Our Story | Veterans Edu | Why We Started in 2011
Our Story
“How do you raise
students' scores so quickly?”
It's a question I hear all the time.
Here is how I answer it.
“When a test prep center puts teaching before profit
and takes real responsibility for its students,
good results follow. I'm certain of it.”
How I became an SAT instructor by chance,
and what I saw there
In 2004, after finishing my mandatory military service,
a friend suggested I try teaching the SAT.
I had no plan to become a teacher.
I had no teaching experience at all,
but I was hired simply because I had studied abroad.
Not surprisingly, I was a terrible teacher at first.
When I asked the center for help,
I was told
that class preparation was my problem.
This was not a problem unique to the test prep center where I worked.
Countless test prep centers were hiring inexperienced college students
or unqualified instructors
instead of professional teachers.
“Families were paying thousands of dollars for this. How could that be acceptable?”
I was ashamed to be part of it.
I founded Veterans Edu in 2011
to do things differently.
The first three years were hard.
We focused on teaching quality and developing materials, without marketing,
and struggled to cover our costs.
After three difficult years of steady effort,
students and parents
began to recognize Veterans Edu's commitment.
A center that puts teaching before tuition.
A center that never looks away from a student's future.
Three principles
we will never compromise
To every parent who trusts us with their child,
and to every student:
these are the three principles
we promise to keep.
1We put teaching first.
Question types and formats change every year,
yet teachers say they have no time to update materials,
owners don't want to pay for it,
and students end up studying from books written for a test that no longer exists.
Of course, developing questions and tests
requires expertise and a large investment.
But considering the high tuition,
it is the least a test prep center owes
the students who trust it.
Veterans runs Korea's only
Digital SAT research lab,
where our teachers and researchers develop
every practice test and textbook we use.
2We take responsibility for results.
Great classes alone don't raise SAT scores.
Teachers and staff need to know
each student well.
Without knowing each student's strengths, weaknesses,
study habits, and mindset, progress is slow.
To help students work toward their best possible scores,
we support them right up to test day:
- We check attendance and independent study every day,
and track assignments
and progress. - Our teachers give up their weekends
to run free supplemental sessions. - We keep students motivated with one-on-one
college planning sessions.
3Only experienced
SAT specialists teach here.
The SAT is a college admissions exam.
It should be taught by people
who have spent years studying it.
Even so, many centers hire
short-term or part-time instructors
with no SAT background.
There is a reason our re-enrollment rate
is at least 95%.
Every one of our teachers has at least 10 years of experience,
and it shows in every class.
Our teachers prepare more than 10 hours
for every 2-hour class,
and you can hear the energy from the hallway.
It doesn't have to be us.
We hope our principles help you choose
a test prep center you can trust,
whether or not it's us.
Thank you for reading.
