about the author

Like Cecily, Claire Zulkey did everything you’re supposed to do before graduating high school, if a little more intensely: she attended an SAT class, took the SATs a second time to improve her math score, had a private college counselor, and applied to ten schools before choosing Georgetown University.

While An Off Year is a work of fiction, Claire drew on some real-life experiences: she did have a private college admissions coach; she got into her first choice (Georgetown), despite having had a similarly named class-mate’s transcript submitted instead of her own; and, like her character Kate, Claire’s freshman year roommate was a New Yorker named Liz, but the real Liz’s accent wasn’t fake and she did not bring beer with her when she moved into the room.

Since graduating in 2001, Claire has written for such publications as WallStreetJournal.com, the Chicago Tribune, ElleGirl, Modern Bride, and the Huffington Post and received her Masters in Creative Writing from Northwestern University and has decided that she is done with school for a while. An early blogger, she is also the creator of Zulkey.com, which has been featured in the New Yorker, USA Today, and on Anderson Cooper 360°.