Is Atlas LSAT prep part of Kaplan? Forum

[janetrey]

Thanks.

[sarlis]

No, I don't think so; I took the Kaplan course and there was no "Atlas Prep" in any of the coursework or materials

[PoliticalJunkie]

No. Atlas was started by the folks at Manhattan GMAT.

[janetrey]

Rumor is they were both acquired by Kaplan.

[PoliticalJunkie]

Never heard of that. I took Manhattan GMAT and at the time they were not Kaplan-related (about 8 months ago). Something might have changed...

[bluejayk]

Rumor is they were both acquired by Kaplan.

Is this the word on the streets?

[uvalaw2013]

Rumor is they were both acquired by Kaplan.

Is this the word on the streets?

+1

I highly doubt this though. You can PM atlas instructors if you want. He/she posts here often.

[janetrey]

It is both the word on the street AND the scuttlebutt

[Jose Ferreira]

Kaplan HAS acquired Manhattan GMAT/Atlas Test Prep.

[tomwatts]

If that has in fact occurred, I'd expect there to be some mention of it somewhere on the Internet other than here. I can't find it. Source?

[jaydizzle]

Maybe the Atlas Prep guy will be able to clarify this for us soon.

[tomwatts]

The continuing lack of comment from him makes me wonder what's up.

[VeritasPrep]

These companies/brands have most definitely been acquired by Kaplan:

http://bx.businessweek.com/mba-admissio ... d1b49b818/

[jaydizzle]

LOL at all of these one posters coming in to chime in. We get it, the guy was bought by them and you want all of us to know. You realize most people here dislike Kaplan so you want us to turn to your prep company.

I sure hope Atlas LSAT prep comments in this thread soon. The guy lives on TLS. Perhaps some legalities prohibit him from commenting yet?

[Atlas LSAT Teacher]

Sorry for the delay in response, but yes, Atlas LSAT was acquired by Kaplan.

As folks may or may not know, we’re the sister company of MGMAT, which was also acquired by Kaplan. The founder of the MGMAT/Atlas family, Zeke Vanderhoek, has opened a charter school (I’m actually really excited about it – as it operates with many of the same principles as we do, for example, they pay their teachers 125K – here’s some information about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/nyreg ... ref=slogin). As you can imagine, being a principal is not a part-time job, so he wasn’t really able to be as involved with the companies as he wished.

Clearly Kaplan and Atlas are competitors, so the purchase may seem strange. But Kaplan has told us in no uncertain terms to do what we do and to do it in the way we do it. At the core of our company is an exceedingly selective hiring process, very high teacher compensation compared to our competitors ($100/hr), and a curriculum geared towards the 170+ crowd. None of that will change. Atlas will continue to operate independently with our own staff, teachers, curriculum, etc. We will continue to run our own public LSAT help forum as well.

So, if you’re reading this because you’re interested in prepping with Atlas, the basic line is, nothing is changing from your point of view.

Again, sorry for the silence. Since Kaplan just became our parent, we had to wait for various types of dust to settle before making any public confirmation. I responded to anyone who privately asked me, as a few TLSers can attest to.

If someone has a question about this, feel free to pm or e-mail me at noah@atlaslsat.com

Noah Teitelbaum
Managing Director
Atlas LSAT
http://www.atlaslsat.com

[jaydizzle]

Sorry for the delay in response, but yes, Atlas LSAT was acquired by Kaplan.

As folks may or may not know, we’re the sister company of MGMAT, which was also acquired by Kaplan. The founder of the MGMAT/Atlas family, Zeke Vanderhoek, has opened a charter school (I’m actually really excited about it – as it operates with many of the same principles as we do, for example, they pay their teachers 125K – here’s some information about it: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/07/nyreg ... ref=slogin). As you can imagine, being a principal is not a part-time job, so he wasn’t really able to be as involved with the companies as he wished.

Clearly Kaplan and Atlas are competitors, so the purchase may seem strange. But Kaplan has told us in no uncertain terms to do what we do and to do it in the way we do it. At the core of our company is an exceedingly selective hiring process, very high teacher compensation compared to our competitors ($100/hr), and a curriculum geared towards the 170+ crowd. None of that will change. Atlas will continue to operate independently with our own staff, teachers, curriculum, etc. We will continue to run our own public LSAT help forum as well.

