Common Application Goes Online July 1st
June 26, 2009
The window for the Common Application (the “Common App”) will be opening on July 1st. What is the Common App, you ask? It is an undergraduate college admission application that students utilize to apply to any of the member institutions located within the United States. It serves to promote college admissions through the use of both subjective criteria (e.g., essays and recommendations) and objective criteria ( e.g., GPA and standardized exam scores). Simply put, the Common App streamlines the college application process for students choosing to apply to its member colleges.
Ear on Careers – Pat Nocito, Banker
June 11, 2009
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Pat Nocito, Banker
We are very excited to bring to you our first episode in what is hoped to be a very long series of podcasts: “Ear on Careers.” This series of podcasts is designed to introduce our listeners to successful leaders in a variety of different fields, including business, industry, medicine, the arts, and so much more. Consider this your podcast “career day”!
For our first episode, we are pleased to welcome Pat Nocito, a Vice President and Branch Manager at Capital One Bank in West Caldwell, New Jersey. Pat’s route to banking was certainly anything but direct but, in hindsight, his undergraduate degree in psychology (with a minor in finance) prepared him well for the tasks he faces daily. He explains that banking is not just crunching numbers, but really is all about people – connecting businesses to other businesses to develop relationships, and enhance everyone’s bottom line. A “typical” day for Pat consists of multitasking; dealing with the finance side of the business as well as the various people, from bosses and mentors to staff and business and consumer clients. For those considering entering the field of banking, Pat recommends becoming a teller, taking advantage of local college programs as well as applying for paid internships.
Pat stresses the importance of his college education. College taught him life lessons, brought him out of his shell and expanded his horizons, all of which serve him well as a banker. A native of Vineland, New Jersey, Pat attended St. Joseph’s University in Pennsylvania on a full scholarship. We hope that Pat’s story will inspire you to consider a career in the banking industry, as it’s not just about making deposits anymore!
We welcome your feedback. Send us an email or give us a call at 973-243-1212
We DARE you to Seize the Summer!
June 9, 2009
What are you plans for the summer? If you’re like most high school students, you intend to hit the beach/pool/lake as much as 
possible, hang out with your friends, and possibly put in time at a summer job in-between. School’s out, so take July and August to do whatever you feel like, or nothing at all, right?
Well, not so fast! Not to put a damper into your summer plans, but if you’re going to be a high school senior next year, you really should rethink this strategy. Why? Because the first half of your high school year as a senior will most likely be taken up by the college application process. You may even be retaking the SATs or ACTs as well – not to mention classes, homework, sports and activities.
As more and more high school students are continuing on to college, competition among applicants naturally is becoming much more fierce. Do you want to be the one in your class that gets early acceptance at their first choice and then relaxes for the rest of the school year? Or, would you prefer to be scrambling at the last moment to get your applications in, and then hoping and waiting you get accepted somewhere? We hope you want to be the former rather than the latter!
How do you do this? By taking advantage of the time you have over the summer, and get a leg up on your competition! Take Top-Tier Tutoring’s College Prep Boot Camp and you’ll be well on your way to getting in shape, so to speak, for the college application process. What is College Prep Boot Camp? It’s a series of 8, 1-hour workshops centered around the major issues you’ll face when applying to college. The workshops are geared so that you walk out with good information, the start of your college application essays or academic resume, and are much more prepared to successful tackle the road that awaits you. We’re sure you’ve heard that in college, most professors don’t take attendance and rely upon you to be responsible young adults. Now’s the time to take the initiative and show yourself (and perhaps your parents) that you’re ready to take this next big step – what better way than to get a jump start on your college applications!
For more information about College Prep Boot Camp, click here for more info.
Seize the summer, so you don’t seize up in the fall!
Meet Math & Science Tutor Jeff Wojcik
June 2, 2009
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
In the second podcast for Top-Tier Tutoring, Mike Rivera introduces our listeners to Jeff Wojcik. Jeff is a math and science tutor with Top-Tier Tutoring, who makes these sometimes intimidating subjects understandable, approachable and dare we say it – enjoyable!
Jeff holds a B.S. in Mathematics and Secondary Education from the University of Scranton. While there, he also was enrolled in
pre-med courses. At the present time, he is going for two masters degrees – one in Mathematics from Montclair State University and another in Administration and Curriculum from the University of Scranton. Jeff is a math teacher at Passaic Valley High School in Little Falls, NJ. Ironically, Jeff says that it was tutoring that got him into teaching!
During the podcast, Jeff explains his philosophy about tutoring, and how he makes students feel “safe” with the subject matter, which leads to their success. We were skeptical at first of how such a math whiz could really connect with students (or anyone for that matter!), but once you listen to this podcast, we’re confident that you will agree that our skepticism was unfounded.
We welcome your feedback. Send us an email or give us a call at 973-243-1212
