With the 2003 arrival of Atoosa Rubenstein as editor-in-chief, focusing on "real girls" became the magazine's mission at this teen mag, writes Cortney Harding. As executive editor Leslie Heilbrunn says, the magazine's "about and for real girls. We want to understand the way they live today, and help them achieve their goals. They want to look good, be healthy, and take care of themselves." Furthermore, she asserts that "an extraordinarily high percentage of the young women featured in our pages are real girls, not models." The gates are open to freelancers when it comes to health and news stories for the "My Life," "Exposed," and "Trauma" sections. Save your fashion, beauty, and celebrity stories for another outlet, though. Pitch via e or snail mail.

Audience-wise, Heilbrunn points out that the average Seventeen reader is over 16, and that the magazine gears its coverage towards high school seniors and college freshmen.