Meet the Authors

The College Admission Story

When her daughter began the college admission process, journalist Christine VanDeVelde went looking for expert guidance at the bookstore and found not one authoritative, comprehensive guide. Christine complained to her friend Robin Mamlet, who was then dean of admission at Stanford University. Robin, meanwhile, had been thinking about how much she wanted to tell students and parents all that she had learned in her years as a dean of admission. "Want to write a book together?" she said. And that was the beginning of a beautiful partnership and College Admission: From Application to Acceptance, Step by Step.

The Authors

Throughout the college admission process, students are asked to explore who they are and who they want to become -- whether completing a questionnaire in our book, filling out the interest inventory on Naviance, or providing feedback to a guidance counselor. We figured turnabout is fair play, devised our own "self-assessment," and include it here with our bios so that you can get to know us a bit better. What follows is a combination of vital statistics, FAQs, and selective sections of the Proust Questionnaire, based on the French novelist's responses in a confession album, the late nineteenth century version of an "interest inventory." So, where are our essays? Our book should suffice.


Meet Robin Mamlet


Meet Christine VanDeVelde