Devon Schwartz
Devon Schwartz is our West Coast member of the College Essay Whiz team. Devon is a graduate of Yale University, where he majored in Theater Studies, Psychology and Philosophy. He has been tutoring through Hayutin & Associates (based in Santa Monica, CA) since 2004, and has a great deal of experience working with students from many exclusive private and public schools.
In addition to his specific academic background, Devon is highly skilled at providing support in English, writing, math (through Calculus), history, science, Spanish, and standardized test preparation (ISEE, ACT, SAT). He is also very adept at teaching Executive Function skill building, including study skills, time management and organization, and he excels with students who have diagnosed learning differences. Based in Los Angeles, Devon is also a working actor and writer, one who always honors his deep commitment to his students.
Devon has built more than a decade of experience with dozens of private students as well, referred only by word of mouth. Many of these (as well as a number of Hayutin clients) involved extensive assistance with college applications: on the main Common App essay, supplemental essays, and special University of California essays. The vast majority of these students were accepted to their first-choice schools (with Yale, NYU and USC among the recent success stories).
Devon is particularly proud of one student whose essay for the University of Florida yielded a special letter from the admissions office asking the student for permission to reprint the essay as a model for future applicants.
Rachel Shulman
Rachel Shulman is a passionate teacher, and her students often comment that this passion and excitement for her subjects makes them more interested, sometimes in spite of themselves. She began her teaching career as a Ph.D. candidate, teaching undergraduate history classes in American and European History. She began tutoring in 2009 while she was also working as a librarian at the University of California in Irvine. While her early specialties were AP US, European, and World History, she quickly expanded to the Reading Comprehension, Writing, and Essay portions of the SAT and ACT. Soon, she began working with private college counselors in Irvine on their students’ college application essays. After realizing that coaching her students on study skills, time management, and goal setting was a natural part of her work, Rachel now offers coaching as a stand-alone service.
Based in the Boston area, Rachel has had hundreds of private students and has assisted with hundreds of college application essays. While she helps students with a variety of tasks, she finds her work as a writing coach writing to be the most satisfying. Rachel focuses on helping students figure out what stories best express their individuality, as well as on the craft of writing. She is proud that all of her essay students leave not only with excellent application essays but also as better writers. In recent years her students have attended Mount Holyoke, Stanford, Duke, Brandeis, Harvard, Northeastern, Skidmore, Hobart and William Smith, NYU, and others.
A graduate of Bryn Mawr College, Rachel also holds an MA in History and an MS in Library and Information science from the University of Illinois – Urbana Champaign. When she is not working with students, she enjoys swimming (especially in the ocean), reading, and attending concerts, from Mumford and Sons to a cappella Renaissance music.
Amardeep Bhatia
Amardeep Bhatia, College Essay Whiz’s international consultant, currently resides in Bangalore, the IT capital of India. Always academically inclined, Amardeep earned a Bachelor’s degree in Electronics and Telecommunication Engineering, an MBA, and a Master’s degree in Education from California State University, Northridge. An associate member of the IECA (Independent Educational Consultants Association), she is currently working towards achieving her College Counseling Certification from UCLA.
Amardeep grew up in India and later spent more than a decade in Los Angeles. She worked as a software developer for many years in LA, but ultimately found her calling to work in education. Having worked in the corporate space in the US and having lived here, she is able to help students not only find the right university for them but also to prepare them for the life experiences that they will have when they are away from home in a foreign land. Her own academic and professional journey took a few detours before she found her calling; therefore, it is her mission now to provide students with appropriate guidance starting from their early high school years.
Through her consultancy, she has been helping students in India and other countries; her multiple college counseling certifications enable her to help students with admissions in different parts of the world such as the United Kingdom, Singapore, India, Hong Kong, Canada, Australia, New Zealand as well as the U.S.
Amardeep believes that “one size never fits all” and that each student is truly special and deserves individual attention. She works diligently to ensure a customized experience for each student, encouraging them to explore colleges for an individual fit rather than to apply to the “best ranked” schools. She helps each student with psychometric assessments to truly understand his or her personality, strengths and weaknesses. She is driven to expose students to the endless fields of study available to them besides the typical handful that students and families more often tend to look at. “The world has plenty of room for all of us” Amardeep explains, “and with a little help and guidance every student is sure to find the right place.”
In her spare time, she enjoys music, impersonators, working with her two daughters on social causes in India. She also enjoys teaching them the five languages she speaks fluently: English, Hindi, Marathi, Punjabi and Sindhi.
