Mentor
Nick graduated from Rutgers University with a B.A in philosophy and a minor in comparative Literature, he also completed an M.A in philosophy at The City University of New York. He is also a founding editor of Pinky Thinker Press, an interdisciplinary arts journal. Nick hopes to complete a PhD in philosophy in the near future. He enjoys nurturing his reading addiction, short story and poetry writing and film-watching. His personal and intellectual philosophy expresses itself in a commitment to always finding an interesting, even downright exciting avenue of study in even the most (at first blush) unspectacular-sounding fields.
Everything, every discipline or job, has an angle that touches on the philosophical, an area where difficult, thought-provoking questions are posed and answered. Nick brings this approach to his work with students: whether their interest lies in comparing indigenous religions or dissecting contemporary macroeconomics, Nick seeks out the particularly vital points of interest that ignite his students’ curiosity. He has a great deal of experience in writing essays with students that take experimental approaches, although sometimes a more straightforward strategy is the approach that serves the student’s needs best.
His (current) favorite essay written with an Ivy Scholars student is a personal statement he helped a former student compose. The essay uses an extended analogy based on the student’s love for fly fishing: illustrating that reeling in a great fish is like pulling in a grand idea or concept. What makes this essay special lies in the perfect balance it achieves between the high and low, the heady and the intimate, the fated and the random. It is both deeply idiosyncratic and completely relatable to anyone who has gone through the process of dealing with a tough, unfamiliar situation.
Fun Fact: I am addicted to reading books that have no practical relation to my life.
Nick has helped students gain acceptance to the following colleges: Cornell, Georgia Tech, Rice, Texas A&M, UC Berkeley, UChicago, UT Austin, UVA
Alma Mater: Rutgers University
Based In: New Jersey
“We fill preexisting forms and when we fill them we change them and are changed” – Jorge Luis Borges.
Here’s a parent review from a student I mentored 2020-2022. Here’s another from two sisters that I mentored 2020-2022; they were accepted to JHU and MIT. Here’s another about my strategy for acceptance to UT Austin, and another from 2 siblings who both were accepted to Rice.
Here are some of Nick’s past successes with students. Click to expand:
Giancarlo was already an accomplished and motivated student when he started working with Nick, with special passions for STEM, specifically programming and video game design, and philosophy. It was his interest in philosophy that caused him to be partnered with Nick, whose expertise in the field helped direct Giancarlo’s candidacy building development.
Giancarlo had been in the process of coding an app which would ask users about their philosophical views, and then advise them which philosophical school is most aligned with their views. Nick helped guide him to resources, and the app was published shortly thereafter.
Giancarlo’s passion for game design and philosophy sparked interesting questions, so Nick guided him to books on the philosophy of video games as an art form, and whether or not video games (or indeed, art at all) can be used to convey information. As Giancarlo did more research, he realized he had things to say on this topic. With Nick’s help, he wrote a research paper striving to answer this question and submitted it for publication; it was published shortly thereafter.
When it came time to apply for colleges, Nick helped Giancarlo express his love of both in his essays, culminating in a personal statement wherein he narrated his experience creating a video game.
Giancarlo applied to a number of top programs, and got into Rice, Georgia Tech, and UT Austin’s Turing Scholars program. Nick enjoyed working with such a motivated and intellectually curious student.
Max was a passionate and academically talented student with two specific interests: math and film. Nick’s own interest in avante-garde cinema, and the philosophical questions it raises, made them an easy match.
The first challenge was starting a film club at school, so Max could share his passion for film with others. His first attempt went poorly, as the first film he screened was too much too fast, his fellow students ill-equipped to discuss and analyze avante-garde films. Nick helped Max analyze what went wrong and try again, and in the second venture found success. Screening films his peers would enjoy and find accessible, and introducing them to the joys of critical analysis and discussion.
These discussions between Nick and Max sparked philosophical questions in turn, and led to Max doing research on philosophy as well, to understand whether film as an art can transmit non propositional knowledge; that is knowledge which transcends individual statements, and cannot be broken down into individual falsifiable propositions. He believed it could, and Max composed a paper arguing that films provide a unique window into the historical cultural zeitgeist, a sense of time and tone which transcends what can be expressed through words alone.
While this paper did not get published, it did inspire Max to create and host a city-wide short film festival for high school students, drawing dozens of submissions from amateur auteurs. The festival was a remarkable success, and Nick is helping him transform momentum from it into a city-wide organization devoted to the love of film.
These passions came to play in Max’s essays, as Nick helped him express his dual passions for math and film in language college admissions officers could understand. Mac’s top choice was Rice and he applied Early Decision. We are happy to report that he got in, as they recognized his academic and extracurricular achievements. Nick loved working with such a motivated and talented student, one who so enjoyed exploring his passions, wherever they led him.
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