Who gets MCAT tutoring?

[Brainsucker]

I'm a med student doing a research year between 3rd and 4th year. I'm trying to figure out if doing some MCAT tutoring be a good way to make some money. Who pays for Princeton Review and Kaplan tutoring? Would you consider working with a med student outside of those companies? It'd certainly cost you less.

In terms of credentials, I'm at a fancy school, I had various undergrad honors (biochem major) and I had a kickass MCAT.

I'm not asking anyone for a job, just looking to see what the market is like.

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[JeetKuneDo]

I'm a med student doing a research year between 3rd and 4th year. I'm trying to figure out if doing some MCAT tutoring be a good way to make some money. Who pays for Princeton Review and Kaplan tutoring? Would you consider working with a med student outside of those companies? It'd certainly cost you less.

In terms of credentials, I'm at a fancy school, I had various undergrad honors (biochem major) and I had a kickass MCAT.

I'm not asking anyone for a job, just looking to see what the market is like.

I dunno if I would pay for the tutoring. Princeton review is really expensive, like around 6k. The only problem for me would be a track record; I'd like to know how your other students did on the mcat and how many students you had. So I'd get one if it was within reasonable price and if they had some decent students, but these two factors are in reality probably inversely proportional.

 

[bashir]

I think it completely depends on where you are. My guess would be that some of the big cities on the east coast would have decent demand for private (non-affiliated) MCAT tutors, but I wouldn't hazard a guess regarding the market in San Francisco. Good luck. Tutoring is good money for enjoyable work if you can get it.

 

[Brainsucker]

Well, I'd be undercutting Princeton Review. Their cheapest option (at least here, I don't know if it varies by region) is 48 hours for $7200 which works out to $150/hr. Kaplan has an option that works out to $143. I have no idea who can afford $7200 for this, but I guess there has to be someone. I also wouldn't require students to sign up for a set number of hours.

Just fixed my location. I happen to be in THE big least coast city.

 

[bashir]

Then I'm sure there are plenty of potential students for you. It's just a matter of finding them.

 

[Brainsucker]

Any tips on that part?

 

[justdoit31]

Consider things like craigslist, posting flyers at undergrad schools near your medical school, etc.

I wouldn't have paid for tutoring even though my score was lower... I took MCAT before physics 2 which hurt me but felt that I studied pretty well for other stuff

 

[Brainsucker]

Yeah...trying to figure out Craig's List (it won't let me verify my phone for some reason) and just put some fliers down at the undergrad. I studied for the test 2 weeks, but I know lots of other people make a big production of it.

 

[armybound]

the thing about TPR and Kaplan is that they're a big business and have "guarantees". You, as an individual, have no proven track record of tutoring students to success, and no way of guaranteeing performance.

I still think it should be easy to get work, though, since there are students out there who might want tutoring but won't overpay for Kaplan/TPR.

 

[halekulani]

I'm a med student doing a research year between 3rd and 4th year. I'm trying to figure out if doing some MCAT tutoring be a good way to make some money. Who pays for Princeton Review and Kaplan tutoring? Would you consider working with a med student outside of those companies? It'd certainly cost you less.

In terms of credentials, I'm at a fancy school, I had various undergrad honors (biochem major) and I had a kickass MCAT.

I'm not asking anyone for a job, just looking to see what the market is like.

any teaching experience?

 

[kevster2001]

Yeah...trying to figure out Craig's List (it won't let me verify my phone for some reason) and just put some fliers down at the undergrad. I studied for the test 2 weeks, but I know lots of other people make a big production of it.

Be sure to mention that to any students that happen to hire you

 

[dhbighit]

I think what you are doing is a great idea, and I know of some people that would probably hire you, but I don't know that I would. If you only studied for two weeks and did fantastic then either you got really lucky (very unlikely), or you are brilliant (most likely case). I would prefer to higher someone who worked really hard and did well so that you could give me some tips on how to study, and inspire me to study hard because it will pay off. These are the type of people that most likely need tutors in the first place (that need to be inspired that if they work hard they can do well). I would want to learn study methods and such, which you probably didn't need because your very smart/ a great test taker.

I think you may get some business, but I would definitely be honest about how much effort you put into this test in the first place, that would be really important to me. Just my opinion, hope it helps!

 

[efitzpat]

I teach classes for TPR ($25/hour) and tutor ($30/hour). Tutoring does come few and far between, and they do give the jobs to more experienced people first, I think. But its definitely doable.

 

[Brainsucker]

I guess it's a little silly to say that I studied two weeks for the test. I worked super hard on all the relevant classes beforehand, so it's not like it only took me to weeks to learn orgo, bio, gen chem and physics. Anyway, I'll continue trying to get CL to work and maybe post a classified ad in the school paper. I don't have any formal teaching experience, but I've helped out plenty of friends. I may offer a reduced rate for the first hour or two so students can decide for themselves.

 

[Brainsucker]

CL and Facebook ads up. Let's see...