Meet The Team
Julia Clausen
Director of online programs
Over the last decade of SAT/ACT/AP test prep tutoring, through different formats and platforms and curricula, Julia has worked with so many students for whom standardized testing was one of the biggest barriers to their future success. She joined Higher Scores to develop comprehensive, accessible test prep curriculum that shows students how to make the test work for them, not the other way around.
She has a BA in English from University of California, Irvine and an MSc in Social and Cultural Anthropology from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, the oldest university in Belgium and consistently ranked in the top 100 globally.
Christina Varner
Head Teacher – Math Specialist
Christina brings 10 years in high school level math education to Higher Scores. She has been tutoring students privately in both subject specific content and test prep for over a decade. As a former teacher, she strives to engage students from Algebra 1 to Statistics so that they gain greater math understanding through productive struggle–drawing their own connections and making their own discoveries.
Christina Varner holds bachelor’s degrees in both mathematics and economics from CSU Bakersfield, and she has a California teaching credential. She is trained specifically in educational technology and math mindset, which helps students develop mathematical confidence and understanding. She has contributed to various district curriculum committees, charged with the development of activities and assessments for use in classrooms across the Kern High School District.
Kat Clowes
CEO – College Admissions Consultant
Kat originally fell in love with the college admissions journey after completing high school a year early and navigating the ins and outs of the process with her dad. (She and her dad still marvel at all the things they wish they would have known about admissions before applying).
After completing her Bachelors in Communications at Santa Clara University, she began working in Hollywood (on the business side) before landing a job at a community college as a costume designer. It was there that she remembered her love of the admissions process again as she helped her transfer students navigate their own admissions journey.
Kat completed her Master’s in Business Administration with an emphasis in Entrepreneurship from Mount St. Maryโs University in Los Angeles and her postgraduate certificate in Educational Consulting from the University of California, Irvine. She started her own firm, March Consulting, to help families like her own navigate the admissions process. In the past 10 years, she has helped hundreds of families earn thousands in scholarships and advance to the colleges of their dreams.