Award Winning Academic Tutoring & Test Prep

Tutor Qualifications

Varsity Tutors is very successful at what we do, and a key component of our success is our rigorous screening and qualification process. We are committed to selecting the best tutors to help students succeed!

We have turned down people with perfect SAT scores and amazing grades because they weren’t effective enough at communicating difficult concepts in an easy to understand manner.

Chuck Cohn

Founder & CEO of Varsity Tutors

We have rigorous qualifications and only a tiny fraction of those who apply are selected to be a Varsity Tutor. We know that our success depends on providing outstanding tutoring services which requires incredible tutors.

We Require:

How do we determine these characteristics in a tutor?

• Through our phone screen and in-person interviews, we establish the tutor’s excellent communication and teaching skills. Our tutors have fantastic verbal and written communication skills. Teaching skills are demonstrated through simulated lesson plans and mock tutoring sessions.
• We carefully review each candidate’s transcript, standardized test scores, and academic history to establish his or her great test scores and grades. Naturally you’d like your math tutor to have received all “A’s” in her math classes, and we diligently verify each tutor’s academic background.
• Having prior teaching and mentoring experience is one of the keys to our tutor’s success in connecting with students. They know how to motivate, engage, and challenge students to reach their potential. We check for prior teaching experience such as classroom teaching, student teaching, learning lab tutoring, and private tutoring.
• Our tutors’ excellent grades and test scores and prior teaching experience are complemented by friendly and personable demeanors. Being able to relate to a student, and maintaining a positive attitude about the learning process are keys to our tutor’s success in connecting with students. Our series of phone and in-person interviews help us to select only the best tutors who are able to create constructive learning environments for their students.
• Being able to pass the Varsity Tutors interview process means that a tutor has the ability to develop individualized lesson plans. In addition to content knowledge, we test each tutor candidate’s ability to “think on their feet” and ability to adapt to students of different academic backgrounds. We realize that tutoring sessions are most constructive when the teaching methods are matched to the student’s learning styles and our tutors have the skills to cater to each student’s needs.