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
ISEE Course Survey Results: Students Understand the Stakes
For Houston students applying to highly competitive private schools—such as Awty, Kinkaid, and St. John's—the ISEE admissions test is a [...]
Announcing our Children’s Reading Series the “Pembroke Pups”
At General Academic we are investing heavily in a bespoke English Language Arts (ELA) curriculum to support our Elementary Learning [...]
Mastering Math, Science, and More with Luke Kramer
By prioritizing each student's academic agency, Luke Kramer's tutoring sessions help them reach their SAT/ISEE test prep goals and [...]
State of Test-Optional College Admissions in Texas for 2026-2027
For Fall 2027, Rice University is test-optional, but recommends sending test scores. In 2020, the majority of US higher education [...]