What kind of salary should I ask for at a test-prep place?

August 6, 2008 12:05 PM

I'm applying for a job as an academic coordinator at a Kaplan/Princeton Review type place. They're asking me what my salary requirements are and I'm not sure what to say. What's an average salary at one of these places?

I have a degree in math and have around 3 years of customer service and training experience. They're asking for my current salary and my salary requirements. What's a realistic answer for my salary requirements? Ideally, I'd like something like $30,000 a year, but I'm not sure whether that's realistic (though, it very well may be).

Has anyone worked at these test-prep places before? What should I expect to be paid?

posted by Inigo Jones to Work & Money (7 answers total)

Who will you be working for (as in what is the title of your boss)? That will help determine this somewhat. The term "coordinator" in the editing side of publishing, test-prep or otherwise, is usually similar to that of "assistant," as in "editorial assistant" (in contrast to "project editor" or "senior editor," etc) and I'm guessing that the standard pay for the position as you've described it is more-or-less in the pay range you've stipulated. I would ask for $35k or $40k with the understanding that they will probably counter-offer you down anyway (it's ALWAYS best to ask up). Of course, I could be wrong here, but the range on this is (I'm guessing) probably $25k to $35k. I would be surprised if it was more, unless the term "coordinator" here is more like an editor.
posted by ornate insect at 12:20 PM on August 6, 2008

Here
posted by rhizome at 12:30 PM on August 6, 2008

Well according to my pal who works as on, the typical SAT prep instructor's starting salary at Princeton Review is 20 dollars an hour, so maybe just move up from there. I don't know what an academic coordinator actually does, but I assume if you're managing the Prep Instructors you should be making more than them? (I could be wrong.)
posted by np312 at 12:46 PM on August 6, 2008

np312 writes "Well according to my pal who works as on, the typical SAT prep instructor's starting salary at Princeton Review is 20 dollars an hour, so maybe just move up from there. I don't know what an academic coordinator actually does, but I assume if you're managing the Prep Instructors you should be making more than them? (I could be wrong.)"

Good lord, I got 20 bucks an hour working at a test prep place 20 years ago! You'd think salaries would have gone up since then ...

Maybe it was because I had a different job -- I was one of the instructors, not a coordinator.

Ah, memories. Working in Flushing, Queens over the summer, 45 minute commute from Brooklyn, 95 degrees, 95% humidity, no air conditioning in my car. Good times.
posted by Araucaria at 1:36 PM on August 6, 2008

I was an LSAT instructor for the Princeton Review and I made approximately $20/hr for teaching and for tutoring. Mind you, I was a first time instructor so... Also, this was in 2002.

I guess I'd need to know your job requirements...
posted by Waitwhat at 5:33 PM on August 6, 2008

I work at Princeton as a teacher I've had many friends that worked in the office in various capacities. You simply cannot compare a teacher's hourly rate to a salaried workers yearly compensation. At TPR, at least, things just don't scale that way. Typically the office staff get a relatively low base pay (as little as low-mid 20's) with a fairly good bonus package. So, that your take home pay at the end of the year might be something like 150% of your base pay.

Without knowing what your coordinator duties are, I'd couldn't say what a typical salary would be. $30k is probably in the ball park for just about any office staff; for an assistant slot it's a bit high, for a director (e.g. the boss of the office) it's a bit low (but not by much).
posted by oddman at 8:28 PM on August 6, 2008

I think that academic coordinator would mean the person who isn't the manager of the center, but who deals with scheduling classes, finding teachers for the classes, and generally making sure that the teachers are all doing alright (got the training they need, that their evals are okay). The manager of the center deals with overseeing this person as well as the person in charge of marketing, promotions, business development.

And in my time as an instructor at such as place, this person is usually 25-ish and will quickly move up to a Center Manager position if s/he does a good job. If s/he does a poor job, everyone will complain about him/her quickly.

If this is the job that you're thinking of, I'd go with 25k-32k, depending where you live.
posted by k8t at 9:55 PM on August 6, 2008