FAQ

Our value proposition is simple and unique: superior instruction, unmatched results, and better prices. By hiring talented Ivy League instructors and building our programs around an innovative approach to test taking and college admissions, we’ve been able to out compete our corporate competitors in nearly every market we've entered for the last five years.

Traditional internships involve a lot of observing how other people work and (unfortunately) a lot of low-value and low-impact work on the part of the intern. We believe that the best way to learn high-value skills is by using them. With that in mind, we’ve designed the Summer Management Program to be about as far from a traditional internship as you can get.

Compared to a traditional internship, the Summer Management Program will give you more transferable skills, greater opportunities to impact your community, and better pay on a more flexible schedule. Most importantly, compared to a traditional internship, the Summer Management Program will give you far more independence and responsibility. As the manager of your own Ivy Insiders branch, you will set goals, make key decisions, and execute your own go-to-market strategy. You will have the support and resources of a big company, but at the end of the day, you will call the shots in your branch. Very simply, you will be your own boss.

The time commitment for the Branch Manager position depends on your market, your working style, and your passion for the job. Most Branch Managers in the past have been “full-time” during the summer, but you’ll rarely find a BM working your standard 40-hour workweek. We expect you to put in the time to make your branch successful.

The key thing to remember is that you determine your schedule. You decide when you want to hold your classes, how many tutoring students you want to take on, and how hard you want to push on the marketing of your branch. We’ll encourage you and provide you the support you need to make your branch as big as you want, but at the end of the day, you call the shots.

If you would like to do the Branch Manager position part-time, please indicate this preference in the “Additional Notes” section of your application. In some cases, we do hire Branch Managers with another part-time commitment.

This is at once the most common question we get and the most difficult to answer.

This spring, the bulk of your time commitment as a BM will be geared towards learning the Ivy Insiders business systems, making decisions about how to approach your market, recruiting and hiring High School Campus Leaders, and beginning to get the word out to parents, students, and schools in your area.

By the time you get home in May or June, your time should be able to be evenly split between working with your first tutoring clients and really pushing your marketing efforts.

By mid-to-late July, most of you will be kicking off your classroom courses and will have your tutoring operations in full-gear. At that point, the bulk of your work will be as a teacher.

Absolutely. Top performing Branch Managers have the opportunity to take on business leadership positions on their Ivy League campuses, tutor part-time, or continue growing their branch for the following summer. Each summer, we also hire successful Branch Managers from the previous summer as Regional Managers. In the Regional Manager position, you will be in charge of an entire team of Branch Managers in your metro or geographic area.

Successful Branch Managers are a diverse bunch, so there is no one thing that we look for above all else. Some Branch Managers have business experience coming in, but for many, the Summer Management Program is their first foray into the world of entrepreneurship. Some BMs are driven to make “maximum profits” while others are more excited about having an impact on their communities or enjoying a summer in which they control their own schedule and commitments. One of the great things about the Summer Management Program is that success can be defined differently for different BMs. By playing to your personal strengths and interests, you can control the shape your summer takes.

There are a few things, of course, that almost all successful BMs have in common. First, successful Branch Managers are self-motivated, energetic, and excited to make the most of their summer. If you aren’t ready to work hard and learn a lot, this summer will be tough. Second, successful BMs know how to work without structure and think outside of the box. If you don’t have an interest in making your own decisions, having a lot of responsibility, and solving problems creatively, this is not the job for you. Finally, the best Branch Managers are passionate about making a difference in their communities. Though you can make a fantastic profit managing, you’ll be in for a long summer if you don’t enjoy working with high school students and acting as a mentor and role model.

Each spring, our central management team travels to 6 Ivy League campuses for a full-day “BM Boot Camp.” New hirees learn the ropes of business operations, participate in modules to learn Ivy Insiders’ business systems, and receive teacher training from top former and current Ivy Insiders instructors. At the BM Boot Camp, each BM is also given comprehensive training manuals for both the teaching and business aspects of the branch management position.

