TCA

Here are some colleges to which Ted Cleary's students and clients have been admitted:

  • Amherst
  • Babson
  • Boston College
  • Bowdoin
  • Brown
  • Carnegie Mellon
  • Columbia / Barnard
  • Columbia Law / Business 
  • Cooper Union
  • Cornell
  • Dartmouth
  • Emerson
  • Fordham / Fordham Law
  • George Washington (GWU)
  • Hamilton
  • Harvard / Harvard Business
  • Indiana
  • Johns Hopkins
  • Kenyon
  • Lehigh
  • McGill (Canada)
  • Middlebury
  • MIT
  • Northwestern
  • Notre Dame
  • NYU / NYU Law / Stern / Tisch
  • Penn State
  • Pratt
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    Columbia University, NYC

  • Princeton
  • Rice
  • Rutgers / Pharmacy
  • Saint Andrew's (Scotland)
  • Saint John's Pharmacy
  • Sophie Davis Medical
  • Stanford
  • SUNY / CUNY
  • Swarthmore
  • Tufts
  • Tulane
  • UCLA / USC / UC Berkeley
  • University of Chicago
  • University of Maryland
  • University of Michigan
  • University of Pennsyvlania
  • University of Texas 
  • University of Virginia
  • US Military Academy - West Point
  • US Naval Academy - Annapolis 
  • Vanderbilt
  • Waseda (Japan)
  • Washington University (St. Louis)
  • Wharton School of Business
  • Wellesley
  • Wesleyan
  • Williams
  • Yale
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    Here's what our students and clients are saying...

    A student writes: 

    The mediocre teacher tells. The good teacher explains. The superior teacher demonstrates. THE GREAT TEACHER INSPIRES.
    --William Arthur Ward
     
     
    It is the supreme art of the teacher to awaken joy in creative expression and knowledge.
    --Albert Einstein
     
     
    I have provided these two quotes in order to emphasize how Mr. Cleary is truly an INSPIRING teacher who never ceased to bring out the creativity in all of us. He truly defines what a teacher/friend is. He is one person who you consider to be worthy and meaningful in your life.
     
    I've been in several test prep-type classes, but in Mr.Cleary's class, it is MORE than just trying to solve those same, old boring problems. He engages each lesson with wise, humorous stories, helpful advice and fun trivia questions in order to inject excitement and enjoyment into the dreadful SAT workload and to help us learn better. Mr. Cleary also actually takes time in order to help us in our weakest areas in writing and grammar. In addition, Mr. Cleary knows a lot about other subjects such as history and law to make things more interesting.
     
    When you walk out of Mr. Cleary's TCA classroom by the end of the day, it seems like your mind has been blown away by all the exciting adventures, memorable grammar rules and plentiful advice told in class. Trust me, there is nothing you should miss in his classes. Not only do you improve in your writing, but you also build confidence, attain hope and gain wisdom from all of his classes. Moreover, his encouraging advice on how to prevail over the struggles with our high school years and life experiences further motivates students to do better in all areas of life. In summarizing my experience from Mr. Cleary's class, only word can describe his class: AWESOME.
     
     
    --Stephanie Min, New York City

    Hi, I want to thank you again for tutoring me because I'm actually doing pretty well in this course called 'writing expository'. My brother was scaring me how his friend who got a 790 in  her SAT II writing got a 'C' in expos during her freshman year but my papers have been B+/A- so far. The professor said he only gave 1 A during his entire career!
    --JL, Rutgers Pharmacy

     

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    Ted Cleary is the funniest, most effective, and the most interesting English
     teacher I've ever met. He conducted the best writing/literature class I've
     ever taken--it was just lots of fun. I also learned A LOT so it was the
     best thing I did last summer. Mr. Cleary somehow imprints the facts into
     your brain while you don't even know you're learning. He comes up with the
     most clever mnemonics, tells the funniest stories and even raps. In New York
     class, we had many interesting guest speakers and trips. I really recommend
     that you take this class if you want to learn while having a good time. It
     doesn't feel like a class, but more like a club (Dead Poet's Society - his
     class reminds me a lot of that movie with Robin Williams!).

