Tonight’s Meet a Mom, Morgan Pile Biglia, is the founder of Generation Prep (Gen Prep), a boutique tutoring and college consulting firm that works with students in person and online on academics, test prep and college admissions.
Morgan has spent eight years in the classroom and fifteen years as a tutor, and knows exactly what it takes to reach a student.
Morgan breaks down when to enlist the help of a tutor or college consultant, shares her favorite admissions story and much more!
Can you please tell us a bit about yourself personally?
I’m originally from Boston but lived in New York for almost fifteen years. I married a Frenchman in 2022, who is obsessed with America. I am obsessed with France. It’s very complicated. We have a sweet dog from Puerto Rico named Indiana Bones (Indy), and just had our first baby, Henri, this past December. We took him home from Greenwich Hospital on Christmas Day and continue to be obsessed. Poor Indy has taken a back seat.
Where do you live in Greenwich and what do you love about Greenwich and your neighborhood?
We moved from Manhattan about two years ago. Because we didn’t know much about the area, we decided to rent in Pemberwick while testing the waters. (Now we’re deep in the throes of house-hunting.) It was a great decision and excellent timing because I got pregnant almost immediately. The slower pace really helped me survive those ten months, as did the proximity to nature and the beach.
But the best part about moving has definitely been the people. It didn’t seem likely we’d make new friends at our age, but somehow we managed to make really wonderful ones who have helped us get the most out of life here with the new baby in tow.
On top of that, we have wonderful neighbors who do things like leave hand-me-downs for Henri at our doorstep, bring us flowers from their gardens, and even watch our dog when we leave town.
Greenwich, specifically Pemberwick, has turned out to be a very peaceful and happy place for us. I’d recommend it to anyone, especially young couples starting a family. The younger me, the one who lived in NYC and went out every night, would question everything about that answer, but she didn’t know what she was missing.
Please tell us about Generation Prep?
Generation Prep (Gen Prep) is a small tutoring and college consulting firm that works with students in person and online on academics, test prep and college admissions. Our mission is to help our students self-actualize in meaningful ways.
I called it Generation Prep because this is a generation that experiences more academic pressure than any previous generation and needs the absolute best support we can offer, so they can lead happy lives in an increasingly complicated world.
Because I have a background as a learning specialist, spent eight years in the classroom and fifteen years as a tutor, I have a very developed point of view about what it takes to reach a student. I hire tutors who understand how to individualize instruction, who value the science of learning, and are generally great company.
Thanks to modern science and years of research, we know a lot more about how kids learn than we ever have before, but few schools or tutoring companies actually put that knowledge to work. (For an example of that knowledge, read my recent post). Our tutors are armed with this type of information. That plus that experience and charisma make a highly effective combination.
How did you start Generation Prep? What is your professional background?
I started Gen Prep by recruiting the most talented teachers I know, many of whom I worked with as learning specialists at the Dalton School in Manhattan, and then spreading the word among my current and former clients. Most of our students have come from referrals, but now we’re spreading our name to wider circles.
I have been doing this work for almost fifteen years. I began tutoring SATs and ACTs for Advantage Testing in Boston as a supplement to my income working as a director of development for a nonprofit called TRIAD Trust, which worked on AIDS education in South Africa. I continued tutoring to pay my way through graduate school, receiving my Master’s of Fine Arts in Creative Writing from The New School in Manhattan. After graduation, I went to work at Dalton as a “Preceptor,” or learning specialist, and continued to tutor after school and on the weekends.
I focused my tutoring on academics and standardized tests but, every year, inevitably, I also helped a handful of students on their admissions journeys – to surprising success.
When I moved to Connecticut, I realized that this particular skill is what I do best and derive the most satisfaction from. I got to work on establishing the business while on maternity leave with Henri, often in the wee hours of the night. The growth has been slow and steady, and often challenging, but it feels very much in alignment with my values, and it’s pretty fun.
How do you know if you need to hire a tutor/college consultants?
