ESL Related

This unique school is located in Harvard Square about a 3-minute walk to the Harvard campus. It is NOT affiliated with Harvard, but many of the teaching and administrative staff hold degrees from Harvard, Yale, Cornell, and other top 20 universities. In fact, 80% of Self-Study Teachers Hold Degrees from The Harvard Graduate School of Education. Recently we were advised that Harvard, MIT, Tufts University and others will take all graduates of the school into their masters and PhD programs without needing to take TOEFL or IELTS.

Our students, teachers, and staff come from over 100 countries. Our classes are all virtual and are held at a time chosen by the students for their country. They have 10 levels for each of the four areas (Grammar, Reading, Writing, & listening & Speaking), each student is tested to determine their level (from1 – 10).

It is an elite, first-year undergraduate-level program for students who seek transfer admission to the most selective institutions in the U.S. and world. They use state-of-the-art technology for a virtual classroom.

The program offers courses that are applicable to the first year of a four-year undergraduate degree. Students enroll in credit-bearing courses by American University instructors. The academic courses fulfill general education at most colleges/universities in the U.S. There are five programs:

• First Year, Advanced
• First Year
• Extended First Year
• Pre-Sessional English
• Placement based on level of English. Min. GPA required: 2.5 (per local entry requirement)

Basically, there are two online programs ‘Pathway’ program consisting of basically a 3-hour core, 18-level program  called Vacation English for students studying in the U.S.  Students in their counties can also choose our standard General English, Intensive, or Academic programs, but after some research, we think that the core will be really practical time and cost-wise for most students.

We have new price points that are around 30-40% less than our standard programs.  Since there aren’t any visa considerations because they’re taking these classes abroad, the 3-hour per day option works just fine, of course.

For the Pathway, the goal is for students to complete their minimum levels (now online) for college placement in the fall or spring, when we expect this crisis to be over and they can return to the U.S. for college.  We’ve created an online version of our placement test complete with a scheduled speaking assessment component as well as ’Saturday Sampler’ Model Lessons they can try.  Pathway students abroad have two time zone options (West and East Coast) to choose from, which fortunately can work for most of the world.