Our People
Andrew Zsoldos,
Founder
Davidson College
Columbia University
Andrew is a graduate of Davidson College and Columbia University, and is the Founder of Zsoldos Coaching. Andrew has over 10 years of experience tutoring and teaching, and has developed a philosophy that merges dedication, empathy, and adaptability with intelligence (EQ+IQ), drive, and passion, ensuring the best possible outcomes for his students, their families, and his colleagues. He applies lessons learned and skills gained from jobs in the private sector, the public sector, and consulting, emphasizing and developing creative problem solving and critical thinking skills in his students, whom he engages across a wide-range of subjects and ages. Andrew seeks to impart upon his students the same sense of wonder about and love of learning he experiences on a daily basis.
When not tutoring, Andrew plays soccer, struggles--and often fails--to keep his houseplants alive, and rides his bike. Everywhere. Literally everywhere.
Tommy
Senior Academic Coach
Yale University
Tommy has been tutoring in the New York area for twelve years. His experience encompasses many tests and subjects. He specializes in prep for all sections of the SAT, ACT, GRE, GMAT, ISEE, SHSAT, and SSAT exams, as well as ongoing academic support in writing, English, history, and math.
He is passionate about working with students of all ages and learning profiles, helping increase test scores, teaching good study and organizational practices, and making what can often be a stressful process something fun, stimulating, and invigorating. His personal, engaging, customized approach to tutoring has helped students see significant increases in their test scores, boost their confidence, and realize their college and high school aspirations.
In addition to tutoring, he performs in theater productions nationwide and is co-founder of NYC-based band and theater collective The Lobbyists, and received a Drama Desk nomination for Outstanding Music in a Musical in 2016. He writes songs, sings, and plays a myriad of instruments. Tommy graduated with distinction in Theater Studies from Yale University. He was awarded the Metcalfe Prize in Theater Studies for his senior project and essay.
Vanessa
Senior Academic Coach
Harvard University
Baylor College of Medicine
Vanessa graduated from Harvard University with a bachelor’s degree in Economics, as well as two minors in Spanish and Global Health and Health Policy. She is currently pursuing an M.D. at Baylor College of Medicine. She first realized her appreciation for tutoring while volunteering in high school as a peer tutor in STEM courses. She further developed this passion by working as a teaching assistant in economics, calculus, and biology during college.
Vanessa is inspired by seeing the excitement from students when they finally understand a concept that they had been struggling with. She strives to help students see the joy of learning as they work toward their academic and personal goals. Outside of tutoring, Vanessa enjoys traveling and staying active through weightlifting, beach volleyball, and yoga.
Raghav
Senior Academic Coach
University of Florida
Columbia University
Raghav graduated from the University of Florida, where he attained his B.S. in Biochemistry, and Columbia University, where he pursued an M.S. in Human Nutrition. His tutoring skills and passion for teaching developed early in high school, when he started tutoring his peers in the sciences and math after school, and were further honed when he served as a teaching assistant for Anatomy, Physiology, and Biochemistry during his undergraduate years. Raghav believes in a holistic approach to teaching; he understands that a student’s success is influenced by a myriad of factors in their life, and with this in consideration, he emphasizes getting to know his students and their lifestyles before coaching them. His goal is to best equip each student with the necessary skills to master a subject and develop confidence in their abilities to do so.
Noah
Senior Academic Coach
University of Pennsylvania
Noah graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a B.A. in Biology with minors in Chemistry and English. He is currently taking a gap year with intentions of applying to law school during this period.
Throughout high school and college, he has tutored high school students for the SAT, middle and grammar school students across various mathematical disciplines, and has also assisted students on writing and critical analysis, including for college admissions essays. Noah enjoys helping his students achieve their full academic potential by taking various approaches to problems, such as by highlighting their real-world applications, and structuring academic plans in accordance with a student’s goals and current schedules.
Outside of tutoring, Noah enjoys frequently exercising, keeping up with domestic and international current events, and taking occasional sailing trips with friends and family.
