Personal Description:

Sally graduated with honours from Princeton University, where she studied English as a pre-medical student in the Global Health & Health Policy Program. Her senior thesis was a double award-winning narrative about the impact of an infectious, stomach cancer-causing bacterium on the First Nations populations of Northern Canada. Fluent in French and passionate about medicine, Sally has been involved in a variety of medical research in Canada, France, America and the UK. After completing a Non-Profit Service Fellowship upon graduating from Princeton, she completed Columbia University’s Post baccalaureate Premedical Program. Desiring a deeper understanding of the social and historical dimensions of health and medicine, Sally then completed a Master of Philosophy in Health, Medicine and Society at Cambridge University, where she received first class honours for her dissertation. She then went on to serve as a Research Associate at Cambridge, working on a European Research Council-funded project that aimed to better characterize and understand the changing dynamics of diagnostic innovation in the realm of cancer screening.

Tutoring Experience:

As my resume outlines, I have worked for an educational consulting firm based out of Manhattan for nearly seven years. In this time, I have worked with students ranging from 5-27 years old in the following subjects: biology, chemistry, English (reading comprehension and writing skills), French, sociology, biochemistry, statistics, and genetics. I have a wide range of topics that I can cover with my students because I have undertaken a wide range of studies myself: I majored in English Literature for my undergraduate (Princeton '14), then switched over to natural sciences for a two-year program (Columbia '17) while working in New York. I then pursued a combination of sociology, anthropology, and philosophy for my graduate studies (Cambridge '18). I am particularly well versed in helping students to develop and execute independent research projects, and help advise them on university and/or job applications. Additionally, I have been tutoring test prep (AP, ACT, SAT, etc.) for several years and have had many students in the IB curriculum. I have also designed and delivered science enrichment classes to students in the 8-16 year range. I also counsel students on university applications, helping my students plan for the admissions cycle, craft personal statements, and prepare for interviews (Ivy Leagues and Oxbridge). I am also a biochemistry and biology teacher for Oxford Summer Courses, and have been doing this for two teaching seasons!

Tutoring Approach:

I aim to provide my students with focused, subject-specific support while at once offering generalized healthy study habit tips. I have noted in my years of teaching and mentoring that in order for students to be truly successful, they must develop strong study and learning habits as a foundation to mastering the granular details of any given topic. If my students already have a strong general study approach (note taking skills, organization of study materials, punctuality, communication with their teachers, etc.), then I am able to really focus on the detail of the subject in which they are requiring additional support. I like to review class material with my students, encouraging them to paraphrase concepts as we discuss them together. I also like to supplement sessions with videos and readings that I have found to be particularly insightful for past students. I work through practice problems with my students - both those provided by their teachers, as well as supplemental worksheets that I have created over the years. For some students, I make practice exams tailored to the topics and format that their teacher emphasizes. With respect to scheduling, I believe that maintaining a regular meeting time with students, typically weekly, is the best way to foster significant and lasting improvements. I often find that a big piece of the puzzle re: improving grades and achieving success is simply a matter of changing the mindset: the course needs to become an accepted part of the regular schedule in order to receive due attention in the student's life. I help with this by making the sessions fun in addition to focused! Supplementing with related material that is interesting for the student to watch/read typically helps! Additionally, being there to offer insight re: how to maximize their chances of pursuing tertiary education often inspires my students to get into gear. I not only have experience getting into and excelling at two Ivy League schools (playing hockey as NCAA Division 1 athlete at Princeton), but also navigating the British educational system as a graduate student at the University of Cambridge.