Iain

Tutoring Experience

I’ve worked as a writing tutor for undergraduates since 2016.

As a teaching fellow at a top High School, I taught seminars in English literature and also advised students on their US college applications, working one-on-one to develop their Common Application and school-specific personal essays.

Students I worked with were accepted to Stanford, Yale, and the University of Pennsylvania, among others.

Tutoring Approach

In my admissions essay advising, I go beyond “avoiding clichés.”

The most effective personal statements don’t just say what admissions officers want to hear; they’re surprising, distinctive, and even fun to read. From brainstorming to drafting, I work with students to hone their ideas through genuine self-reflection. I help them develop the technical skills necessary to convey their experiences, goals, and individual personalities in writing. I also advise students on structure, fine-tuning word choice, grammar, and proofreading. I have particular experience helping foreign applicants navigate the admissions essay writing process.

As a writing tutor in the humanities, I help students build both content knowledge and analytical writing techniques. My approach to tutoring is conversational, cooperative, and broadly Socratic. I focus on developing effective strategies for textual analysis as well as incorporating secondary research, skills that can be applied across a range of disciplines. I provide actionable ways to clarify and strengthen arguments through in-depth analysis of a student’s own writing.