Academe Advantage was founded in San Diego in July 2003. Academe Advantage has helped hundreds of clients improve their SAT, SAT II, ACT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT scores. We have also provided personalized college and graduate admissions counseling to clients nationwide.
Alana Albertson, Founder & Chief Education Officer
Masters of Education – Harvard University; Bachelors of Arts – Stanford University Alana Albertson founded Academe Advantage in 2003, after seeing the need for customized test preparation and college admission counseling. With twelve years of experience in college admission at both public and private universities and sixteen years of tutoring experience working with students and helping them get into college and graduate school, she has been on both sides of the admissions process and has an insider’s knowledge of the admissions game. She has also done extensive research on standardized testing and issues in educational access and equity and is currently an alumni admissions interviewer for Harvard University. Alana is also the President of Romance Writers of America’s Chick Lit Writers chapter and an author of contemporary romance and young adult fiction. She uses her writing skills to help her students add flair to their admissions essays. She is currently finishing a test preparation book addressing gender bias on the SAT. Alana has a Bachelors of Arts in English from Stanford University and a Masters of Education from Harvard University. When she’s not spending time with her husband, her son, and her menagerie of rescue pets, she can be found needlepointing, dancing, or playing the drums.
Joe Chulick, President
Masters of Business – University of Oregon; Bachelors of Arts – Whitman College Joe Chulick has over 12 years of proven experience in strategy, business development, corporate finance, merger and acquisitions, ecommerce and entrepreneurial marketing. Prior to joining Academe Advantage, he worked at Microsoft as a Group Product Manager in the Online Services Group and was responsible for MSN channel and portfolio strategy and quantifying the success of product initiatives. Prior to Microsoft, he worked at Cedar American Rail Holdings, a super-regional railroad, where he was responsible for strategic planning, capital improvement and acquisition projects. He also worked at Jefferies & Company, as a corporate finance analyst. Joe started his career working on Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. for U.S. Senator Larry Pressler as a Legislative Assistant assisting on Defense, Education and Indian Affairs issues. Joe is a graduate of Whitman College with a Bachelors of Arts in Economics and completed a Masters of Business Administration at the University of Oregon in Finance, with a specialization in Sports Business from the James H. Warsaw Sports Marketing Center. In his free time, Joe enjoys spending time with his son, playing tennis, playing piano and learning new musical instruments.
Joe and Alana learned early in their formative years the importance of education and giving back to the community from their father. Through his persistence and hard work, their father went to the Naval Academy after earning a highly competitive congressional appointment and went on to give back to the community throughout his career. Academe Advantage will continue the tradition of philanthropy by donating 10% of profits and 10% of our time to support education-based charities.
Roger Albertson, Chief Operating Officer
Masters of Business – Hawaii Pacific University; Bachelors of Arts – Hawaii Pacific University Roger Albertson honorably served ten years in the United States Marine Corps as a Staff Sergeant in the Communications field. He led 30 Marines on a daily basis and his duties included training Marines on communications equipment, field operations, and safety procedures. Roger has received numerous awards and medals to include the Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal, 3 Good Conduct Medals, Presidential Unit Citation, Global War on Terrorism Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal (Kuwait), 3 Sea Service Deployment ribbons, and 2 Certificates of Commendation. He has deployed to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Roger was raised in a military family and attended six different schools during his K-12 education. His difficult experience adapting to different school curriculums has made it a passion for him to improve the educational opportunities, especially for military children, formerly enlisted military adults and others facing similar challenges. A proud first generation college graduate, Roger has his Bachelors of Science in General Business from Hawaii Pacific University and is currently finishing his Master of Business Administration from Hawaii Pacific University. When not studying, Roger enjoys spending time with his wife Alana, their son Connor and their four rescue dogs. He also enjoys working out, mountain biking, hitting the fairway, or reading a good war novel.
