I've come back after many years to leave this review. For context, I was briefly a student here back in 2009. You'll understand in a moment why I waited so long to write this.
I took SAT tutoring here, back when the SAT had three sections and was scored out of 2400. I ended up with a 2040 -- which at the time was the ~94th percentile. I scored a 730 on the Writing section, which was the ~99th percentile for men back then.
So why the bad review? I ended up dropping out and self-studying halfway through because I was treated in an extremely condescending and arrogant way by Vincent Perry.
At first, I had a wonderful tutor who handled my English and Writing sections -- she was kind, patient, and professional. When she left, I was told I was "lucky" to be upgraded to a "master tutor," Vincent, at no extra charge. For context, they were charging $50 an hour at the time but paying tutors only $15 an hour. I know this because several UCSD students I knew worked there and confirmed it.
Vincent started an argument with me during our very first essay review after I used the phrase "due to." He claimed it was grammatically incorrect because it supposedly referred to being "due" like a deadline rather than "as a result of." When I politely disagreed, he told me I was being argumentative. I can assure you, I was polite and articulate -- he simply didn't like being challenged. So I dropped out and finished my prep on my own.
About a year later, when I was in college, I applied for a position there. Vincent sent me an unprofessional rant accusing me of being a terrible student with poor work ethic -- completely out of nowhere, and long after I'd left.
Without his help, I still achieved an excellent SAT score and couldn't justify asking my parents to keep paying for those lessons. I went on to graduate from UCSB, a Tier 1 research university, taught math and computer science for six years, and later worked at Microsoft and several tech startups as a senior sales executive.
I can't attribute even a fraction of that success to this place. From what I remember, the lessons mostly consisted of buying a review book, being assigned problems, and then going over those problems in class. You can buy the same books yourself for under $100 and save the trouble of being mistreated.
Even though this happened many years ago, I doubt much has changed. Remember that students don't forget experiences like this -- treat them with respect and listen to them. Your students are your customers. read more
