and daughter will start Bard College, Fall, 2015. The one on one attention was a huge part of their process and success.
Both kids also worked with the tutors to help them finesse their College Application essays. They would brainstorm on the essays, and make sure that every word used communicated exactly with the kids wanted to say about themselves. Thank you IGP, we miss you already.

Inner Genius Prep is the most incredible tutoring company that also helps significantly with college essay writing. All of the tutors are wonderful, considerably helping my SAT and SAT subject test scores.

Lisa is a great tutor– she is compassionate, understanding and she doesn’t give up on you. I know she works very hard to find tutors who are great at what they do and have great attitudes on the same token. My sat score started at 1780, and after working with inner genius prep, my final SAT score was 2160. For those of you not interested in doing the math, she helped me bring up my score by 380 points. She also helped boost my 25 minute essay section score from a 4 to a 10. I always felt supported by her and Peter (the wonderful math tutor), and I never had to worry that a question of mine wouldn’t be adequately answered. I learned effective techniques to improve my score as well as the right attitude to have going into a test. I was grateful to gain these priceless skills without having to deal with the high stress atmospheres present in other sat prep programs in which my friends were enrolled. I am sure that the peers of mine who went to inner genius prep had similarly great experiences. One-​on-​one student tutor time was extremely beneficial and effective– tutors really came to understand my needs and sessions were structured accordingly. It was also really nice for tutors to know me on a more personal level– feeling at ease, I had more expendable energy at my disposal to spend on learning and strengthening new skills. In addition to tutoring for the SAT, inner genius prep offered expertise in studying for the SAT subject tests– Math 11 (690) and Literature (650)– and Lisa offered general writing expertise. She helped me edit writing assignments and develop stronger writing skills, and was there for me every step of the way when it came to writing supplemental college essays and dealing with the stress associated with applying to colleges. Peter also offered tutoring for math classes, and although I never took advantage of that resource, he was an avid tutor on whom I knew I could rely if I needed help. Whenever I felt overwhelmed with studying and/​or high school, I knew I had a strong support system over at inner genius prep to help me come through the storm with calm and vitality. The display of Lisa’s and Peter’s great abilities were evident in the boost of my SAT scores, the high SAT 11 scores, the many A+ class papers, and my early decision acceptance to Oberlin College (conservatory of arts and sciences). I feel much stronger and confident in my writing and test-​taking abilities. As long as standardized test-​taking is prevalent in education, it’s very helpful to have strong test-​taking abilities and a mindset that is ready to tackle a challenge. Even if you know the content of a test, if you become very overwhelmed emotionally and haven’t developed strategies to navigate the obstacles present on a timed test, your comprehension is for naught. I absolutely recommend Inner Genius Prep to anyone preparing for the sat or in need of a writing and college essays tutor, or a math tutor. I am confident that you will have a great experience. For your viewing pleasure, and to convince you even further of the wonderful abilities at inner genius prep, I am including a list of my SAT score improvement and SAT II scores:
SAT (first time) — 1780
Critical Reading: 560
Math: 610
Writing: 610
SAT (final time) — 2160
Critical Reading: 670
Math: 740
Writing: 750
SAT II (only time):
Literature: 650
Math II: 690

I have smart son who lacks focus and motivation. He also has a subpar GPA. I knew he would need to work one on one for SAT prep. Lisa (owner and critical reading, writing) and Peter (math) worked over the summer with my son increasing his SAT score almost 300 points to 1880. My son’s math was the biggest challenge. I did not expect any increase and I told Peter that, however, my son increased his math 100 points. Inner genius prep runs a great program including proctored practice tests. This program is a lot of work, but if your child puts the work in, he or she will most likely see results. If my kid can increase, so can yours! I highly recommend Lisa and Peter. My son has been admitted to 7 universities, 1 waitlist, and 1 deferred admission.

Champagne is still flowing (metaphorically, as it”s early afternoon. And she’s 17) around here after seeing our daughter’s SAT scores! 800 in math, 770 each in writing and reading! This is an increase of 220 points overall and a jump in math from 89^th percentile to 99^th!
Needless to say, we’re very happy with the money and time we invested in Inner Genius tutoring! Her tutor was Peter, and Lisa (the owner) gave us some good advice on her college application process as well. THANK YOU!

Lisa is an amazing tutor! I was very weak in reading and writing but after working with Lisa my scores for the SAT dramatically increased. I also never thought about doing the ACT until she guided me in that direction and I’m very grateful that she did because I enjoyed the test more than the SAT and I did even better than the SAT. She also helped me with my college essays. She mad the college application process so much easier and she pushed me start earlier which I’m so grateful for now that I am almost done with all of my applications and most of my friends have hardly started. She is fun and energetic and made tutoring sessions enjoyable and productive. I recommend her to anyone looking for a tutor and I definitely recommend using her over any other test prep course because it is a much more enjoyable and beneficial experience.

Lisa, owner of Inner Genius Prep, is simply fantastic! We utilized her for our 2 college bound children for SAT and Subject Matter SAT prep. She has a vast knowledge of the tests and the nuances which help to increase scores and provide the confidence which enhances the experience. Our children looked forward to working with Lisa and embraced the entire experience. Lisa is enthusiastic, reliable, extremely knowledgeable and without any reservation, we would recommend her and her company for any type of SAT/​ACT prep work. We love working with Lisa and if we had a third child, Lisa would be tutoring that child also. You cannot go wrong with Lisa and her crew. Do yourself a favor and give her a call; you won’t regret it. She is the BEST! Finally, she is witty, funny and knows great secret restaurants. She relates to children well!

After a not-​so-​great tutoring experience, we were referred to Lisa. Lucky us! Lisa helped our daughter make a significant improvement on her ACT score, and she also helped with college essay writing, leading to acceptances at many of the top universities in the country. Lisa is extremely knowledgeable in both subject matter and strategies for students to excel on the myriad required exams. Most importantly, she connected instantly with our daughter and became a part of our extended family. With a second child quickly approaching college age, we’ll welcome Lisa into our lives again this coming year! We recommend Lisa without reservation!!!

I love Inner Genius Prep. I got referred to Lisa through a friend, and we hit it off instantly. She helped me with my college applications, and even made doing them fun! I got into seven of the ten schools I applied to, with a wait list at one of them. Lisa is an amazing teacher, and also a terrific friend! I stay in touch with her and hang out with her when I’m back in LA from college.
Use her services — you won’t regret it!!!

We think Lisa is just incredible and love her company! She worked with both of our children and helped them enormously getting ready for the SATs and Subject Tests. She is smart as a whip, funny, extremely personable, and makes learning and studying fun for the kids. We recommend her most highly!