Our Instructors >> Jamie Nelson
Jamie Nelson
At age two Jamie Nelson moved to Kimball, Nebraska (population 3,000 with one stoplight) from Madison, South Dakota (population 6,500 with a few stoplights) when her parents decided they wanted a less urban lifestyle. In Kimball Jamie endured various small town horrors, chief of which was having her mother as her junior high math teacher. However, Jamie’s mother Janice, a Presidential teaching award winner, made it up to Jamie by appointing her co-coach of Janice’s Mathcounts team during Jamie’s senior year of high school. The team won the district tournament and Jamie’s teaching career was launched.
Seeking a change in weather and population Jamie headed to Rice University in Houston, Texas, and graduated with a B.A. in psychology. She then went on to complete everything but her dissertation for a Ph.D. in counseling psychology at the University of Florida. During this time she taught SAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT for over eight years at another test prep firm, eventually becoming the teacher trainer for the north Florida region.
Jamie then served as a senior director of a small financial software company and upon its sale took the GMAT, scoring a 770. She recently earned an M.S. degree in financial planning and has made it her mission in life to teach everyone she meets to use a financial calculator. Currently she is a partner in three business ventures and sits on the boards of two charitable organizations.
Jamie lives with her husband and two cats in Katy, Texas, and enjoys reading, traveling, scuba diving, opera, sports, and dressing up as science fiction characters for Halloween (ask her how to make Princess Leia’s bun hairdo from two Walgreens clip-on ponytails). She considers teaching her favorite activity and derives great satisfaction from helping students master challenging material and attain their score goals.
Feedback From Jamie’s Recent Students
“Jamie also has a phenomenal grasp on the GMAT content. She was able to answer questions effectively, and had an extremely welcoming and positive attitude. I especially appreciated her willingness to reach out to students and make sure they knew she was available to help them with any questions/concerns outside of class time.”
“Jamie did an outstanding job with answering questions. Even when students asked questions about something she had previously explained, she did so patiently. I never felt like asking a question would be a problem. Jamie was extremely clear in her explanations and highly motivating.”