     --Dokyun Lee
     Columbia College, Class of 2009

     

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    Some student reviews of Ted Cleary’s NYC writing class

    I can guarantee that the things I have learned these past 5 months are much more helpful than everything I learned in school this year. 
    .
    When you read the essays from a classmate, it inspires and motivates me.  Class is fun and that brings energy into the classroom and helps me stay awake. 
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    You're one of the very few teachers who helped me catch a tiny spark to build a burning passion. 
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    While spending time interpreting the prompt and quotes, you helped me understand life and the issues surrounding it to a higher level.

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    I really enjoyed your class.  It was beyond what I expected . . . I improved in organizing my essays a lot better . . . I started my diary again because you repeated it a lot.  I learned so much in your class.

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    Thanks for these past 18 weeks.  I've improved a lot and learned much from the mistakes I've made.

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    The trivia-like questions you asked us are really enjoyable.  They helped in improving my knowledge and I was able to use the information outside of class.  I think your teaching style is effective because you make jokes and mnemonics to help us remember things and they do help me remember.

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    The class discussions were enjoyable and amusing.  I believe a class should not be full of lecture and yelling.  A good learning environment motivates students to do better in school.  Ted Cleary has successfully accomplished this ideal school environment.

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     I must say this has been the most interesting class I've ever been a part of.
      .

    Keep on motivating students like me—I’m very lazy, and call on people who you know are totally out of it and put them on the spot…they are only lazy like me.

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    Group discussion helped motivate me and bring out ideas.  While having group discussions, I felt it helped me put my mind and thoughts together, even out of writing class.  Also helps me in school.

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    I found the effort you put into correcting and commenting on the essays very useful. I like how you implement life stories to keep us focused and lively.

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    The writing class is unique and interesting.  I definitely learned a good deal more in two hours than in any class I've been to.  It definitely meets expectations and I had no problem participating as the class is educational and fun.  I especially like how the class does not focus only on writing as such, and therefore eliminates the monotonous feeling that I get in most of my classes at school.

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    I like how you provide many different examples for a thing when you're explaining it -- makes it sink in more. 

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    I would really like more days when the whole class reads a passage and then reflects on it.  They give me a new perspective in thinking about certain things and have thus expanded my pool of knowledge to derive my examples in the essays.

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    Evaluation of the class: I thought it was really fantastic.  Mr. Cleary is a great writing teacher. I felt like my grammar improved by leaps and bounds during the winter semester.  I feel particularly proud of my pronoun-antecedent progress.  Huzza!

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     This class met all my expectations of a writing class, except I had more fun than I originally thought I would. 
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    Before I took the class I abhorred writing and essays were terrifying, but now I find writing pleasurable, although I still hate writing essays in school. 
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    I suggest you keep INSISTING on journal writing—it is very effective in improving writing.  I think I definitely improved in my writing; the journal entries really helped me, and I am recommending it to my friends in Korea who are beginning to learn English.

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    The class blew away my expectations of what I thought it would be.  
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    Before this class I never liked writing any essays, since the only essays I would ever write were about books that were read in English class, all of which bored me because of the teacher’s obsessive focus on symbols, themes, or characterization, all of which I find to be a waste of time and frankly stupid.  However, this class allowed me to write about interesting and important topics that I care about.

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    The most helpful part of the class was all the practice I received in my writing and the comments you made that made the practice even better because it showed me where I messed up.  I feel the class helped my writing ability greatly.

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    The class helped me in my overall grammar and essay writing – class time was a pleasurable mixture of work and humor…after a while the teaching becomes imprinted in our minds and we can still remember and use what we learned for a long time.

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    I liked all the life issues we talked about, and the jokes. They made the class more entertaining and less monotonous.

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    This class is fun. I wanna have you again, so tell the office lady to have you teach the SAT classes, thank you.  What I remember most is when you brought in that [statue of a] bird that smelled like my cousin’s bathroom. I learned a lot about the Senufo hornbill.  Your stories are what I remember the most: educational and funny.

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    You made the class fun to be in. IN OTHER PREP SCHOOLS I'VE BEEN TO, THE CLASSES WERE MAAAAAD BORING.  Even though this class was fun, I was able to learn a lotta stuff.  I loved how you talked about world issues because you said it in a way that I would remember.

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     I loved the random bits of info and all the discussions you had with us.  The talks and info gave me something interesting to think about. 
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    Thanks very much for being a great teacher and for making me more comfortable in my writing. I like writing a lot more than before.  I used to be like, “Writing? Boring!” but now I’m like, “Writing? Fine.” 
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    Muchas gracias for a wonderful semester, Mr. Cleary.  I feel confident about the SATs now.