50 Successful Ivy League Application Essays - Tanabe Gen, Tanabe Kelly 2009

About the authors

Harvard Graduates gen and Kelly Tanabe are the founders of SuperCollege and the award-winning authors of eleven books including The Ultimate Scholarship Book, Accepted! 50 Successful College Admission Essays, Get Into Any College, Get Free Cash for College, and 1001 Ways to Pay for College.

Together, gen and Kelly were accepted to every school to which they applied, including all of the Ivy League colleges, and won more than $100,000 in merit-based scholarships. They were able to leave Harvard debt-free and their parents guilt-free.

gen and Kelly give workshops at high schools across the country and write the nationally syndicated “Ask the SuperCollege.com Experts” column. They have made hundreds of appearances on television and radio and have served as expert sources for respected publications including U.S. News & World Report, USA Today, The New York Times, Chicago Sun-Times, New York Daily News, Chronicle of Higher Education, and Seventeen.

gen grew up in Waialua, Hawaii. Between eating banana-flavored shave ice and basking in the sun, he was president of the Student Council, captain of the speech team, and a member of the tennis team.

A graduate of Waialua High School, he was the first student from his school to be accepted at Harvard. In college, gen was chair of the Eliot House Committee and graduated magna cum laude with a degree in both History and East Asian Studies.

Kelly attended Whitney High School, a nationally ranked public high school in her hometown of Cerritos, California. She was the editor of the school newspaper, assistant editor of the yearbook, and founder of a public service club to promote literacy. In college, she was the co-director of the HAnD public service program and the brave co-leader of a Brownie Troop. She graduated magna cum laude with a degree in Sociology.

gen, Kelly, their son Zane, and their dog Sushi live in Belmont, California.