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.