When you call Brighton-based tutoring company The Premier Tutors, you will indeed get a pre-recorded message: “Hi, thank you for calling The Premier Tutors, where we give your child an educational makeover. Please dial one for information about our services.” But after your preparation for the all-too-familiar speech promising perfect grades and test scores – after you actually press that button – you’re connected not to a receptionist with a script, but to Talha Bhatty, the director of the program itself. And Bhatty will be quick to tell you that his company is different.

While The Premier Tutors may seem at first glance to be just another national tutoring emporium, it stands out because of its refusal to be — in Bhatty’s words — cookie-cutter. “It’s about individual attention to detail, that fine-tuning and figuring out what kids are good at,” he said.

The Premier Tutors, Bhatty says, prides itself on not only its results, but the relationships that it forms with its clients. “We’re trying to build a family, and our clients…we’re really close with them. We have some families we’ve been working with for five years. And usually when we establish relationships with families, we become lifelong friends. We see them over and over again,” Bhatty said.

And during Bhatty’s interview, his idealism seemed – could it be? – genuine. Instead of boasting about SAT scores or national rankings, he kept mentioning his students: “the girl who had trouble with algebra” or “the ninth-grader I helped in chemistry.”

But just because Bhatty doesn’t focus on results doesn’t mean they’re not there. The ninth-grader went from getting C’s and D’s on his first report card of the year to A’s and B’s on his third, and the girl having trouble with algebra went from B’s to the top of the class. And those SAT scores he wouldn’t mention? They go up an average of 150 points.

All this, Bhatty says, is thanks to the personalized Premier Tutors approach, in which tutoring is done at home and session length varies completely on the student’s needs. And before you start worrying about how much all this is going to cost, the first session is free. As Bhatty explains, that first meeting is spent planning and getting to know students and their families, which he sees as both essential and unfair to charge for.

“It shows parents you’re not there to make the quick buck – that it’s just as important to us as it is to you. And [students and families] end up taking everything more seriously as well. They know what the game plan is, and everyone can work together.”

So if you do wind up calling The Premier Tutors, hold out for the voice that isn’t pre-recorded. And by all means, don’t go in with assumptions, because the first “real” person you’ll talk to is ready and willing to challenge them.

The Premier Tutors can be reached by calling 855-331-5550 or by emailing
[email protected]. For more information, please visit www.thepremiertutors.org
The Premier Tutors is at 8 Elko St. Suite 8 in Brighton.

Copyright 2011 Allston/Brighton TAB. Some rights reserved

By Toka Beech, www.wickedlocalallston.com, Wicked Local
Posted Aug 26, 2011

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