So, if you’re reading this because you’re interested in prepping with Atlas, the basic line is, nothing is changing from your point of view.

Again, sorry for the silence. Since Kaplan just became our parent, we had to wait for various types of dust to settle before making any public confirmation. I responded to anyone who privately asked me, as a few TLSers can attest to.

If someone has a question about this, feel free to pm or e-mail me at noah@atlaslsat.com

Noah Teitelbaum
Managing Director
Atlas LSAT
http://www.atlaslsat.com

See, the guy wasn't hiding anything.....

[tomwatts]

As a competitor myself, I find this interesting (and I know that acquisitions take time, so I understand the delay in saying anything). I wonder if for the long term Kaplan will do what we did with Hyperlearning MCAT - basically just replace our MCAT courses with theirs - or try to do something else. Presumably no one knows yet.

[Atlas LSAT Teacher]

Good question, but that's definitely not the plan. We're running separate programs, including content.

[VeritasPrep]

Obviously we have a vested interest in getting the word out there about this acquisition (after all, if Kaplan's reputation were sterling, then it wouldn't be so easy for competitors to keep popping up and taking their market share). But what I don't understand is, if Kaplan intends to not really touch Manhattan/Atlas, then why buy it?

Noah stated that the reason Zeke sold the company is because he doesn't have enough time to devote to it because of TEP -- makes sense. But that also means that he expects their management to come in and take over duties that Zeke could no longer fulfill. So, that would mean that the staff won't really be separate, at least not over time.

As a competitor to both companies, we actually have a great deal of respect for Manhattan GMAT / Atlas LSAT and for Kaplan. But, if Kaplan really promises not to touch it, and Zeke's leadership was so important for Manhattan GMAT / Atlast LSAT up until now, then who's running the ship now?? Either Kaplan paid too much since it won't be able to change anything (and are just acquiring a revenue stream that already exists), or they'll have no choice but to start running the subsidiary (in order to get their money's worth), which will probably mean the two companies will start to look more and more alike over time.

[jaydizzle]

Obviously we have a vested interest in getting the word out there about this acquisition (after all, if Kaplan's reputation were sterling, then it wouldn't be so easy for competitors to keep popping up and taking their market share). But what I don't understand is, if Kaplan intends to not really touch Manhattan/Atlas, then why buy it?

Noah stated that the reason Zeke sold the company is because he doesn't have enough time to devote to it because of TEP -- makes sense. But that also means that he expects their management to come in and take over duties that Zeke could no longer fulfill. So, that would mean that the staff won't really be separate, at least not over time.

As a competitor to both companies, we actually have a great deal of respect for Manhattan GMAT / Atlas LSAT and for Kaplan. But, if Kaplan really promises not to touch it, and Zeke's leadership was so important for Manhattan GMAT / Atlast LSAT up until now, then who's running the ship now?? Either Kaplan paid too much since it won't be able to change anything (and are just acquiring a revenue stream that already exists), or they'll have no choice but to start running the subsidiary (in order to get their money's worth), which will probably mean the two companies will start to look more and more alike over time.

I'm thinking it is because of the revenue stream. I'll give the guy the benefit of the doubt. Time will tell.

[bluejayk]

Yeah, but it's hard for me to see how Kaplan leaving Atlas alone makes much sense. Sure, you get to have the revenue from this tiny, tiny company, but that's not going to make any significant difference in Kaplan's bottom line. Kaplan is much bigger than TPR, TM, PS, which are all quite a bit bigger than Atlas (I'll admit I'm pulling this information out of my ass, if anyone can correct me, thanks). Google doesn't buy XYZ startup company because it wants a piece of their $8 million annual revenue, they buy it because they want to absorb the intellectual property. I gotta figure it's the same thing with Kaplan, they want Manhattan GMAT/Atlas LSAT's methodology. I have seen Manhattan GMAT's books, they are way, way, way higher quality than anything else out there for sale in bookstores, kinda like what was true of Powerscore 3-4 years ago. Maybe now Kaplan can slap their name on it and actually publish a book that's not filled with guessing strategies and motivational bullshit.

