Hi! I'm Nathan!
I'm an academic tutor with a background in wilderness education, teen mentorship, and the liberal arts and humanities. As an undergraduate, I attended Deep Springs College, where I studied philosophy and political theory, and worked both on the college ranch and as an admissions committee member. After earning an AA from Deep Springs, I transferred to Columbia, where I graduated with honors in English and wrote a prize-winning thesis on Milton’s Paradise Lost. Between 2019 and 2023, I worked for Back to Earth, guiding teenagers from across the Bay Area on summer backpacking trips in the high Sierra, and have worked more recently at the Bay School of San Francisco, assisting in the Immersive Program. I’m currently an MA student at Freie Universität in Berlin, studying early-modern literature and philosophy.
I work with middle and high-school students who want to build confidence in their reading and writing abilities. Whether you want a stronger command over what you write, or simply want to get more from what you read, my goal is to help you develop and trust in your voice, observations, and instincts.
My approach is twofold: first, to train basic (but deceptively simple) skills—how to tighten sentences, organize a paragraph, and for how to read and take stock of what you have read. Second, and perhaps more importantly, my goal is conversation: to engage seriously with a student’s insights, serving as a mirror for their analytical process, and posing the questions that can strengthen it. I’m also excited to work with students who are interested in approaching more complex reading—in anything from literature or poetry to philosophy and political theory—by progressing through a given text with them and discussing regularly.
You can get in touch with me to schedule a free, introductory meeting at nathan[at]deepsprings.edu, 707-295-7547, or here: calendly.com/nathanbecker.
Tutoring in the arts and humanities
College Essay Mentorship
In addition to academic tutoring, I work with students who are writing (or preparing to write) their college essays. My goal is to help students take ownership of the application-writing process, as an opportunity to authentically articulate themselves and refine their thinking. Rather than a hassle of self-fashioning, I think the application writing process can be deeply rewarding, generative, and clarifying. What actually motivates me? Where do my curiosities actually point?
With experience working in highly-selective college admissions and mentoring teenagers at pivotal rite-of-passage moments, I hope to help students put a confident foot forward in their applications, and learn something about themselves in the process.
Some resources I like to use:
Hack the College Essay by John Dewis
The Deep Springs Writing Handbook by David Arndt
