Jefferson Alumnus Gives Back to the SAISD Community
The founders of Admit Guru were featured in the San Antonio Independent School District. In an article titled, Jefferson Alumnus Gives Back to the SAISD Community, Ricardo Rosales and Sravya Vishnubhatla talked about their efforts in starting Admit Guru.
Rosales and his partner Sravya Vishnubhatla launched a free, online SAT/ACT prep course that not only serves as a guide for standardized testing, but also connects students across the city and the country.
“For students who aren’t familiar with the SAT or ACT, the way questions are asked can be really confusing,” said Vishnubhatla. “We teach students tips and tricks so that when they see certain types of questions, they break the questions down and find the correct answer.”
The article further described the different roles that the founders have taken in catalyzing this organization. Rosales runs the administrative side of the prep course which often consists of setting up meetings via zoom, marketing the courses, and reaching out to the community and local partners. Vishnubhatla tutors kids and helps them learn important strategies for succeeding at standardized testing. She brings up in the interview that there are a lot of obstacles that students face, whether that is a student’s parents being immigrants and not familiar with the U.S. educational system or having the potential to excel on these assessments but not having access to the appropriate resources. “We wanted to help reduce those barriers,” Vishnubhatla explained. “Our goal is to help them achieve their educational dreams.”
In addition to working through standardized testing questions with the students, Vishnubhatla and Rosales provide students with a free resume review service and office hours to drill down on questions the students may have about testing or any other topic.
Their work doesn’t go without results. The students who took the course in June 2020 increased an average of 15 percentile points from the beginning to the end of the program. “This is a huge jump when it comes to standardized testing,” Rosales explained.
Interviewed as well was Jacqueline Campos, a rising senior at Burbank High School. She was also appreciative of the way the program broke down the test in a way that was easy to understand. “I am thankful for the wonderful opportunity and the alumni that made this prep possible.”
Vishnubhatla and Rosales both currently live in Seattle where Rosales works as a lead product analyst at a technology startup. Vishnubhatla works as a product manager at Microsoft where she continues to tutor students on the side. Despite their busy schedules, the gratification they receive knowing that they are helping students who are in similar situations as they once were is enough for them to continue on this path.
“I think the most gratifying thing about the course so far is the feedback we have been getting from the students and seeing in their own words how this is having an impact on them,” said Rosales. “How grateful they are to have something like this available; that is why we do it.”
Thank you again, SAISD Nation for the feature! We are honored to share Admit Guru’s story thus far.
To keep up to date with Admit Guru™, check out our website and sign up for our newsletter.
Admit Guru in Other News
One of the founders giving back to their community
In the morning news