[IHaveDietMoxie]

Yeah, but it's hard for me to see how Kaplan leaving Atlas alone makes much sense. Sure, you get to have the revenue from this tiny, tiny company, but that's not going to make any significant difference in Kaplan's bottom line. Kaplan is much bigger than TPR, TM, PS, which are all quite a bit bigger than Atlas (I'll admit I'm pulling this information out of my ass, if anyone can correct me, thanks). Google doesn't buy XYZ startup company because it wants a piece of their $8 million annual revenue, they buy it because they want to absorb the intellectual property. I gotta figure it's the same thing with Kaplan, they want Manhattan GMAT/Atlas LSAT's methodology. I have seen Manhattan GMAT's books, they are way, way, way higher quality than anything else out there for sale in bookstores, kinda like what was true of Powerscore 3-4 years ago. Maybe now Kaplan can slap their name on it and actually publish a book that's not filled with guessing strategies and motivational bullshit.

I hope that this is the reason, not that they simply wanted to nip a potential competitor in the bud while maintaining the dominance of their crappy system

[jaydizzle]

Yeah, but it's hard for me to see how Kaplan leaving Atlas alone makes much sense. Sure, you get to have the revenue from this tiny, tiny company, but that's not going to make any significant difference in Kaplan's bottom line. Kaplan is much bigger than TPR, TM, PS, which are all quite a bit bigger than Atlas (I'll admit I'm pulling this information out of my ass, if anyone can correct me, thanks). Google doesn't buy XYZ startup company because it wants a piece of their $8 million annual revenue, they buy it because they want to absorb the intellectual property. I gotta figure it's the same thing with Kaplan, they want Manhattan GMAT/Atlas LSAT's methodology. I have seen Manhattan GMAT's books, they are way, way, way higher quality than anything else out there for sale in bookstores, kinda like what was true of Powerscore 3-4 years ago. Maybe now Kaplan can slap their name on it and actually publish a book that's not filled with guessing strategies and motivational bullshit.

I hope that this is the reason, not that they simply wanted to nip a potential competitor in the bud while maintaining the dominance of their crappy system

Yikes! I'm trying not to think of something like this happening because Atlas seems to be pretty good.

[tomwatts]

As a Princeton Review employee, I confess a large amount of curiosity about how Kaplan is going to market this at events. How are they going to describe, in markets where customers have the option of choosing between a MGMAT/Atlas class and a Kaplan class, which class to take?

[cubswin]

Clearly Kaplan and Atlas are competitors, so the purchase may seem strange. But Kaplan has told us in no uncertain terms to do what we do and to do it in the way we do it. At the core of our company is an exceedingly selective hiring process, very high teacher compensation compared to our competitors ($100/hr), and a curriculum geared towards the 170+ crowd. None of that will change. Atlas will continue to operate independently with our own staff, teachers, curriculum, etc. We will continue to run our own public LSAT help forum as well.

Yeah, but it's hard for me to see how Kaplan leaving Atlas alone makes much sense. Sure, you get to have the revenue from this tiny, tiny company, but that's not going to make any significant difference in Kaplan's bottom line. Kaplan is much bigger than TPR, TM, PS, which are all quite a bit bigger than Atlas (I'll admit I'm pulling this information out of my ass, if anyone can correct me, thanks). Google doesn't buy XYZ startup company because it wants a piece of their $8 million annual revenue, they buy it because they want to absorb the intellectual property. I gotta figure it's the same thing with Kaplan, they want Manhattan GMAT/Atlas LSAT's methodology. I have seen Manhattan GMAT's books, they are way, way, way higher quality than anything else out there for sale in bookstores, kinda like what was true of Powerscore 3-4 years ago. Maybe now Kaplan can slap their name on it and actually publish a book that's not filled with guessing strategies and motivational bullshit.

I don't know, I could see Kaplan maintaining their crappy material as-is, since it seems to be working (business-wise). Maybe Atlas will just be their luxury brand, a way to make money off of people who would never buy Kaplan because of its (accurate) reputation of targeting the LCD.