Blaine Blontz
College Essay Whiz is always on the lookout for other professionals who have expertise in specific areas that are essential to college applicants and their families. Fortunately, we are lucky to have a professional connection with a financial aid coach who has always been most gracious and helpful providing guidance and information in this regard.
As the cost of college continues to increase, applicants usually turn to the internet for answers. Sometimes those answers are cogent and clear, but other times, they leave the reader in a state of anxiety. And so we wish to introduce you to our colleague, Blaine Blontz!
Prior to founding Financial Aid Coach, Blaine Blontz worked for several years in the financial aid industry as a counselor for students and families at schools including Millersville University, where he completed a degree in education, and La Salle University, from which he graduated with an MBA in Finance. In his capacity as a financial aid counselor, Blaine was able to learn firsthand the ins and outs of financial aid, and he has developed a network of resources in the field.
Given his background and resources, Blaine can help families navigate the college planning process, lessening the anxiety of preparing for college and connecting them with other great resources in the field.
Blaine works primarily remotely with his clients, who reside across the country and even abroad. Most communication is done via phone call and email. The best way to reach Blaine is via his website to set up an initial phone call to discuss how you may be able to work together.
Gilda Joffe
Gilda Joffe’s passionate mission in life is to help performing arts students and professionals to transform mind-numbing fear of auditions and performances into successful experiences, which create confidence and open doors to exciting future opportunities.
As a public speaker and consultant, with a dance, vocal, and music background, and as one who experienced and conquered test nerves and performance anxiety, Gilda is well equipped to understand the emotional dilemmas that people face under situations of stress.
She has been teaching and coaching for more than 25 years and profoundly understands the emotional difficulties and blocks which can come to a performer in any scenario, whether in corporate life, the performing arts, academic fears, athletic pursuits, or public speaking. She has worked with hundreds of people who wish to improve and develop their potential, and be able to express it successfully under nerve-wracking circumstances.
Gilda Joffe received her B.M. and M.M. degrees from the Juilliard School of Music in New York where her principal teachers included Joseph Fuchs and Barbara Krakauer. As a member of the Baroque Invention and other chamber ensembles, she performed regularly in Carnegie Recital Hall (now Weill Recital Hall), Merkin Hall and Alice Tully Hall in New York. She also performed several times in renowned violinist Zino Francescatti’s Master Classes in Aix-en-Provence, France, and was heard often on FR3 Antibes, French Radio.
After graduating from Juilliard, Gilda played many solo and chamber music performances throughout the United States and Europe including Italy, France, Austria, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Estonia and Latvia. During her tenure in Sweden as a member of the Swedish Radio Orchestra under Esa-Pekka Salonen, she performed and toured frequently throughout Europe including performances at the London Proms Festival, The Paris Opera and the Musikverein in Vienna. She also performed with numerous other chamber and symphonic ensembles including New Stockholm’s Chamber Orchestra, and The Royal Stockholm Philharmonic. Prior to her position in Sweden, she held a first violin position with the Danish Radio Orchestra in Copenhagen.
Gilda very much enjoys working with college and graduate students not only in their preparation for entrance auditions and performances, but in their collegiate and subsequent professional lives as well. Creating a mindset of success is a process which influences all endeavors of life!
For more information or to contact Gilda Joffe, visit her website or the Performer Mindset Coaching Facebook Page.
Samantha Goncalves
Samantha Goncalves is a new member of the College Essay Whiz team, specializing in helping students and job applicants with their resumes. Samantha is highly skilled in using Microsoft Office applications and extremely adept in resume organization and presentation. She has a keen awareness of current trends in resume formats, and she has excellent judgment regarding the presentation of relevant details. She is well-versed in the use of various resume templates for all levels/types of applications.
Samantha is a senior at Dartmouth College in Hanover, New Hampshire but is currently located in New York. She is an Economics major with a focus in International Finance and Development Economics and an Italian language minor. Samantha was recognized as a Rufus Choate Scholar which is awarded to students with a GPA in the top 5% of all students at Dartmouth during the 2019-2020 academic year. She has been tutoring students in subjects including Economics, Italian and Latin through the Dartmouth Tutor Clearinghouse. Samantha is also the Artistic Director of a student-run contemporary dance group at Dartmouth College. She is currently pursuing a career in Healthcare Economics and Management.
Samantha is deeply dedicated to her work, tutees and clients. College Essay Whiz is proud to include Samantha in our team of experts. If you would like Samantha to update a pre-existing resume or create a new one, please ask me for her contact information.
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Last Updated: May 1, 2021
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