Robert
Senior Academic Coach
University of California, Los Angeles
Robert graduated from UCLA with a BA in Theatre and has worked as a fencing coach and a summer camp counselor (among many other roles). He has been tutoring math, english, history, and standardized tests such as the SAT, ACT, SHSAT, ISEE, and TACHS for six years and loves every minute of it. His teaching style centers around patience, empathy, and finding the ideal ways to motivate each student and help them reach their full potential. Everyone is different, and he believes in a unique approach for every student that takes their interests and favorite subjects into account. He also specializes in working with students with learning challenges.
Outside of tutoring, Robert loves movies, books, cooking, Dungeons and Dragons, and exploring New York City with his fiancé. The strangest (read "coolest") assignment he has ever helped a student with was interpreting the trial minutes of an eighteenth century pirate.
Chris
Senior Academic Coach
University of California, Berkeley
Harvard University
New York University
Chris earned his Bachelor of Arts in English from UC Berkeley, studied Law and Philosophy Abroad at Oxford University, and holds a Master of Theological Studies in Religion, Literature, and Culture from Harvard University. Now, he is in pursuit of a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Nonfiction Writing at New York University, where he is writing a memoir about his mother. Chris has almost a decade of experience tutoring and teaching writing at the K-12, undergraduate, and graduate levels, and has previously served as a Teaching Assistant for Crafting the Essay through Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.
In addition to assisting students with admissions essays, preparation for writing and reading portions of exams, and the humanities more generally, he also has experience tutoring students on the SHSAT and ISEE.
Chris takes seriously the role of personalized instruction in students’ lives. He believes in the porousness that is to be found between tutoring and mentorship, particularly through literature and writing, and is committed to the transformative nature of teaching.
Please find Chris at your nearest coffee shop, knickknack store, or pizza parlor (though, he should be writing).
Steven
Senior Academic Coach
University of Pennsylvania
Steven graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor’s degree, having double majored in Physics and English Literature as well as double minored in Fine Arts and Psychoanalysis. With such diverse academic interests, Steven believes in a holistic approach to education, aiming to teach his students certain skills and mindsets that are transferable from one discipline to the next. He is currently applying to graduate school, hoping to concentrate on film criticism, especially focusing on the French New Wave.
Outside of tutoring and writing essays, Steven enjoys going to the gym, playing tennis, watching movies and painting. His paintings were just part of a group show at the Addams Fine Arts Gallery and his favorite directors are Hitchcock, Truffaut and Scorsese.
Mehek
Academic Coach
New York University
Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine
Mehek graduated from New York University with a B.S. in Neural Science, as well as minors in Chemistry and Public Health. She is currently a Research Fellow at Northwestern Feinberg School of Medicine, where she studies adolescent mental health and resilience. She plans to channel her love of working with kids and her love of science into a career as a pediatrician and is in the process of applying to medical school.
Mehek discovered her love for working with kids as an older cousin to many, which led her to pursue tutoring and teaching roles throughout high school and college. She finds helping students gain a rock solid understanding of fundamental concepts energizing. She likes to teach both the 'short way' so that students have the tools to tackle problems efficiently and the 'long way' so that they have faith in their understanding of the inner workings of the problem and can apply that understanding to different contexts. She hopes to imbue a sense of wonder and excitement about learning through uncovering the daily life applications of concepts and helping students draw connections between subjects.
You'll find her out on the basketball courts or biking around the city- that is when she overcomes her homebody tendencies to stay in, bake and play guitar.
Sam
Academic Coach
University of Pennsylvania
Sam is an undergraduate at the University of Pennsylvania, currently on track to receive a B.A. in Mathematical Economics from the College of Arts and Sciences and a minor in Computer Science from the Engineering School. He is very passionate about any and all types of math, physics, sciences, and even Latin. In high school, he worked as a teacher and tutor for students preparing for precalculus classes over the summer. Sam’s primary goal for his students is to improve their academic abilities and confidence and, more importantly, to forge deeper connections with whomever he works with to support them in all other aspects of their life. Outside of the classroom at Penn, he competes with the men’s club soccer team, helps organize the Ivy League Model United Nations Conference as an Assistant-Secretary General, and loves to explore new types of foods and restaurants wherever he goes.