What’s a Principal Tutor and What Makes Them Special?

It’s common practice in education for tutoring to be a “side job.” At Signet, as in many other companies, our tutors are pursuing awesome goals, like acquiring PhDs or transitioning into new careers.

We’re extremely proud of all of our tutors; they have to pass a rigorous application and interview process to even land on our roster. But Signet has something most other tutoring companies don’t have: a group of principal tutors who work with students full-time.

What’s so special about a principal tutor? Quite a lot!

  • Subject Matter Experts. Signet’s principal tutors are top of their class in the subjects that they tutor. Our current principal tutors cover a huge range of subjects: from the humanities to STEM courses, academic coaching to SAT/ACT test prep.
  • Career Professionals. What makes principal tutors truly unique is their full-time commitment, not only to Signet but to tutoring itself. They eat, sleep, and breathe tutoring, and they’re constantly finding ways to improve their skills to be more effective. At Signet, principal tutors also get additional training and mentorship, above and beyond the thorough onboarding and training that all our tutors receive.
  • Flexible and Responsive. The Signet team has direct access to our principal tutors’ availability, which means it’s easier for us to schedule a last-minute test prep or academic coaching session. Since our principal tutors are dedicated to Signet full-time, they also have more flexibility if session timing needs to be adjusted.
  • Collaborative. Our group of tutors aren’t just colleagues; they’re friends, too. When you work with one of our principal tutors, they’re connecting with each other behind the scenes to give your student the best possible experience. This team loves creative problem-solving together and is committed to helping every student succeed.

Now that you know what makes Signet’s principal tutors unique, meet the team!

Fei

Fei has been working at Signet for 2 years and has tutored for over 5 years. They have worked with over 50 students in test prep and STEM subjects. Fei graduated from MIT with a degree in biology.

Fei loves helping students crack the test code and make big score gains. They love coding, computers, and video games.

Parents and students love Fei’s warm, relatable style; calm and approachable demeanor; and nerdy sense of humor.

“[They are] sincerely caring for Talia and show a very detailed understanding of how the test works and [are] able to convey this to her in a kind and engaging manner. – recent client

Liz B.

Liz has been working at Signet since 2012 and is a test prep tutor and coach who specializes in younger students. She’s worked with Big Brothers Big Sisters for 10 years, and graduated from Bentley University with her bachelor’s in marketing and an MBA.

Liz is a certified mindfulness trainer who loves kickboxing, rock climbing, poker, 3D printing, and photography.

Parents and students love that Liz is encouraging, exciting, artsy and quirky.

Liz has been a great match for Avery. She has quickly understood Avery’s learning style and provided guidance accordingly that has allowed Avery to rapidly climb back up the curve on some items that she fell behind in during the pandemic. The result is both tangible on paper as well as with Avery’s confidence level. She is excited to hit the ground running with 8th grade. We couldn’t be happier. Thank you for everything thus far.” – recent client

Jas

Jas has been a tutor since 2017 and has worked with over 20 students at Signet. He’s a test prep and classics/history tutor who graduated from University of Colorado and got his Masters from Columbia.

Jas published a thesis on the misconceptions of Literacy during the Early Roman Empire and modeling a Classic Education in Modern Schools. He loves soccer and working out.

Parents and students love Jas because he’s enthusiastic, fun, and encouraging. Jas is also great at facilitating in-depth independent study.

Jas has been wonderful. Caroline really enjoyed working with him and he helped her feel so confident about her Latin understanding. He was a very good fit.” – recent client

Freddy

Freddy has been working at Signet since 2017 and has logged over 1000 hours of tutoring time. He specializes in academic coaching and Spanish tutoring. Freddy graduated from St Michael’s College with a BA in Spanish.

Freddy stands out as Signet’s most experienced academic coach. He loves coffee, video games, and music. Freddy has also worked as a residential counselor for Spectrum Youth & Family Services in Burlington, VT, a transitional housing program for local homeless youth.

Parents and students love Freddy because he’s relatable, approachable, funny, and empathetic. He’s not afraid to tackle the “tough” cases and hold students accountable.

Steven especially appreciates Freddy’s personality and that he is very accepting. There’s no feeling of being judged at all. It also helped him to get on more of a schedule and be more accountable.” – recent client

Andrea W.

Andrea W.

Andrea is Signet's Director of Operations and one of our top academic coaches. In her administrative role, Andrea makes sure Signet always runs smoothly and is a fun and productive place for all of our employees. When she works as a coach, she takes a student-driven approach to encourage introspection and reflection.

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