Swain Tutoring Services
About
I have been tutoring and mentoring middle and high school as well as college students for over 10 years, both as a private tutor for academic subjects as well as an employee of an SAT prep company. I am returning to California after a pause in my recent PhD work, and will be resuming active tutoring after a hiatus. I spent 2018-2019 abroad in London where I earned my MSc as a Fulbright alternate. I will be available during the chaotic college application season, and am keen to assist students (and parents!) looking to navigate the SAT, ACT, college selection and application process. I am also available for individual subject tutoring, primarily focused on biology/biomedical sciences and related disciplines. I am also available to assist rising seniors or recent college graduates with graduate school applications, GRE prep, scholarship applications, and other associated materials.
Recently, I have worked with students on college applications, scholarship applications, internship and summer workshop applications, and general college counseling with resounding success: the students I've worked with have been admitted to Ivy League schools, honors colleges and programs, top UC schools, and competitive summer programs such as the Boston University RISE internship and the Stanford Institutes of Medicine SIMR program.
It has been extremely fulfilling for me as a tutor and mentor to see the students I work with achieving their fullest potential, and I especially enjoy working with highly motivated students to give them the strongest competitive edge I possibly can. I enjoy speaking about and teaching subjects I'm passionate about, and being able to pass along my knowledge to students who are also excited to make connections and deepen their understanding is very personally satisfying!
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Frequently asked questions
What is your typical process for working with a new student?
I like to get to know a little bit about the students during the first meeting--understanding their academic background, their perceived strengths and weaknesses inside the classroom, which subjects they enjoy or struggle with, and also what specifically they're currently experiencing challenges with that has led them to seek out a private tutor. From there, we will often dive directly into the material (whether it's a school subject, prep for a standardized test, editing an essay, etc.) so I can build a rapport with the student and also observe how they interact with the material and with me as a tutor. It usually takes a couple of lessons for students and I to "gel" completely, but even after the first session I have always found that students and parents feel like there is a noticeable improvement in the student's understanding and quality of work.
What education and/or training do you have that relates to your work?
My formal training includes a B.S. in Microbiology from UC Davis (minor: Global Disease Biology), and an MSc in One Health - Infectious Diseases from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) and London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) in London. I have been working as a private tutor for over 10 years across various subjects and disciplines, and have even worked profesionally as an SAT Math Specialist at Ivy Review, Inc. I have successfully taught upper-division undergraduate laboratory courses in medical microbiology at UC Davis, as well as high school summer program instruction for the COSMOS program at UC Davis.