Barbara Austin PhD

Barbara Austin, PhD

Barbara Austin has spent 30 years sitting across the table from anxious families who did everything right and still felt lost. As founder of College Quest in the San Francisco Bay Area, she has guided thousands of students through the college admissions process with a remarkably high success rate.

She knows something most families don’t: elite colleges are not meritocracies. They are story competitions. And the students who win aren’t necessarily the most accomplished. They’re the most visible.

Barbara is the author of From Star to Superstar: The Asian American Guide to Elite Colleges, the Great Strategies College Guides series, including 50 Great Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About College and the forthcoming The Debt-Free Dream: 33 Great Strategies Smart Parents Use to Cut College Costs (Summer 2026).

She lives and writes in Oakland and Sea Ranch, California with her daughter, Izzy, and her 2 dogs.