Corporate Profile
General Academic is Houston’s premier tutoring, test prep, and college counseling consultancy—and a global leader in K12 education publishing. Our mission is to be a knowledge leader and trusted educator to enable our students and employees to realize their aspirations.
Our consumer services include K12 tutoring, test preparation, enrichment, and college counseling. Our institutional services include college counseling and test prep programs plus school market analysis and corporate relocation consulting.
Our publications include The Houston School Survey, more than 70 full-length practice tests for the ISEE, ACT, and SAT, and digital learning lessons in math and English.
Born out of a Rice University dorm room in 2003, General Academic is headquartered in Houston. Our team currently includes approximately 70 brilliant, professional, and charismatic tutors, instructors, writers, editors, and managers.
Our small size and local ownership enable us to more closely tailor our services to our clients’ needs. Simultaneously, our strong management and corporate identity ensure that students receive a top quality and well-supported product.
We believe that education is fundamental in creating more opportunities and a better society, and we continually strive to make our expertise and services available to more people across the globe.
Company History
General Academic’s history is one of young adulthood and the continual pursuit of the next adventure in the name of making the world a better place.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Shelby Joe incorporates General Academic in Jackson, Mississippi on August 11, 2003, just a few weeks before matriculating at Rice University.
On May 12, 2007, Shelby graduates from Rice University with a BA in Political Science and joins a management consulting firm. Aerin Williams, a Rice undergraduate, assumes management of day to day operations.
In 2009, the Great Recession is at its worst yet Shelby joins with Stephen Hayes to open the company’s first physical location at the corner of University and Morningside in the heart of the Rice Village.
By 2013, General Academic has outgrown its original location and moves one mile north to its current site at 2427 Bartlett St. The new office is the hip, loft-style Shelby has always wanted and offers more than 4,500 ft² of learning space.
General Academic commits to significant investment in publications in 2015. It takes its marquee book on Houston schools online and prints the most comprehensive prep book on the ISEE, “ISEE Upper Level Prep Guide with 6 Full-Length Practice Tests.”
Today, General Academic is an integrated tutoring, consulting, and publishing powerhouse. The Company’s publications include the Houston School Survey, more than 30 full-length practice tests for the ISEE, SAT, and ACT, and a partnership with Piqosity.com to publish digital learning content.
Our Latest News and Analysis
What is Executive Function and How Students Can Improve It
Executive functions are the suite of cognitive abilities that allows students to plan, focus, manage tasks, and regulate behaviors. Developing [...]
Houston’s National Merit Semifinalists for 2025-2026
Houston's Graduating Seniors Outperform The 2025-2026 National Merit Scholarship Competition is another good year for Houston-area high school seniors. [...]
Instilling Confidence and Skill: Meet Tutor Alice Kim
Alice has tutoring experience in subjects and test prep across the board, loves learning languages (and helping others learn), and [...]
Every Student Accounted For: Meet Tutor Trey Richard
Trey is a passionate and uplifting tutor who loves teaching test prep and seeing his students grow in their pursuit [...]