For over a decade, Mel Therese has deftly guided her students through the test prep and college application process. Her students have gone on to attend top-tier universities such as UC Berkeley, UCLA, Northwestern, NYU, Syracuse, Notre Dame, Villanova, Boston University, Cal Poly SLO, and more. Mel graduated from UC Berkeley and completed the Entertainment & Media Management program at UCLA Anderson School of Management.

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Mel’s mentorship approach hinges on empathy and empowerment. As a former high-achieving student who juggled AP classes, leadership roles, and basketball, Mel understands how overwhelming high school can be. For this reason, Mel strives to be the big sister she wished she had, acknowledging that being a mentor is just as much about helping her students build the confidence to trust themselves and their abilities as it is teaching new concepts.

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With a growth mindset, Mel sees every challenge as an opportunity to learn and innovate. She utilizes sports psychology and mindfulness tools to balance setting goals and alleviating test anxiety with her students. She also creates personalized accountability systems with each of them to improve their executive functioning skills like time management and organization. 

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In addition to having tutored the SAT and ACT for thousands of hours, Mel has a passion for tutoring anything related to English (writing, grammar, literature, and reading comprehension), and she has helped her students raise their grades by multiple letter grades in Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1, Algebra II, and all history classes. Nothing inspires Mel more than watching her students become more engaged, passionate, and resilient.‍

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In her free time, Mel enjoys hiking nature trails, writing dark comedy screenplays, and traveling around the world. She’s a huge advocate for mental health and nature conservation. Her current obsessions: The Bear, cinematography, and wombats.

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