User:Britt491/sandbox

Dessen attended Greensboro College in Greensboro, North Carolina, but dropped out not long after to enroll herself at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, to take classes in Creative Writing, resulting in her graduating with highest honors in Creative Writing.

Dessen was born to Alan and Cynthia Dessen, who were both professors at the University of North Carolina, teaching classicism and Shakespearean literature.

She later went on to quit her job as a waitress after the publication of her first book, That Summer, which was published in 1996.

Because of the publication of Along for the Ride, Dessen was now referred to a "best-seller machine".