Bruce H.
5.0
Wharton MBA | ACT Instructor at UCLA | 10 Years Helping Student Score 32+
Studied at The Wharton School (UPenn)
Works at First Choice Admissions
Available today at 9:00 PM UTC
Usually responds within 3 hours
Questions? Start chatting with this coach before you get started.
Bruce’s ACT Qualifications
Coaches professionally
250+ people coached for ACT
Open to working with clients outside the U.S.
Hi! I'm Bruce Hanson and I've coached the ACT for 10 years both as an instructor at UCLA and as the founder of First Choice Admissions. I specialize in getting students 32+ scores and I've helped hundreds of students just like you hit their goals! I created a highly effective ACT curriculum at UCLA - hundreds of students went through the program and then I further honed it through thousands of hours of teaching private students. The lessons, practice sets and teaching approach have all been battle tested over 10 years and have helped hundreds of students get top scores - I'd love to help you too!
Bruce can help with:
ACT Math
ACT Science
Test Prep Strategy
ACT Reading
ACT English
Tailored Study Plan
About Bruce
I've been coaching the GRE, GMAT, ACT and SAT for 10 years - both as the founder of First Choice Admissions and at UCLA. I specialize in getting clients top scores so they can get into top schools. But I didn't always do this for a living... I trained as a teacher at Grinnell College and graduated with my high school teaching certificate. So naturally after college I became a professional musician. Yeah, my folks had the same reaction. So while my band racked up some college radio hits and I got to tour the country playing music, it became pretty clear that spending the rest of my life with four sweaty guys in a touring van was an idea that only looked good on paper. I needed to make a change. So I taught myself how to do really, really well on the GMAT so that business schools would take me seriously (did I mention the professional musician part?). I was accepted to Wharton and two years later I started a pretty conventional post MBA career. I worked as a marketer for General Mills, did strategy and financial consulting in Silicon Valley and I helped my friends launch (sometimes) successful start-ups. I was also was the founding partner in a company that ran live music venues in San Francisco and Oakland. And while all of those ventures were fun (and some even lucrative) my passion had always been teaching. So started a test prep company, First Choice Admissions, in a garage in Palo Alto (cliche I know) and began tutoring the GMAT, GRE, ACT and SAT. After a couple of years I move down to LA (I'd like to say it was for savvy business reasons - but really it was for a girl). Soon after I moved, UCLA hired me to develop test prep curriculum and teach the GMAT, GRE, ACT and SAT. After working with them for several years, I turned my attention full-time to First Choice Admissions. I've been running First Choice for the last 10 years and everyday I love coaching these tests and helping my clients get into their dream schools.
Why do I coach?
There are really two reasons why I coach. The first is that teaching has always been my superpower. I love it. So every day I get to use my passion and my skills to help people achieve their dreams. There’s no better feeling than that and I can’t imagine a better job for me! The second is that when I decided to go to business school I did what everyone else did. I took a high-end course from a national test prep company that helped me - almost not at all (but at least it was expensive). I figured there had to be a better way to ace the GMAT so I used my teaching superpower to teach myself the test. As I unpacked the GMAT I started to understand how all these standardized tests actually work and what was actually being tested (spoiler alert: it's only kinda about English and math). And I used those insights to create curriculums for GMAT, GRE, ACT and SAT that actually work and consistently raise scores. I love using my teaching skills to level the playing field and help everyone achieve their dreams.
Work Experience
Founder and Principal
First Choice Admissions
January 2014 - Present
First Choice Admissions provides premium test prep for the ACT, SAT, GMAT and GRE. Services include private tutoring, online courses and a emphasis on social justice - working with high schools to provide top flight ACT/SAT prep to underserved students.
Curriculum Developer and Test Prep Instructor
UCLA
September 2014 - August 2017
Physical Classroom responsibilities: 1) GMAT, GRE, ACT and SAT curriculum development 2) GMAT, GRE, ACT and SAT instructor Virtual Classroom responsibilities: 1) GMAT on-line/virtual curriculum development 2) GMAT on-line/virtual instructor 3) GMAT video development (write, co-produce, and, heaven help us, act).
Partner
New Parish Entertainment
January 2008 - January 2014
Director of Strategy
BlogHer
2011 - 2014
Principal
Hanson Consulting
2005 - 2008
Bruce was also given offers to work at
AIGAC
Education
The Wharton School (UPenn)
MBA, Marketing/Strategy
2000 - 2002
Activities and societies: Follies Musical Director
Grinnell College
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) and Teaching Certification, Political Science and Education
1986 - 1989
33 Reviews
Overall Rating
5.0
Knowledge
5.0
Value
5.0
Responsiveness
5.0
Supportiveness
5.0
Bruce has helped clients get into these schools:
Bruce has helped clients achieve these scores on the GRE
317 - 327
Bruce has helped clients achieve these scores on the GMAT