angelfish13

Has anyone heard of this program? If so, is it legit? I am a current college freshman (business major) and am looking for a summer internship, this one doesn't have class restrictions. But this program sounds like its too good to be true. They say the average student earns ~$8000 a summer (with a bonus at the end), all expenses paid, and you get to experience "running your own business".

The thing is, its a tutoring business, and I'm not very interested in teaching. Basically you tutor kids for the ACTs and SATs and you get paid for how well you "market" your branch of the business and how many recruits you get. On the website it sounds like the majority of your time will be spent tutoring high school students for their exams, not actually running a business. Does anyone have any thoughts? Thanks!

sapphireblizzard

hey, i'm in the same boat.
i haven't tried the program yet, obviously, as i am also a freshman, but i can tell you that it is "legit" (if you're asking whether or not its a scam or a program with terribly inaccurate advertising).

i recommend finding someone on your campus who has gone through the program. that will reassure you of its 'legitimacy' and probably be more informative than college confidential. yesterday, i talked to three sophomores who had spent their previous summers participating in this program.
they all generated a total revenue above $10,000 each.
the payout/profit is completely contingent upon your own efforts/success (keep in mind you must subtract costs for payroll should you hire additional tutors or for supplies).
the idea is that you are fully autonomous in sizing up the demand in your target area, generating interest, getting program subscribers, and retaining customers. the more students you get, the higher your profit. so far from what i've heard, 25 students is the average. some really successful branch managers have gotten 40 students (and thus higher profits).
from what i heard, half the time/summer is spent on your own doing marketing and setting up the logistics of your tutoring program. the other half is the actual tutoring, and they train you in tutoring.

the main point of this program is not really education, but business. you learn a wide range of business skills (public relations, advertisement, etc). generally you tutor the students yourself, but that doesn't make it any less of a business. the quality of your tutoring is essentially your product, and you need to market that extremely well to keep the students coming.
if you google it theres a website w. more info.
i'm still contemplating if i want to apply to this, since it does seem a bit intimidating. we'll see. hope this info helped!

skyejade

hey! so this was a couple of years ago but i'm in the same boat as you two right now! i got the internship for ivy insiders but i'm not really sure how helpful it would be. it kind of sounds a lot like a sales thing for recruiting more people into the program. is a lot of the focus on finding new clients for ivy insiders and not so much managing your own company? is there supposed to be an already established company where you become a part of to manage/tutor as well as market and find new clients?

what if you don't find a lot of recruits? would you just not be doing anything for the internship then? i know this internship is really flexible and contingent on how much of a go-getter you are, but how much is just contingent on myself going out and making connections and how much help or opportunities do they actually offer?

thanks a lot!

oohindu

I was also recently accepted to the program and would appreciate some insight into it. I am still waiting to hear back from a couple of competitive political/policy internships but given that I am only a freshman, I probably won't get many of them, which makes me inclined to just accept the offer. In any case, how much were your actual profits, and as a time commitment, how was the job? Did it make you competitive for future internships or jobs? Finally, what was the balance like between tutoring and business/marketing work? The program seems like a decent opportunity, but I don't want to sign away my summer to do unfulfilling work.