Education:
BA, University of Virginia
MFA, University of Southern California
Ed Matthews is blessed with a dry (and sometimes not-so-dry) wit that you’ll discover soon after meeting him. Ask him if he has any pets: “I do. He’s a Roomba and his name is Jenkins.” Ask him what career he might have pursued had he not become a teacher: “Explorer. Is that still a thing? Sorta missed the boat on it. That being said, I probably would have died of scurvy on day three.” (You see what we mean?)
But despite his comedic instincts, he’s completely serious about the subject of raising his students’ GMAT scores, borrowing his instruction style from a series of gifted teachers from his past. “I was lucky to have some great math teachers during my formative years who went beyond simply teaching content. They enforced the applicability of mathematics - that it wasn’t just a bunch of rules, but an analytical way of solving problems. I find the underlying principles of those subjects are applicable in unexpected ways.” It’s an “under the hood” framework that Ed applies to his GMAT instruction now, along with an important lesson in time management: “I have something called a ‘Kitchen Safe’. It’s a container that locks on a timer. I put my cell phone, Xbox controller, dignity in there so I physically can't reach those things when the Distraction Fairy comes knocking. There's also a cool app called Freedom that blocks the internet.” Great advice, although it’s hard to imagine seeking outside entertainment if Ed is your instructor.
