Marcia Custer

DEVELOPMENT & APPLICATION COACH
ACADEMIC INSTRUCTOR

Marcia is a passionate educator whose joyful approach to learning makes her a fan favorite with students. She specializes in working with ambitious AP and IB-level students, which includes many teens who have neurodivergent brains! With an interdisciplinary background in the social sciences, art, and language, Marcia skillfully guides students through AP humanities courses (fun fact: her students all score 4s and 5s on their exams). After graduating summa cum laude from Kent State University and earning a post-bacc from Bryn Mawr, Marcia taught at several arts institutions and universities. She’s taken her creative work on national tours, and received the Andy Warhol Foundation’s Satellite Grant. With her infectious enthusiasm, approachable personality, and knack for identifying just the right story, Marcia draws out students’ authentic voices in college applications.

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I am a deeply rigorous student, creative professional, and tutor. I believe that the best way to inspire others, in both art and education, is through asking questions, honing a deeply empathetic rapport with others, and finding joy in all of it. Learning can be thrilling! I bring this enthusiasm to my tutoring sessions, offering individualized and compassionate coaching strategies to help students find their own threads and motivations for doing the work — with a healthy dose of outside accountability. With years of experience amplifying voices and honing storytelling skills as a dramaturg, educator, and tutor, I know that all learning is grounded in creativity.

I found my passion for scholarship early, as a voracious reader and questioner of authority. I hit my stride in high school where I was able to take IB courses and appreciate the global perspective that I so craved. As someone with so many passions, my college studies were interdisciplinary. These multiple perspectives inform everything I do. This summer, as I pored over manuscripts at El Monasterio Escorial in Spain, I thought of the creativity required of women as they navigated power, the Church, and accessing their own spirituality, education, and bodily autonomy.