Essay Counselor (Part-time Remote Role, US)
About Tokyo Academics:
Tokyo Academics is the passion project of a constellation of teachers, researchers, and academics from around the world. Since 2012, we’ve evolved from a few university friends to a growing number of part-time and full-time individuals located in Tokyo, as well as working remotely. We are an organization of experts deeply passionate about helping students meet their potential and capture the opportunities of the future.
We are looking for excellent writers to work one-on-one with students as they craft their college and boarding school application essays. Flexible scheduling makes this an ideal seasonal side job for freelancers. Compensation is highly competitive for exceptional candidates.
- Essay counseling for colleges and boarding schools during the season (June-January is our season, we rarely have students outside of this )
- Additional online tutoring opportunities for other subjects and ACT/SAT/SSAT during the off-season
- A graduate of a highly selective US/UK/Canadian/Australian college or graduate school
- Native-level English
- Strong writing background
- Minimum 6-month commitment to role (students prefer to work with the same essay counselor throughout their entire application process)
- While a typical workload during the season is 12-15 hours a week, our busiest months are August, October, November, December. This translates to at least 20 hours per week.
- Publications (academic or creative, please include in your cover letter)
- MFA in writing, or BA major in Creative Writing/English/Literature
- Previous teaching, tutoring, and coaching experience
- High SAT Verbal/GRE score
- Bilingual
- Competitive compensation package
- Join a growing bootstrapped company with a lot of potential for growth
- Autonomy to implement ideas and have a significant impact
- Flexible schedule
- Working remotely, but must be available for meetings during business hours (10am-7pm Japan Standard Time)
- Resume
- Cover letter (can be addressed to Taka Okubo)
- Creative personal essay to one of the following prompts (up to one page single-spaced):
- Dog and Cat. Coffee and Tea. Great Gatsby and Catcher in the Rye. Everyone knows there are two types of people in the world. What are they?
- Cats have nine lives, Pac-Man has three lives, and radioactive isotopes have half-lives. How many lives does something else—conceptual or actual—have, and why?
- Alice falls down the rabbit hole. Milo drives through the tollbooth. Dorothy is swept up in the tornado. Neo takes the red pill. Don’t tell us about another world you’ve imagined, heard about, or created. Rather, tell us about its portal.
- Persuasive Writing Sample. Feel free to submit a past personal statement, grad school application essay, statement of purpose. We would like to see if you can be convincing and engaging in writing.
Please avoid cliches, be creative, engage us.
*Due to the volume of applications we receive, we automatically disqualify anyone who doesn’t submit all the required documents.
