Test Prep this Fall & $125 for my Spring College Math Classes!

Seen on Facebook: Photo of harvest moon over Hartshorne Woods taken from the Oceanic Bridge. I was in our Rumson-Fair Haven office last night. Who doesn’t love late summer down the shore?

October 6, 2020

Dear Parent/Guardian:

Happy Autumn!

I meant to write a short update, but this newsletter has become very wordy, so beware. Since Foley Prep is known primarily as an SAT and ACT prep place, I’ll start by plugging our Progressive SAT and ACT classes starting in the next few weeks. These are cohort-style classes limited to 5 students.

December SAT Progressive classes starting soon

Bell Works / Holmdel: 10/12 to 12/13 M/W 6pm to 8pm

Freehold: 10/13 to 12/3 T/Thur 4pm to 6pm

Rumson-Fair Haven: 10/13 to 12/4 T/Th 5pm to 7pm

Warren: we are adding more sections this week, call for info!

December ACT Progressive classes starting soon

Rumson Fair Haven: 10/26 to 12/11 T/Th 3pm to 5pm

Reply to this email or call 732-412-1416 for more information or to begin the enrollment process for those programs or any of our other services. We have had a record-breaking fall for our SAT and ACT prep, so thank you for your patronage. I’ve leased our 8th location and am on the hunt for 2 more in New Jersey, which will bring us to 10 locations by summer 2021.

Professor Foley’s College Math Classes Spring 2020

$125 for the class (not per credit!) … for high school students
Enrollment opens October 26th

In addition to my test prep and admissions life, many know me as a former math teacher at Watchung Hills RHS and current tenured math professor at Middlesex College (we just dropped the “County”), so I like to share the opportunity to take credited math classes with me. This spring presents a ripe opportunity for HS kids who want to add to their resumes or college kids who just can’t escape the Foley orbit!

For interested HS students, I would suggest to take the classes NOT as Dual Enrollment – admissions folks almost universally favor IB and AP classes over DE. Taking an extra class like this would be a great way to burnish your resume and get a good recommendation from a bono fide professor 😉

Spring enrollment opens to all on October 26th. All my classes sell out within the first week of open enrollment.

1 Section of Honors Calculus (my chair has requested that I teach this – I recommend this for my HS students)

2 Sections of Calculus

1 Section of Statistics 2 … if you are in AP stats, you can take this

All classes are online – asynchronous, so you won’t be burdened by having to attend remote lessons with me. As much as I like doing remote, I have found that asynchronous just works better for everyone. Plus, it’s my secret hope to teach from Italy for 2 months this spring – I missed my annual trip there this past summer!

Please contact me ASAP if you are interested in these classes. Next fall I’ll teach Linear Algebra, Calculus 1 & 2, and Statistics.

College Essay help is still available

My all-star team of full-time teachers includes a handful who are expert in helping kids with admissions essays. Many colleges have dropped the supplemental essays this year, which has led to a lighter workload for seniors not applying to Ivy League schools, so that has offered some relief and given us a little wiggle room in our schedules. The rate is the same as our test prep tutoring: $140hr. Please set that up as soon as possible to ensure you get your spot.

Surge pricing for Ron Foley Admissions Services

As usual, my personal rates go up this time of year, mainly because I’m at my capacity, but also to discourage folks from running up against application deadlines – which can lead to bad decision-making. For ongoing Foley test prep clients who wish to start now, my rate goes from $180 to $200hr and for non-clients $200 to $250hr. From December 1 – January 1, these go up to $250 and $350 respectively with a minimum 10 hour commitment. These rates do not apply to my ongoing admissions clients who have previously locked in their rates. Junior and underclassmen enrollment opens starting in November.

Next week I am traveling to help some out-of-state clients who seem to have a great need for my advice, and meeting F2F almost always elicits a better outcome, in my view.

Kids are dying for honest feedback

I’ve had one “day off” since July 4th, but I have managed to play a few rounds of golf on working days and have stayed sharp using the golf simulator in the Bell Works building. I’ve learned a lot about my swing just by looking at the slo-mo tapes. Similar to the self-improvement I’ve found watching my golf swing over and over on video, I think that kids crave outside feedback from someone who is direct. In addition to the book learnin’ I offer, I’ve told many kids to straighten up their posture, how to breathe properly, boys to keep their hands out of their pockets, and all kids to embrace all of the advantages of their upbringing here in New Jersey. Perhaps that makes me a scold, but the kids eat it up.

Colleges need honest feedback

I don’t think I’m surprising anyone when I say that college admissions officers also crave direct feedback … on students. This makes the counselor and teacher recommendations key for seniors who need someone to support their academic stories when applying to top private colleges. When I was working at WHRHS, the ancient-most college counselor shuffled all the way to the math department to tell me that “If ____ has any chance of getting into Brown University, it’s because of your recommendation letter. It’s the best one I’ve read in my 25 years here.” Which was nice to hear but scary, as it says something about how few good letters of recommendation get produced each year.

The SAT and ACT as essential objective measures

I’ve written about this many times, but the SAT and ACT are not going away. In fact, they are becoming even more important. With grade inflation running out of control, colleges need some kind of objective measure of a student’s academic strength. In the absence of very rare, unassailable superlatives such as national awards and very trusted teacher and counselor recommendations, the SAT and ACT offer a way students can prove their potential.

Juniors: prep for December SAT and ACTs

If you have not heard anyone at Foley say it yet … we recommend that juniors plan for an early-bird SAT and/or ACT in December. There are all sorts of good reasons for this, the primary one is that kids need a motivation to prepare now, so knowing they have a chance at crushing the test early in junior year might just be that thing. Worst-case is that they prep, do well or tank it, then get hungry to build on their gains in the spring and summer tests. There is no downside, except possibly a lost Saturday morning taking a test.

Missing NACAC this year

Usually I get away for the big annual NACAC conference this time of year, but it’s gone virtual, which is no fun. I’ve been to 12 NACAC and about 100 other conferences since I started in admissions in 1992. NACAC is the largest professional organization that brings together college admissions people and high school counselors. It’s a great place for me to bring an employee for professional development, and for me to see old friends on both the college and high school sides. Admissions is a people business, so you wouldn’t be surprised how much gets talked about but not put into print. NACAC, HECA, IECA, and a few other bodies help organizations like mine share best practices and brag about how great our clients are (plus share some war stories). But mainly it’s about making long lasting friends in admissions for me … little did I know I’d still be at it 28 years ago.

Thank you!

This has been an exhausting admissions year for those of us helping seniors write applications. I don’t need to recap all the things, because if you know, you really do know. Many parents have told me that they have found these newsletters particularly helpful to them as they navigate the responses to the pandemic. I really do appreciate that feedback, and have done my best to share timely information without adding to so much noise that’s out there.

I’d be amazed if you read this far in the newsletter. I hope you’ve found it informative. Thanks, as always for your time. Enjoy your Tuesday.

Best,

Ron Foley, M.S.
Doctoral Candidate, Rutgers University
Tenured Professor of Mathematics, Middlesex College
Member HECA, NJACAC, NACAC, NCTM, MAA, NAS, AMATCYNJ