 "Photo: Special to The Daily Gamecock")
A new online tutoring service aimed directly at college students and improving their studies, called uProdigy.com, launched last week.
Syed Adil Hussain, creator and chief executive officer of the Web site, said his service aims to offer "quality and affordable academic tutoring to students in need."
The Internet start-up was selected as the winning entry in the Product and Services category in the MIT 100k Entrepreneurship Contest in the fall. The award and prize money is given to a company whose business plans show high growth potential. The Web site was selected as the most likely to succeed from over 100 other entrants into the competition. Hussain, a Harvard graduate student, said he started the company because he "couldn't afford the high prices normally charged for help in higher level math and wanted to help others in my situation." So instead of charging normal private tutoring rates ranging from $60-$70 an hour in some cases, he offers sessions for a flat rate of $15 an hour, and students can be tutored in a vast number of subject areas.
While uProdigy.com began operating publicly last week, students from Boston-area colleges have been using the service since last October, and according to Hussain, "they've found it to be very effective."
"We've done a lot of research into what subjects that students need the most help in," Hussain said. Hussain said surveys showed 20 percent of students needed help in math, 20 percent needed hard sciences help, 15 percent needed help in essays and grammar and the rest needed help in the humanities.
The assistance available on uProdigy.com actually originates in South Asia, but Hussain said he is confident tutors are trained well enough to be as effective as any face-to-face tutoring session.
"All of our tutors go through a rigorous training process, with three interviews and a battery of standardized tests."
"We only accept about 5 percent of the tutors that apply," he said, adding that at the moment most of his employees are based in India. According to the Web site, all of the tutors employed have at least a master's degree and some have a Ph.D. and/or prior teaching experience. The Web site offers tutoring services 24 hours a day.
"If you wanted to schedule a session at 4 a.m. in the morning, you could certainly do that," Hussain said. "Just go to the Internet, type in our URL, and we'll connect you to someone right away."
Jennifer Foster, a fourth-year studio art student who's previously been tutored in Spanish, found the idea promising.
"Everything else is online, so why wouldn't something like this be too," Foster said.
Foster said she's experienced enough problems with free, campus-based tutoring to be willing to give uProdigy.com a try.
"Most of the students who come to do the tutoring on campus either don't show up or they're not very proficient in the subject or it only lasts for 30 minutes," Foster said.
Hussain said he understands missed appointments can happen with campus-based tutoring and he said that his tutors are professional and will be present for sessions.
"They'll definitely show up for tutoring appointments or they will be fired," he said.
Brandon Behun, a second-year business student who's never been tutored, also thought online tutoring was a good idea.
He said that uProdigy.com seemed to be the "most available and cheapest" alternative for students to look towards for tutoring help. "There seems to be a huge difference in their advertised rates and the costs of private tutoring," Behun said. Like Foster, he also said it was natural that tutoring be offered online.
"Everything seems to be branching out online now," Behun said.
Hussain said that although his product is new, he's excited to expand the services to include more subjects and add tutors from around the world.
"We're looking into having Harvard and MIT students give pre-recorded lectures and we want to have a base of 15-20 core topics in every single subject," Hussain said. "This semester we're also offering one hour of free tutoring to each student, with no credit card required to get started."
He said he's doing this to expand and ultimately improve the tutoring services and other products offered from uProdigy.com.
"We really want to get feedback from students to help us improve our service," he said.
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