The College Solutions Blog

September 8, 2011

If you missed it, I wrote a post earlier in the week about applying early decision to colleges: The Odds of Applying Early Decision I assumed this post would lead to more questions on this issue and sure enough I got an email from a mom with a question that I thought was worth sharing with you. Here is what...

September 7, 2011

For many years I was a financial journalist and in that role I became extremely cynical about how Wall Street and the rest of the financial industry operated. After I switched  to writing about the higher-ed world, I became just as cynical about the practices of colleges and universities. I bring this up today because of a report just released...

September 6, 2011

Should you apply early decision to your favorite college or university? I know fall has arrived because I’ve started receiving questions about early decision. I’ll be addressing early decision and early action issues in the coming weeks, but I wanted to answer a question that I received today from a mother, who heard me give a talk recently in Southern...

September 2, 2011

What happens when religious teenagers head off to college? It’s a issue that Alex Chediak, an associate professor of engineering and physics at California Baptist University. has given a lot of thought. In his new book, Thriving At College, he offers suggestions on how student can keep and build their faith while in college, as well as succeed in college. I’ll...

September 1, 2011

Is anybody else out there concerned about the popularity of vocational college degrees? I’m talking about degrees like sports management, film production, park & recreation, information technology, homeland security and communications. And, of course, the biggest vocational major of all – business. Vocational degrees have always been around. Until the mid 1960s, there was a balance between vocational degrees and...

August 31, 2011

Before my son Ben left to start his sophomore year at Beloit College, we talked about the advice in a chapter of The Thinking Student’s Guide to College: 75 Tips for Getting a Better Education. I’ve mentioned before how much I love this book and I think every college-bound student should read it. Andrew Roberts, an assistant professor of political...

August 30, 2011

I’m sharing a piece about the current college admission climate that was written by Dean P. Skarlis, who  is president of The College Advisor of New York in Albany.The Washington Post originally carried the piece and he agreed that I could share it with my readers. Admission Secrets Revealed According to the The Chronicle of Higher Education, there now are...

August 29, 2011

I spent last week urging, some might say browbeating, people to look beyond the most obvious name schools when drawing up a college list. Beyond their local schools, I urged people to look at more than super expensive private East Coast schools, as well as prestigious state flagships that are charging obscene amounts of money — in some cases over...

August 26, 2011

If you’re willing to cast a wider net to find colleges, where do you start? Here is one way: Look at alternative college rankings. While US News & World Report’s college rankings hog the press coverage, I much prefer the college rankings that Forbes releases every summer. The Center for College Affordability and Productivity, a nonprofit education think tank, developed...

August 25, 2011

This week, I’ve been focusing on colleges and universities that are pricey. Here the the posts if you’ve missed them:  Is That Flagship Worth the Price? Attending Expensive East Coast Universities The majority of students limit their college choices to schools within two hours of driving distance, but those who want to look elsewhere tend to salivate over the same...