After initial training Branch Managers have access to extensive online training resources to continue their development. These include:

• Online teacher training: Full-length videos of top Ivy Insiders instructors teaching every lesson for your courses and tutoring programs.
• Companywide intranet: Searchable pages with important company policies and advice on strategies for marketing and teaching.
• Quickbase training videos: Step-by-step screencasts for all major business processes and administrative tasks.

Finally, one of the most important training resources for every Branch Manager is his or her Regional Manager. For first-year Branch Managers, an RM serves as both a manager and a mentor – someone they can go to for advice on issues in their branch or talk to about their summer goals and skills development.

You will be trained in either our SAT or ACT curriculum, or both (depending on your location and background). Each curriculum features a full textbook, problem sets for each part of the test, and online tools that you will use for training and running your class.

After “Branch Manager Boot Camp,” you will be given a teacher’s manual with lecture outlines, class activities, and tutoring guidelines. You will be responsible for reading key excerpts from this manual, watching web-based video versions of all course lectures, and completing a number of online quizzes associated with reading assignments in your course textbook. Most Branch Managers spend between 15 and 20 hours during the Spring getting ready to teach and tutor in the summer. Because most of your training will be completed online, it can be done with the flexibility of your own timeline and schedule.

Though you’ll be in charge of your branch, our administrative and management teams will augment your local marketing efforts and ensure that your branch succeeds.

First, we will post your bio, courses, tutoring availabilities, and free events on our website. We drive traffic to the site using locally targeted Facebook Social Ads and Google AdWords and have a full-time administrative staff to handle live chat with users on the site and take sales orders for you by phone.

Second, we will provide you with all the marketing collateral you need to get word out about your branch, including postcards, posters, business cards, info sheets, flyers, print ads, form letters, and your own Ivy Insiders email account.

Third, we will conduct direct mailing campaigns and direct email campaigns to students and parents in your area. Mailings and emailings will generate a base of clients who you can then use to refer additional business to your branch.

Finally, we will fund your own local mailings and mass emailing, allowing you to personally reach hundreds or in some cases thousands of local parents and students with customized collateral for your branch.

Your Regional Manager will probably be the person you interact with most as a BM this summer. Regional Managers are highly successful former BMs themselves who understand what it takes to grow a profitable branch and have committed their summer to helping first-year BMs get the most from their first management experience.

Just as you track your branch’s marketing and sales activities in IvyBase, your Regional Manager will track all of his or her BMs progress through an RM dashboard. If you run into a roadblock in your branch or are struggling to find sign-ups, your Regional Manager will be there to assess the situation, help you develop solutions, and if necessary, seek assistance from Central Management.

The goal of the Regional Management system is to ensure that as a Branch Manager, you reap the benefits of building your own business while enjoying the support and guidance that every first-time entrepreneur could use.

As a Branch Manager, you will be paid based on the profitability of your branch, which you will track in real time using IvyBase. Below is an Income Statement for a hypothetical branch. In the branch below, the Branch Manager has cleared 25% of her revenue as profit after subtracting corporate and branch expenses. Branch profit is paid entirely to the BM.

That depends on you. One of the great things about the Branch Manager position is that pay is based on a pure meritocracy. The harder you work and the more business your branch drives, the more money you will make.

In past years, some Branch Managers have made $10,000 or more in personal profit. Other BMs approach the summer with less ambitious goals, taking advantage of the position’s flexibility to travel, volunteer, or pursue other part-time commitments. As a result Branch Manager payment varies widely. Last summer, most Branch Managers made between $3,000 and $7,000, many working part-time. Average compensation among the top 10% of branches was over $9,000.

Continuing with our commitment to reward performance, all Branch Managers are eligible for an end of summer bonus equal to up to 15% of their final base compensation. Bonuses are paid based on overall branch performance, BM work ethic and attitude as assessed by a Regional Manager, call participation and communication, and IvyBase participation.

No. All expenses, including room rental, direct mailing, and materials, will be covered by a company budget. You will not have to incur any costs out-of-pocket.

Over the last three years, we have had over 300 Branch Managers. Not one Branch has ever lost money. In the unlikely event that your branch generated $0 revenue, Ivy Insiders as a company would still incur all expenses. In other words, there will never be a case in which you will owe us money.