Not every student needs an academic tutor. Many would benefit from a test prep tutor. Almost all would benefit from a college consultant.
I’ll break it down:
Students who need academic tutors are struggling in a subject because the material is being taught too quickly or in a way the student does not understand. In these cases, tutors are great for slowing down the instruction and/or reframing the information in a more accessible way. Students can also benefit from academic tutors for executive functioning/study/writing skills. In general, these skills are not taught in schools (except when I was teaching, of course!), yet teachers expect students to pick them up on their own. Some students are able to do this successfully. Most, meaning the vast majority, struggle. Tutors can help greatly in these departments.
Students who need test prep tutors are not seeing their scores increase, despite working on test prep on their own or in a classroom setting. Tutors can be extremely successful in helping students understand how to reach their potential score, even if they only meet for a few sessions. Longer term, tutors can be very helpful at holding students accountable for the significant, highly challenging work that test prep requires. In all cases, the harder the student works, the better the results will be. Very little happens when students do not do the work between tutoring sessions.
Students who need college consultants: I would say most kids could use college consultants because managing the college admissions process is far too difficult for the average sixteen or seventeen year old student to manage on their own, and their parents should not try to take on the role of project manager, since students need their parents to simply be their parents, especially during the high-pressure, late high school years.
Also, because parents of college-bound children experienced such a different environment when they themselves applied to college, parents often have trouble knowing how to actually support their children in helpful ways.
For parents, the challenge becomes: how much should I step in? How can I still parent when I am also a task master? What can I do when I really want to see my child succeed?
For students, it becomes: how can I handle this much pressure? What do I need to do to get from point A to point B while still maintaining my grades, friendships and sanity? Where do I want to go? Who do I want to become?
So, there’s all of that plus understanding how to actually present yourself as a great candidate for admissions committees, which is different than it used to be. As far as class selection, activities, essays, recommendations and interviews go, a little good advice can go a very long way.
What are some of the biggest changes you have seen in the past 5-10 years in the college admissions process?
In the past 5-10 years, it’s become wildly challenging to be a young person applying to college or a parent trying to support them. The” rules” seem to be changing all the time, but, more dauntingly, the rapid decline in acceptance rates across the board, particualrly since Covid, has created an environment of increased pressure and expectations.
To answer the question more specifically: there has been an even greater emphasis on achievements outside of the classroom. Because of grade inflation, or at least what colleges assume is grade inflation, competitive colleges expect good grades from all of their applicants. So, when good grades become the norm, they have to look to other areas of differentiation.
One place they look is activities (like sports or debate or interning) or extracurricular academic pursuits (like research or math competitions or a published paper). The more exclusive the school, the more (often outrageously) impressive these activities can be. This factor is not necessarily new in the past 5-10 years, but it’s certainly become more developed.
The other important place colleges look is standardized tests. As a background: some schools have not required ACTs/SATs for some time, but during the pandemic, many more schools did away with them. Some schools are still holding out with this decision (all of the UC schools, for example), but most, just this year, have done a complete 180. Because of research that Dartmouth released in February, which indicates that standardized tests are a better predictor of college grades than are high school grades, most schools are back to requiring the tests, and taking them more seriously than ever. This is one of the rules that always seems to be changing.
There is so much to say, but that feels like a lot already. It is a lot. You can see why families reach out for help!
What do you find the most challenging and most rewarding parts of being a tutor?
I think tutoring is one of the most rewarding jobs there is. No matter what your day has been like, when you are working with a student, the world stops and it’s just about them, and what they need in that moment to improve their situation. As their tutor, you automatically show up and, probably because they are kids, give them your absolute best self. You are not there to grade them or judge them, but purely to help them succeed. When you manage to help them in a concrete and meaningful way, nothing beats it. It’s really good for the spirit.
What’s challenging:
- Working within everyone’s busy schedule. Students only have a few hours after school when they can attend meetings, less when they have activities, so a tutor or consultant has a cap on how many students they can work with every week. Sometimes, there are not enough hours for everyone, and that can be very hard.
