After Vinay Mehta graduated from the University in 2010, he started working as a demand planner for Philips Lighting North America.
While working there in July 2011, he had the idea for RUTutor.me, which would be privately run but would hire only University-affiliated alumni, graduate and undergraduate students as tutors.
“I began working on this project in late September and since then have developed the business structure … hired tutors, hired developers and conducted marketing research,” Mehta said.
He said the website offers students an opportunity to have one-on-one tutoring at a fee of $15 per hour with a tutor that has received either a B+ or an A in the course.
The University offers free tutoring for students through the Learning Centers on campus, but with the University’s services, students cannot choose a specific tutor.
“What makes RUTutor.me different from any other tutoring service offered is … students will have the option to select a tutor by course, but also by learning about our tutors through personal bios and requesting a tutor directly.”
Mehta said another advantage to the website is that it is easy to use because it based on an online system where students can register for tutoring in less than five minutes.
He said to help students make their decision, tutors will be ranked on the website for three categories of quality, charm, and power ranking on a scale of one to five, with five being the best.
“Quality and charm will be based off of feedback from students after tutoring sessions,” Mehta said. “The power ranking will be determined by taking into account several factors, including the feedback from students, how many hours the tutor works and any additional bonus points a tutor can earn by helping [with promotion.]“
Mehta said ranking will be calculated on a biweekly basis and posted on the website.
He said each tutor will be assigned an email account and when students request a tutor from RUTutor.me, tutors will be expected to respond to emails within 24 hours.
“Upon receiving a request for tutoring and contact information, tutors will be expected to arrange meeting times and handle payments from students,” Mehta said.
He said this entrepreneurial method would allow tutors to schedule individualized study sessions and arrange places for them to meet.
Jessica Bernstein, a tutor and a School Of Management and Labor Relations alumna, said one of the benefits of selecting a tutor from RUTutor.me is that students would be tutored by other students who took the exact course before and would be able to give an accurate assessment of the course.
Bernstein said the tutor system is formulated to make the tutoring more personalized and more effective than group tutoring systems because the tutor has performed well in the course.
Mehta said among all nine tutors employed, they are knowledgeable in about 300 courses. When the tutor’s grades for the classes they are tutoring are averaged together, they average more than a 3.9 on a 4.0 GPA scale.
Bernstein said although she has not started working with the program yet, she would only tutor in a course in which she received an A and had taken recently.
“An A shows that they are proficient in the course and understand the material so that there will not a situation where the blind lead the blind,” she said.
Bernstein said she found out about the opportunity to tutor in October in a networking event when she met Mehta, who then asked her if she would be interested in tutoring.
“I think it is very important to network because you never know whom you will meet or what opportunities will present themselves,” she said.
The tutoring service is not arranged for group study situations but there are plans to adopt and modify its services if necessary once the website has advanced, Mehta said.
“One thing to keep in mind is [that] everything isn’t figured out yet or set in stone. I’m going to see what happens,” he said.
School of Arts and Sciences junior Matt Iozzio and the University chapter of Scholars for Charity, an organization that offers Web design services for reduced costs, designed the RUTutor.me website over the past semester. As part of their philanthropy, Scholars for Charity donated the costs charged to create the website ” about $150 ” to charity.
“In lieu of payment, clients choose a charity of their choice, and ‘RUTutor’ chose to donate to ‘Relay for Life,’” said Iozzio, the chief operating officer of Scholars for Charity.
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