Aureus Prep

When I met Jodi Redmond, I was sitting at a Coffee Bean in Santa Monica, studying and struggling over my AP Statistics. As I hail from Calabasas, and was curiously, unusually, and randomly studying in Santa Monica, I will forever consider meeting Jodi the universe’s want and the stars aligning.
Our casual small talk blossomed into a friendship and mentorship that has allowed me access to new opportunities, the discovery of a strength and belief in myself that was lacking priorly, and access to the hands-​down most personalized, sincere, dedicated, charismatic, and intelligent «college counselor» (she is above and beyond a college counselor to me, but an invaluable guidance) imaginable.
Jodi and Aureus Prep are entirely devoted to their students. What you want and aim to achieve is their foremost priority. Jodi prepared me for the college realm, and its application to real life situations. She gave me a realistic understanding of what my academics and extra curricular a had to offer to the colleges of my interest, while fostering a personal challenge to aim higher than I would have thought I could achieve.
In the end, with Jodi and AP’s help, devotion, and support I was admitted to every school of my choice. The endless hours with Jodi of revising, reviewing, and deciding curated not only an successful college profile and a seriously overwhelmed high school senior, incredibly grateful for her choices, but also a constant support-​system, friend, and mentor in my moments of panic and bliss.
I am honored to be an alumna of Jodi and AP. As an upcoming sophomore at the University of Southern California studying International Relations and Global Business, I can contently, truly, and highly, highly, highly recommend Jodi and AP for your college advisement. Thank you endlessly and eternally Jodi and AP for your guidance throughout the process… You are truly the best of the best.

Ten years after graduating from college I started the process of applying to graduate school. When writing my statement of purpose for my application I was totally overwhelmed and had no idea where to start. Jodi and her team were there to help me throughout the entire process. They helped me to put together a great easy that set my application apart from the rest and helped me to get into the school I wanted.

I’m an international student and was finding it hard to get good grades in an American university, especially in English Composition. Even though the placement test showed that I was eligible to take English 1 during my first semester at SMC, I was still struggling with the reading material (and writing) for class. The essay writing in particular was really difficult, and I was feeling as if I needed to drop the course. That was around the time that I heard about Jodi at Aureus Prep, so I decided to stay in the course and give it a try. Jodi has worked with so many international students, getting them into great universities, and she was so optimistic. She looked for my weaknesses and made sure to focus on strengthening them. Not only has my English improved, but I’ve gained critical thinking skills which, I believe, is really important to a successful education and career in this country. I started out with the tutoring almost a quarter of the semester in, which I thought was too late (in order to catch up), but at the end of the day, I received an A in the course! I continued to study with Jodi for English 2 (also a composition and critical thinking course, which was very difficult), and got an A in that as well. I also studied with another tutor at Aureus for my math class. All along, Jodi was concerned not just with my specific coursework and homework, but with my overall performance and actually learning the material so that I would be able to transfer to any school that I want and do well there. Overall, I feel very lucky to have found Aureus Prep and Jodi. She makes me feel comfortable, confident, and gives me the tools and encouragement to do my best.

I’m writing this review because my experience with Aureus Prep changed my future. First, I have to say that Jodi Redmond, the director, saved my academic life. If I hadn’t met her, I’m not sure of where I would be studying right now. I was an international student at SMC and my GPA was low. I knew I would not be able to transfer, which was my goal, if things didn’t change. I heard about Aureus Prep from my sister, who was already studying with Jodi at the time. Based on her reputation with students and her Harvard degree, I was a bit scared. But it turned out that not only was she really nice and down-​to-​earth, but she excels in explaining and teaching. This is really important for an ESL speaker/​learner. Whenever I didn’t understand the material, she explained it clearly and patiently until there was no question I knew what to do. After having her as my tutor for 2 semesters, my GPA went up EXPONENTIALLY. My professors (and the other students) were so impressed by my improvement. She was especially great with my composition courses, which were quite difficult, and I ended up with As. I am so thankful that I met her. I also studied with other Aureus tutors for biology, and had a great experience. Jodi ended up also helping me with my college applications, and I was accepted into almost every school that I applied to. If you are struggling with coursework or just want help with applications, go to Aureus. You’ll be glad that you did.

I remember when I started the college process this past fall, and I was a nervous wreck. My previous experiences with applying to colleges and college counselors had been less than satisfactory. Then came Jodi Redmond, who took me in even though she was no longer taking on new clients for the season (she has a waitlist and my mom had to talk her into adding me). Now I get why people are so into her. She completely changed my perspective on the college process. It was no longer this intimidating task that I couldn’t manage, but it was now a process that I confidently took control of. She was able to encourage me (I was really jaded at the time and it was causing problems between my mom and me, and I was just annoyed by the whole process) and guide me throughout this process all while becoming an amazing friend (students totally gel with her; that’s her secret).
Jodi was able to take an unbiased look at my essays and help me edit them strategically with a perfect understanding of what each school needed. We scrapped some and started from scratch. We looked within and got really deep, which was scary but rewarding. Because of Jodi, I’m not nervous to hear back from the schools but I’m excited. Jodi gave me back the hope that I had long lost before I met her, and now, I cannot wait to see what’s to come. I’ll follow up here once I get my acceptances!