- Sometimes it becomes clear that a student needs help beyond just tutoring, and the work you are doing trends above your pay-grade. Though it feels like an honor to be there for a student, you occasionally need to assemble a larger team to help them really thrive.
Generation Prep has deep knowledge and expertise, if you could give someone applying one piece of advice, what would it be?
Be the most you you can be. If you are interested in some particular area, high school is the time to go very hard into that interest. Be excellent in that area if you can. Try to have your class selection reflect that interest, and be sure to do an activity outside of school that aligns and in which you can excel. When it comes time to apply to college, you will need to tell the story of who you are. Try to make the story one that’s really easy to show, not just tell.
Any favorite admission success stories you would like to share with us?
I think the best stories are not necessarily about the student who worked themselves to the bone and got into their top choice early decision (there are a lot of these), but about students who learned a lot about themselves in the application process, wound up at a school they truly loved, and graduated as a confident, prepared and happy young adult (There are a lot these as well!).
I’d like to tell one story of one student who is the combination of the two. I like it because his experience says a lot about growth mindset.
We were very worried about this student in 6th grade. He had not yet learned to manage his learning differences and needed a lot of extra help across the board. We worked together twice a week for all of middle school, trying to figure out the best ways to access his unique way of learning, get to the root of his “trouble-maker” spirit, and get him engaged in school. To be honest, it was very hard work and the progress was two steps forward one step back.
Between 8th and 9th grade, bit by bit, his motivation shifted, clarity improved, and, probably obviously, behavior changed. Eventually he created own study systems (that I could not have come up with; they needed to come from him). He honed those skills over the next four years, and wound up excelling in every academic subject and even landing a few key leadership positions at school. He also excelled in tennis. All of the gains seemed to happen in concert, which, I have found, is often the case.
When it came time to apply to college, we worked together on strategy and applications. He wrote his essay about his dream of using his unique perspective to help fight climate change. He got into a top, top university (his second choice, but not still a dream school) and graduated last year.
This student’s middle school teachers would never have guessed he would even make it to college, nevermind attend such a high-ranking school. I like to think I had a suspicion, but, truthfully, I wasn’t looking that far ahead. I think about that kid all the time. He taught me so much.
How do you balance work and being a parent?
First, I got lucky with my partner, who is very 50-50, or at least strives to be. He handles a lot of the “operations” of it all (ordering the diapers, laundry, etc.) I handle more of the “soft skills.” Otherwise, the best thing we did was find a small, at-home daycare that Henri really loves. It’s a huge relief to know that, when he is not with me, he is learning, having fun and being cared for so lovingly. It really feels like a family. I also like that they are flexible about schedules, so I can occasionally pick him up early and we can spend the afternoon together. That’s the best feeling. Makes me grateful to be my own boss.
What is the best piece of advice you’ve gotten from another parent?
Henri’s godparents told us that our job is to learn who our child is, not try to form them into our vision of a successful person. I find that idea joyful and freeing.
Also, zippers not snaps.
What do you like to do to relax/have fun for yourself and as a family?
As a family, we’re big on hiking with the dog in Pomerance Park, swimming in Byram Pool, and spending a day at Tod’s Point.
For adult time, I really love cooking and hosting friends. I’m a reader of literary fiction. I’ve also started needlepointing(?). I’m in my cottage-core era.
Anything else you’d like to share?
Please spread the word about Gen Prep. This fall, I’m offering a free Zoom tutoring session for every referral!
We love to support local businesses. What are your fave places when you are in Greenwich to:
Grab coffee: The Country Table. I’m there an embarrassing amount of times every week, when I’m not at Raphael’s.
Workout: I should really start working out! Henri is enormous, so he’s my workout right now.
Go on a date night: Our backyard with Luca’s and wine. Rowayton Seafood if we’re feeling ambitious.
Go out for a girls night: My friend Ilgaz’s
Go out to dinner as a family: Mediterraneo
