The College Solutions Blog

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

College Admissions and HomeSchooled Students

For those who have been following my college blog this week, I’ve been answering questions from readers. These questions came from a mom and her homeschooled teenagers. Here is what she had to say: Question No. 1: Homeschooling has been our educational choice. When my son completed various applications, sections were often dedicated to “leadership and offices held.”He had to...

Measuring a College for the Right Fit

This week I’m sharing answers to questions posed by my blog visitors that I passed along to college admission officers who attended the annual conference of the Western Association for College Admission Counseling. Here are some answers: Question No. 1: What do admission officers feel are the three most important criteria points for a student and their family to look...

Do I Dare File For Financial Aid?

A couple of days ago I asked my blog visitors to submit questions that I could direct to college admission officers at the annual conference of the Western Association for College Admission Counseling. Now I want to start sharing answers. The admission experts whom I talked to today came from such disparate schools as Colgate University, Carroll College, Chapman University,...

College Conference: Day 1

I spend a lot of time in my extremely messy office writing posts for my three college blogs. Usually the only one around during the day is Minerva, my golden retriever, who drops tennis balls at my feet. It’s easy to forget that there are people out there who regularly read what I write. And that’s why Tuesday was a...

What Would You Ask a College Admission Officer?

I’m going to be attending the annual conference of the Western Association for College Admission Counseling beginning Tuesday afternoon on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles. WACAC is a membership organization for high school counselors, college counselors and college admission officers, who work in Nevada and California. Get My College Workbook for Free! Because I expect to...

Latest College Admission Trends

While it might not look like it, the college admission landscape is constantly changing. This month The Chronicle of Higher Education ran a fascinating article about admission trends at colleges across the country. I’m going to share the article with you and also highlight the trends that the Chronicle reporter uncovered: State universities continue to struggle. State budget cuts are...

Financial Aid Chances With a 2.9 GPA

I got an email the other day from a mom, whose son is brilliant. I assume he’s brilliant because he will be attending the California Institute of Technology in the fall as a freshman. The acceptance rate at Cal Tech is 13% and many of its student get near perfect SAT scores. This teenage boy applied to 21 schools (way...

Acing Your Final Exams

What is the best way to ace your final exams? This is a timely question as millions of high school and college students are preparing to take their final exams. You might assume that reading textbooks and notes over and over again is the best way to study, but researchers from Purdue and Washington University insist that it’s not the...

A Job Near the Beach

Yesterday I shared the news that my daughter Caitlin graduated from college this week. And she did it in four years, which is a rare feat for today’s college students. If you missed the post here it is: Caitlin Graduates from Juniata College Today, I wanted to share what I wrote for my college blog over CBS MoneyWatch that mentions...

Caitlin Graduates From Juniata College!

My daughter Caitlin graduated from Juniata College this weekend! It just seemed like yesterday that we had arrived at this beautiful campus for freshmen orientation and now Caitlin was walking across the stage to receive her bachelor’s degree. With rain clouds threatening, workers packed up the white folding chairs set out for the outdoor ceremony and everyone was directed into...