Test Prep Tutoring & College Counseling

Tailored College Admission Counseling, Academic Tutoring and Test Prep Tutoring

Marks Education College Admission Counseling and Test Prep Tutoring in Bethesda, Maryland, McLean, Virginia and Washington, D.C., was founded by Nina Marks in 2004, building on her many years of distinguished teaching, leadership, and college counseling at the National Cathedral School in Washington, DC. In 2006, Nitin Sawhney started the Tutoring Division of Marks Education, which has enjoyed extraordinary test prep tutoring results. Since then, we’ve added counseling services for K-12, graduate and professional, and graduate school admission counseling. This completed our vision to help students at every educational level.

The firm continues to grow, offering wide-ranging services in counseling and tutoring for students and families around the world. The entire team at Marks Education—counselors, tutors, and staff—deeply believes in the values that inspired Nina to start the firm.

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Our Values:

Dedication to each student’s needs, to finding unique educational opportunities that fit his or her interests, goals, and strengths
Care for all clients, offering them tailored support, knowing that the admission process can be confusing and stressful
Commitment to leadership and understanding current trends, and service as “thought leaders” in higher education
Excellence in strategic thinking, finding the best academic and personal fit for each student

Getting the opportunity to work with Nisha Sardella turned the stressful and scary experience of applying to law school into a genuinely enjoyable one. She is extremely smart, confident, funny, and friendly. What’s more, she genuinely understands how nerve-racking the process is and is immensely supportive. Her expert experience was evident from the first meeting that we had. Marks Education improved each of my applications significantly, through editing, proofing, and very thoughtful suggestions. What’s more, Ms. Sardella and the rest of the team at Marks Education just knows how to navigate the process: they know how to break down each step, each objective, and each aspect of what applicants must deliver.

— Joe Krakoff

The team at Marks Education was very helpful to my college application process. The planning of my high school class selection, provided by Nina Marks and Ian Perez was especially helpful.

My essay advisor, Hugh McIntosh, worked with me to refine broad ideas to concise, strong personal statements and supplemental questions. The fall of senior year is inevitably a difficult time, but Mark’s Education made it clear and painless.

— STUDENT ENTERING NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY, CLASS OF 2023

We are thrilled with the superb assistance our daughter received from Robert Clark. We are more than pleased. Not only with the results, but with what he taught our daughter about her writing, and about herself. THANK YOU!

— Parent of a student transferring from New York University

After one of our meetings with Shivani, I filled my husband in with her follow up memo from the meeting and subsequent email and conversation, and he said, ‘Shivani is worth her weight in gold!!’ I share the sentiment.

— Anne and Michael Dawson, Washington, DC

I had an excellent experience working with Marks Education. Being a recruited athlete, I had a particularly rushed and unique timeline towards the end of the process but my counselor, Hugh McIntosh, was fully invested and made himself available multiple times per day in addition to reviewing my essays and application online many times. I am so grateful for all of their help throughout the entire process and thrilled to be going to my top choice college next year.

— STUDENT ENTERING PRINCETON UNIVERSITY, OF CLASS OF 2023

In addition to Marks Education’s sage advice on the entire application process, they did a terrific job of drawing our son into the process and helping him take ownership of his college applications.

— Claudius and Deirdre Modesti, Arlington, VA

Samantha Magliato

University of Colorado School of Medicine Class of 2024

I am SO grateful for all your help over this past year and really can’t thank you enough for supporting and pushing me to be the best applicant I could be. It’s been incredible to have you by my side through all of it. The process of applying to medical school is daunting and challenging but having someone there to help navigate through it was invaluable! I couldn’t be more excited to take on this new adventure!!

— Samantha M, University of Colorado School of Medicine Class of 2024

We had nothing short of the best college prep experience with Marks Education and in particular, with Susannah. From the beginning, she helped us navigate the college admissions process and worked with us to identify the best schools for our son to consider. Susannah was always available for questions and advice, even in the middle of college tours when our questions were time sensitive.

Because of the detailed timelines Marks Education provided, we knew our to-do’s well in advance and our son had ample time to prepare his applications and essays. Susannah’s feedback on his application details and essay drafts was quick, thoughtful, and incredibly helpful. He ultimately settled on applying Early Decision to his first-choice school, which Susannah helped us determine by matching his profile and interests; her insights and suggestions lead us far beyond the information we researched on our own.

Most importantly, Susannah made the admissions process significantly easier to understand and navigate, which in turn eliminated the tension and stress otherwise associated with applications. As parents, we really appreciate how calm she made us, and more importantly, how comfortable she made our son. Susannah established a terrific working relationship with him, and he was happy to reach out with questions and concerns of his own.

As our younger children make their way through high school, we can only look forward to working with Susannah and Marks Education.

— Scott S., parent

“Meg Singer assisted our son, Nick, in writing his common app essay, and also supplemental essays for two additional colleges to which he applied. Meg was just terrific. She initially met with Nick to outline the essays, and then followed up with reviews and edits of several drafts of each of the essays. Meg was tirelessly patient and encouraging at every step. When the essays were completed, Meg had them reviewed internally at Marks by other readers who had previously been employed in college admissions departments. After Meg and her colleagues had completed their reviews and the essays were at last final, we were confident that the essays were high quality. The proof was that Nick was admitted to all the colleges to which he applied! We cannot say enough about the assistance that Meg gave us and would recommend her and Marks Education unhesitatingly. Thank you, Meg!”

— Michael Leahy Washington, D.C.

Working with Nisha was a great experience. I attribute a great deal of my acceptance to my top choice medical school to Nisha’s insight and ability . . . Thank you, Nisha!

— Medical Student, University of Maryland, Class of 2019

Working with Hugh was incredibly helpful. I went into the essay process intimated by the vast number of essays and worried that I wouldn’t have anything to write about. Hugh broke the process down so that writing countless essays seemed simple. He was also really helpful in the brainstorming process. With regards to the writing process, Hugh always offered constructive and insightful criticism that helped me write essays that I was really proud of. Most importantly all of his advice worked and I got into my first choice college!

— STUDENT ENTERING STANFORD UNIVERSITY, CLASS OF 2023