As you may know, Kaplan is an adult education company that publishes (not terribly useful imo) books on how to game standardized tests and runs classes to prepare students for the GRE, SAT, TOEFL, MCAT etc.
Since I’ve always been a good standardized test taker and my GRE scores are over 1550/1600 I decided to apply for a part time job as a Kaplan instructor. I auditioned and submitted a resume last week, and they’ve let me know that my while my SAT scores are too old to qualify for the revised test, I should check back in the fall to see if they have any opening for GRE teachers.
Has anyone here ever taught for Kaplan? If so, how did you feel about the job? Should I pursue this as part time employment or just drop it and try for something else?
I taught for Kaplan (GRE, GMAT, SAT, LSAT) when I was in grad school in 1991-92. It was a good part time job back then, paid well, and the materials were top notch. Since then, Kaplan has become a billion dollar business. I don’t know if they’ve gone the route of University of Phoenix (i.e. soulless) or if they’ve retained their family-like corporate culture. I suspect the former.
I don’t know if that helps you. I think Kaplan is the best of the test prep organizations, but you may want to cast your net a bit wider if they aren’t offering a job right now. Try Princeton Review and some of the others.
My GRE scores got me the audition, but I’m afraid I may have blown it.
The day after they sent me an email that said something like:
Thank you for auditioning for Kaplan. Unfortunately we do not have sufficient need for your area of expertise at this time. If you like we will hold your file for the Fall to see if more GRE classes open up.
Now, it had been my understanding that if you fail the audition Kaplan tells you outright that you failed, but I never quite know what to think when dealing with HR, because they never quite say what they mean. I asked a friend who does a lot of hiring for the local county government, and he said that if I had failed the audition they would have said something like, “we feel that Kaplan isn’t the right place for you.”