The College Solutions Blog

October 17, 2012

Ever thought about attending a Canadian university? A growing number of Americans are considering earning a college degree from up North. Actually, it’s not as far north as you might think because most Canadian universities are near the US border. Here are some reasons why you might want to consider exploring schools in Canada. 1. Reasonable price. The costs at...

October 15, 2012

I’m sharing an email that I received from an anxious dad in North Carolina, who asked me for advice about an early decision application.  I ran this post last year, but it will be just as helpful today for those contemplating applying to colleges via early decision. Here is what the dad wrote: Dilemma from a Dad from North Carolina...

October 12, 2012

Is your university need blind? I once saw a couple of  enthusiastic young admission reps from a pair of Catholic universities back East try to answer that question at a college conference. The reps were specifically asked whether their schools might reject some applicants if they required a lot of financial assistance. Both admission reps vigorously assured the counselor who...

October 10, 2012

Today I’m passing along a fascinating list that comes from Harvard Law School. The list you see below includes the 261 colleges and universities where members of the Class of 2013 law school students come from. Michelle Kretzschmur, the creator of Do-It-Yourself College Rankings sent me the link to the list because she knows how strongly I believe that students...

October 8, 2012

Believe it or not,  students do not have to pay a fortune to prepare for the SAT. Enrolling teenagers in a $1,000 or $2,000 program isn’t going to work if they aren’t motivated enough to study. Just using the resources that the College Board makes available for free and/or for a incredibly cheap price, can be all a teenager needs....

October 5, 2012

I’d love to hear from parents who have tried using the net price calculators that nearly every college and university must post on their websites. Have you had good experiences or have the net price calculators tried to trick you into believing that a school is going to be affordable? I’ll mention why I am asking in a minute. First...

October 3, 2012

Note: I ran this college blog post last year, but it’s equally relevant today… I got an email this week from a California mother who was happy that her child would be a attending St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a wonderful public liberal arts college, in the fall. Her husband, however, remained skeptical. He worried that his daughter would be...

October 1, 2012

I want to major in art. This is the college major that perhaps more than any other strikes fear in the hearts of parents, who worry that an art degree will condemn their children to a life eating Cheerio’s for dinner and driving old subcompacts with bald tires. The truth is there are a myriad of careers in a wide...

September 28, 2012

Many of the misconceptions that people possess about the college process revolve around financial aid. So with the college admission season heading into high gear, I am sharing the four financial aid myths that are probably the most common. Myth No. 1:  I make too much money to qualify for aid. You shouldn’t automatically assume that you won’t qualify for...

September 26, 2012

The College Board released its latest SAT score results this week and the results are once again disappointing. The average score for the reading portion of the SAT is at its lowest level in four decades. The high school seniors in the class of 2012 earned an average reading score of 496 out of a maximum of 800. That represents...