Betsy Carroll

Bio & Expertise: A beloved NYC Stand-up comic by night and established computer science practitioner by day, Betsy Carroll has the unique ability to be a ray of sunshine on even the most intimidating and confidence-shattering topics in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Once you meet her, it's no wonder that she has come to be affectionately referred to as “The Legally Blonde of STEM” by her classmates at university and her colleagues in her Software and Machine Learning Engineering career.

In addition to her charismatic, fun energy and sense of humor, the key to Betsy’s success as a tutor is her empathy, which she acquired through firsthand experience: she knows what it’s like to not absorb or understand things the same way (nor as quickly) as the other kids. She went from struggling to even keep up as a child due to learning difficulties (not being held back was an annual struggle for Betsy as a lower schooler at Nightingale), to reaching the top of her class and gaining admittance to and thriving at her dream school, Columbia, for college (Mathematics and Architecture) and graduate school (Machine Learning and Computer Science), and becoming a successful professional engineer. The fact that she carved out a career in the elite field of Artificial Intelligence as a computer programmer still blows her mind: Betsy is living proof that grit is a learned skill that will take you as far as your dreams. Because of her own life experience, she knows that a child’s comprehension differences are actually what can make them an even stronger Math student than their classmates in the end, so long as you can identify their obstacles and thus their corresponding strengths.

Though her STEM expertise goes up to the highest grad school level, she loves working with very young children just as much as more advanced older kids, for this very reason: in her experience, children as young as 3rd grade are at such a major crossroads in their attitude towards Math and Science, and Betsy particularly excels at showing them the way before they take up the kind of adaptive coping mechanisms that are not exactly right for them and serve as a band-aid covering up deeper issues. Applying the same curiosity, vigor, and unique “nothing is assumed true” mindset that got her to the top of all her Math classes, she will figure out why your kid “doesn’t get” their material. She truly believes that everyone can be good (or at least significantly better) at Math if only they figure out their way in. She will not just spoon feed your kid the content, as that is fleeting, easily shaken, and unsustainable (not to mention a bad financial investment for parents)—instead, she will teach them how to think visually, spatially, and algorithmically; how to take in new information in the way that is most efficient for them; how to love Math because it is beautiful, awe-inspiring and incredible; and most importantly, how to relax and enjoy the process of achieving their academic dreams, ‘cuz nothing is that serious!

Location: NYC In-Person + Virtual

Fun Fact: Betsy does stand up comedy in the evenings!

Contact: beatrixcarroll@gmail.com