The College Solutions Blog

Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.

Finding the Success Rates for Law, Medical, MBA and Grad Programs

I’m answering a question today from a reader, who is interested in locating MBA placement rates. The advice is also pertinent to those wondering if a particular school will give a child a boost when applying to graduate school and other professional degree programs. Is there any info out there on colleges with a good track record for MBA admissions...

Finding the Success Rates for Law, Medical, MBA and Grad Programs

I’m answering a question today from a reader, who is interested in locating MBA placement rates. The advice is also pertinent to those wondering if a particular school will give a child a boost when applying to graduate school and other professional degree programs. Is there any info out there on colleges with a good track record for MBA admissions...

Answering Your College Questions

Last week people posted questions on The College Solution’s Facebook page that I promised to answer after visiting a regional college conference in Reno. I started chipping away at the questions last week with these two posts: Answering Your SAT and ACT Questions The Realities of Merit Scholarship Facebook Questions Today I am answering questions about admission requirements, SAT/ACT practices...

Answering Your SAT and ACT Questions

Earlier this week on my Facebook page, I asked folks to send me questions to ask college admission representatives at a Western college conference that I am attending. I got about three dozen questions from parents and I hope to answer as many as I can in upcoming posts. Today I’m going to start addressing some standardized test questions. It’s...

The Realities of Merit Scholarships

I am attending something called the Super ACAC conference this week in Reno, NV. It’s a rare combined meeting of three related organizations that cover California, the Pacific Northwest and much of the rest of the western United States. College admission administrators, high school counselors and independent college consultants are attending the conference. On my Facebook page on Monday, I...

Agonizing Before the Buzzer Rings

The time for agonizing is over. It’s college decision day which means the parents of high school seniors have little time left before they must put down their college deposits. As the deadline loomed, I heard from families, who were stressed about their decisions and, in some cases, how they were going to pay the tab. I thought I’d share...

An Awesome College Admission Success Story

May 1 is college decision day. That’s the day each year when many colleges and universities across the country require high school seniors to make a final decision about where they will attend school in the fall. Seniors must notify their No. 1 pick by putting down a deposit to secure their spot in the next freshman class. I’d love...

Picking a Private College Loan: 8 Things You Need to Know

If you possess excellent credit and intend to pay down a college loan fairly aggressively, taking out a private college loan can make sense. People with sterling credit can get better interest rates going this route than with the federal Parent PLUS Loan. Here are eight things to know about private college loans: 1. Check out credit unions. Credit unions...

Why Private Student Loans Are Scary

On my college blog this week, I’ve been focusing on what you need to know about borrowing for college. If you missed them, my previous two posts shared advice on federal student and parent loans: What You Need to Know About Borrowing for College How Parents Can Borrow for College Today I’m exploring private college loans. Before turning to private...

How Parents Can Borrow for College

Are you a parent who needs to borrow for college? Most of the attention is focused on college loans that students take out, but there are parent loans as well. In case you missed it, I wrote about federal student loans in my last college blog post: What You Need to Know About Borrowing for College Today, I’m going to...