Our Expert Tutors and Counsellors

Dan Escott (Academic Director)

Dan is our Academic Director and leads on all learning and teaching at UES. His experience is of teaching in schools in Philadelphia followed by many years of private SAT/ACT tuition in America and the UK. Having moved to London with over 5,000 hours of test prep experience, Dan utilizes his past decade of work in the United States as an ACT & SAT tutor to meet the needs of all students. He has taken over 80 ACTs and SATs in order to fully understand the test patterns and to be able to deconstruct both tests into clear, learnable entities.

Collaborating with his students, Dan breaks down each section into question types, patterns, and strategies that can be mastered through practice. This approach empowers his students to develop comfort, proficiency, and overall fluency with the standardized test. Dan works with both the students and their parents to ensure that his students set goals and remain accountable through purpose-driven homework. Interpersonal relationships are important to Dan, so he focuses on developing a strong rapport with his students and getting to know their motivators.

Dan holds a BA from Wake Forest University and an M.Ed from Eastern University. Prior to becoming a full time test tutor in 2014, Dan was a member of the Philadelphia Teaching Fellows’ eleventh cohort, an organization that seeks to bring high quality teachers to the most economically disadvantaged schools in the Philadelphia School District. Within the PSD, Dan taught social studies to students from 7th-12th grade and ran SAT workshops. Outside of education, Dan has recently relocated with his wife and two cats from Philadelphia to Crouch End. Dan religiously follows the Philadelphia 76ers (his hometown’s basketball franchise) and remains active through basketball, running, swimming, and lifting.

Laurence Varda (Lead Tutor)

Born in the UK, Laurence grew up in Palo Alto, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. He earned his B.S. in Mathematics at the University of California, San Diego, and went on to do his M.A. in Professional Acting at Bristol Old Vic Theatre School. In addition to tutoring, Laurence is an actor, and has toured nationally and internationally. He is passionate about theatre, cooking, and martial arts.

Laurence believes that working within a growth mindset is key to helping students maximize their potential, and that too many students incorrectly believe that the limiting factor in their success is their innate ability, as opposed to the effectiveness of their strategies. He is greatly motivated by his own experience in education, and understands how valuable it is for students to experience successes in their study that allow them to develop positive associations with the subjects they are covering. Having taught and studied in both the US and UK, Laurence has a deep understanding of the differences in approach, curriculum, and content between the two countries, and is experienced in bridging these gaps. He has tutored both in test prep, and as a supplement to regular classroom education. At UES, Laurence tutors all sections of the ACT, SAT, ISEE and SSAT, as well as both levels of the SAT Math Subject Tests.

Jared Michaud (Lead Tutor)

Jared grew up in rural northern Maine and graduated cum laude in 2019 from Yale University with a BA and Distinction in Theater Studies and a Certificate in Education Studies. He also studied under Janna Baty at the Yale School of Music and was awarded the Beekman Cannon Friends Prize and the Metcalfe Prize for the best music and theater essays, respectively. While at Yale, Jared served as an Academic Strategies Peer Mentor at the Poorvu Center for Teaching and Learning and as a Teaching Artist in numerous youth music and theater education contexts. Jared has offered college application advice and test prep services as a volunteer with REACH and a Teaching Assistant at Bowdoin College's Upward Bound program. His college application essays have been featured in The Road to Yale (2017) and on various college admissions websites.

Since Yale, Jared has received an MA in Music Education and Vocal Performance from the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance, and alongside tutoring, Jared works as a professional opera singer and music facilitator. He also was the recipient of the Yale Glee Club Service Through Music Fellowship, allowing him to live in Jerusalem and serve an Assistant Conductor and Dialogue Facilitator for the Israeli-Palestinian Jerusalem Youth Chorus. .

At UES, Jared specializes in tutoring both the Math and the English sections of the ACT and the SAT. Using a student-centered approach, Jared particularly cares about the needs, interests, and strengths of the students, rooted in the belief that the best path to academic success is full student engagement and commitment. His dialogic pedagogy constantly balances the enjoyment of the student with a deep understanding of concepts, ultimately making the content very approachable.

Olivia Munk

Olivia grew up in Queens, New York and attended Harvard University in 2012. She graduated Cum Laude in 2016 with a degree in English and a minor in Mind/Brain/Behavior. At Harvard, she was an active theatre director and wrote for The Crimson's magazine, Fifteen Minutes ,  for which she served as Editor-at-Large. She blogged for Harvard's Office for the Arts, and was a Becky Greenwald Ledecky Fellow for Harvard Magazine, which allowed her to write columns, news articles, and personal dispatches. After graduating, she went on to pursue a Master of Studies in English (1900-present) at St. Catherine's College, Oxford. She was awarded a Tier 1 Graduate Entrepreneur Visa in order to found her theatre company, Part of the Main, which focuses on improving the representation of women creatives and women's stories in the professional theatre industry.

At UES Olivia specializes in assisting students with both the Maths and English sides of the SAT and the ACT, as well as the ISEE/SSAT and AP Subject Tests. Olivia approaches tuition is a friendly manner, taking special consideration of a student's comfort. Olivia believes that when students feel supported in lessons, they are able to better engage and take an active role in their studies. Olivia excels at making the content approachable, particularly for students who may feel intimidated by the harder maths concepts such as algebra or complex American grammar concepts.

As well as tuition, Olivia also provides application support for personal statements, essays, and college choice. 

Aditi Periyannan

Having recently graduated from Tufts University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering with the highest honors, Aditi is currently studying as a postgraduate student at Imperial College London and The Royal College of Art.

Having grown up in California, Aditi has extensive experience with the American education system and the process of applying to American universities. As well as providing personalized tutoring for the ACT/SAT, Aditi also teaches a wide range of AP Exams, including BC Calculus, Environmental Science, Macroeconomics, Psychology, US History, and Art History.

While at University, Aditi mentored and tutored local high school students through the Society of Women Engineers to help with STEM (science, technology, engineering, and math) subjects as well as the college application process. Additionally, as a Girl Scout troop leader, she built strong relationships with parents, families, and local schools. Having gone through the American college application process herself, Aditi has the insight to help students both prepare for their tests as well as help students reach their full potential, and start university in the US.

Sean Kelly

Born in the north of England, Sean holds a BA in English language, graduating from the University of Manchester with First-Class Honours in 2008. Two years later, he became a fully qualified teacher and has amassed over ten years' experience teaching at prestigious secondary schools in the UK, Spain and the Middle East. During this time, he has gained a reputation for helping countless students to fulfil their academic potential.

Sean recognises that the most successful lessons take place in environments in which students feel comfortable and supported and so he believes that building a rapport with his students is a crucial part of the learning journey – something that he has always been successful in doing. Sean also aims to instil in his students the confidence to take ownership of their own learning; he sees this as crucial in developing into a well-rounded, successful individual.

Sean recently ventured into the world of full-time tutoring, using the skills and experience he has acquired over the years to prepare his students for a range of exams, including GCSE and A-level English. He now teaches all sections of the ACT and SAT.

In his free time, Sean likes to keep himself as physically active as possible. In recent years, he has developed a greater appreciation for the great outdoors and has spent many a chilly night in his tent in fields across the UK.