We’ve assembled some of the most well respected college admission professionals to write Getting In: The Zinch Guide to College Admissions and Financial Aid in the Digital Age , but just who comprises our team of college experts? Here’s a closer look at the individuals who’re making it happen.
Steve Cohen
Steve has been a publishing entrepreneur, author, and teacher for more than 25 years. A former marketing executive and publisher at Time and Scholastic, he is the founder and CEO of Brainquest.com, Multimedicus – created with Harvard and Dartmouth Medical Schools — and iCollegeBound.
Steve has been an adjunct faculty member at NYU, Fordham, and at the Stanford Publishing Course. In addition he has lectured at Dartmouth, Brown, and Columbia Business School.
Steve co-chaired the Clinton White House literacy task force Prescription for Reading Partnership. He is a Director Emeritus of the pediatric literacy initiative Reach Out and Read, and the United States Naval Institute. In addition, he attended the United States Naval Academy; received his BA from Brown, attended the University of California at Berkeley for graduate school, and is currently a candidate for a Juris Doctor at New York Law School.
Michael Muska
Mike has spent the last eleven years as Dean of College Relations at Poly Prep Country Day School in Brooklyn, New York, one of the region’s best private schools. There he places more than 100 students each year in top colleges and universities throughout the country and abroad. He previously worked in college counseling at Phillips Andover and Milton Academy in Massachusetts, two of the nation’s most prestigious prep schools.
Mike spent six years as Associate Director of Admissions at Brown University, and held senior athletic responsibilities there as well. Following Brown, Mike moved on to Oberlin College, where he was in charge of both admissions and athletics.
Mike’s early career in athletics was highlighted by twice being named the Southeastern Conference Coach of the Year in cross country while at Auburn University, and once as the Big Ten Coach of the Year at Northwestern University. During those years he coached more than twenty Division I All-Americans.
As an openly gay male, Muska became a national spokesman for gay student-athletes while serving as Oberlin College’s athletic director, and continues to lecture across the country on creating safe opportunities for all student-athletes.
Having worked in so many arenas of admission, college counseling and athletics, Muska is respected by college professionals and counseling colleagues and has served on numerous panels at both the NACAC and College Board Meetings. He is the co-author of the best-selling book Getting In! and is a regular contributor to Forbes, The Daily Beast, and More Magazine.
Mike graduated with honors in history from the University of Connecticut and earned his masters degree in Sports Studies and Administration from the University of Massachusetts. He resides in Brooklyn with his partner, Evan Sweet.
Anne Dwane
Anne is President and CEO of Zinch, the network connecting 3 million students globally with colleges, scholarships and graduate schools. As an entrepreneur, Anne is passionate about applying technology to education, college access, and enhancing career opportunities. In 1999, Anne co-founded Military.com to connect service members and veterans to their benefits, including GI Bill and tuition assistance. Military.com now serves over 10 million members and was acquired by Monster Worldwide in 2004.
At Monster, Anne led several businesses as General Manager, Affinity Networks. Previously, Anne was in business development at Paul Allen’s Interval Research Corporation in Silicon Valley, and in brand management for Nabisco’s Planters Peanuts. Anne holds a bachelors degree in Marketing and International Management from Georgetown University and an MBA from the Harvard Business School. She is a member of the 2010 class of Henry Crown Fellows at the Aspen Institute
Paulo DeOliveira
After graduating from Brown University, Paulo de Oliveira began his working life as an admission officer and Assistant Director of Admission at his alma mater. He went on to a 25 year career as a television programming executive and producer, working at companies including HBO, The Disney Channel, Universal Television and NBC-Universal and developing shows such as “Monk,” “Battlestar Galactica” and “Eureka.”
He now lives in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he is co-founder of an internet start-up and is a consultant on content development to traditional TV and Web 2.0 companies.
As another school year comes to a close chances are your child is one step closer to reaching their college pathway. At Zinch we recognize just how monumental of an experience this will be, and we wanted to take this opportunity to share the latest resource we’re making available to parents and students everywhere.
