Leo Kr
ACADEMIC QUALIFICATIONS
MSc Yale University, History of Science and Medicine (Honours)
BSc University College London, Anthropology (Dean’s List Graduate, First-Class)
HS University High School, Irvine, CA
Weighted GPA: 4.3 (Magna Cum Laude)
Test scores:
New SAT: 1590 (1600 max)
New SAT Writing: 23 (24 max)
AP Calculus: 5 (5 max)
AP Macroeconomics: 5
AP Literature and Composition: 5
AP Language and Composition: 5
AP Biology: 5
AP U.S. History: 5
SAT Subject Test Literature: 750 (800 max)
SAT Subject Test Math 2: 760
SAT Subject Test Biology: 780
SAT Subject Test U.S. History: 750
TEACHING EXPERIENCE
I have tutored and taught English and Writing at differing levels. I currently tutor English as a Second Language for students between the ages of 7 and 12, I have taught writing at the high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels. In specific, I have worked with undergraduates at the University of California, Irvine in upper-division writing courses, with high schoolers in Irvine, and with undergraduates at UCL in Anthropology, Psychology, English, History, and Politics.
I have also advised and consulted for college admissions in America. My experience in this is entirely with high schoolers and community college students in Irvine, California, and one student in New York City. I have conducted work from general consulting and advice to essay planning and syntax editing.
I have extensive experience in editorial work at high school, undergraduate, and graduate levels. I have edited final essays, seminar papers, and a number of college admissions essays for clients between the ages of 16 and 22.
I have also tutored for the SAT and AP tests for the following subjects: Biology, Language, Literature, Economics, US History, World History, Human Geography, and Calculus.
SKILLS AND INTERESTS
I am interested in tennis, sports, literature, cinema, and travelling. I speak Mandarin and have worked extensively in local politics, law, and journalism.
WORK EXPERIENCE
Bentham Brooks Institute, London
Research Lead
Led a research project for a student-run policy Think Tank, utilizing qualitative research methods to produce a report on technology and authoritarianism in Asia
Viking Tech Law, Irvine, CA
Law Clerk
· Worked as a Law Clerk at a private practice, where I assisted with filing patents, ran support and research activities for active cases, and published two legal analyses of Supreme Court cases
Ms. Farrah Khan’s Campaign for Irvine Mayor, Irvine, CA
Volunteer Coordinator
Recruited/trained/managed 230+ volunteers, ran a virtual field office, worked on campaign strategy, and managed political data
Mr. Dave Min’s Campaign for State Senate in District 37, Irvine, CA
Senior Fellow, Social Media Intern
· Organized a team of interns to work on campaign projects, and worked on social media strategy
180 Degrees Consulting, UCL, London
Research Lead
· Managed a team of student consultants to produce a Theory of Change and a fundraising strategy for two non-profits, The Childhood Trust and The Steel Warriors
UCL Connect.ed, UCL, London
Research Assistant
· Worked as a research assistant on a master’s thesis in Comparative Politics on liberal democratic regimes around the world
UCL Pi Media and UCL Anthropolitan, UCL, London
Columnist/Contributing Writer
· Wrote a culture column for Pi Media, UCLs largest student-run magazine, and contributed to the Anthropolitan, the Anthropology department’s magazine
UCL Ethnographic Collections, UCL, London
Senior Researcher
· Worked as a student researcher, investigating a series of objects using forensic, database, and library research methods
Future Chinese Leaders of America, Irvine, CA
Co-founder, Vice President, Editor-in-Chief
· Co-founded a political non-profit involved in civic education, which also served as an organizing body for mayoral and city council debates
PERSONAL STATEMENT
It was when I started high school that I discovered I loved to edit. Writing had always been interesting to me, but the opportunity to take the craft a little more seriously opened my eyes to the importance of editing. Sitting and staring at a sentence, trying to imagine a better alternative, was a fascinating puzzle. When it became apparent that my grades in English were very high, my peers came to me for advice and assistance, which I saw as an opportunity to both practice editing and spread the gospel on its importance.
Since then, I have tutored and taught composition all the way to the graduate level, where I have worked closely with a few of my peers at Yale on their writing and editing processes. Over the past four years, I have accumulated extensive experience editing college admissions essays, final papers, seminar discussion posts, and more. Every scenario calls for a different approach to the task, and I consider it to be an incredibly gratifying process to chip away at a hard writing problem, even more so when it comes in the context of pedagogy and collaboration. The college admissions essay provides a unique and incredibly frustrating challenge, one that I have spent a long time thinking about both personally and in the context of tutoring. It is something that I am still fascinated by, and I am motivated to help individuals discover the best way of both expressing and selling themselves while retaining a firm and dignified hold on who one is.
I also have experience tutoring for standardized testing and AP tests, which emerged out of my own successes but also out of a fascination for the process of college admissions. I am half Chinese, and in one of my early Chinese culture classes there was a unit on the College Admissions exam in China, which prompted a fascination for cross-cultural comparison of college admissions techniques and processes. This has morphed into an established intellectual research interest; over the past two or three years, my intellectual work has revolved around questions of testing, meritocracy, and the distribution of opportunity. I have tried to utilize all my disciplinary training to evaluate these questions from as many angles as possible, and I plan to apply for a PhD in the Sociology of Education this fall.
I am also a tennis player, and for a long time was deeply steeped in the world of college sports and the aspiration of one day being a college athlete. I realized that the American version was not something for me in my last year of high school, but sport, competition, and training still hold an incredibly important place in my life, and the lessons I learned on the court are some of the most valuable of my life.