The College Solutions Blog

November 19, 2009

Are high school students ready for college? Many of them aren’t. According to ACT Inc., only 23% of recent high school graduates, who took the ACT test, were prepared for college. When the ACT examined its latest crop of statistics, the test maker concluded that less than one in four high school graduates was academically prepared in these four key...

November 16, 2009

You can’t hide in college forever. I’m sure that’s what millions of college students are thinking as they contemplate eventually finding a job during the worst job market since the Great Depression. One way to prepare for the inevitable leap into the dreary job market is to become entrepreneurial. Students can launch their own business while they are still at...

November 12, 2009

Today I want to share with you a great new web site that can help you research colleges:  College Insight. College Insight has gathered detailed information on nearly 5,000 colleges and universities in this country. You can find statistics for any school on such topics as these: College affordability. Check out statistics on tuition and total cost of attendance, average...

November 11, 2009

Do you write like a college professor? If you do, rid yourself of the habit. College graduates who write like their college professors could find their job search even harder. The business world favors employees who can write simple, declarative sentences. In contrast, college professors are masters at obfuscation. They write stilted prose. They embrace words with five or six...

November 9, 2009

Do transfer students do well in college? I hear this question a lot from parents who are stressed about the high cost  of a bachelor’s degree. They naturally wonder if starting at a cheaper community college and then transferring is a smart move. The transfer student question is also relevant for teenagers who begin at four-year universities and then end...

October 23, 2009

I’m exhausted today so it’s hard to get motivated to write something for my college blog. I gave four lengthy speeches at college fairs around San Diego on three consecutive nights this week. During the past few days, I also spent a lot of time at High Tech High, which is my son’s school, talking with college admission representatives and...

October 19, 2009

I subscribe to a list serve that is popular with high school and independent college counselors. I’m always amused when a counselor posts a plea for help in assembling a list of great colleges and universities for students who often possess eclectic taste. I’ve seen requests like this:  I am helping a student, who is interested in architectural engineering and...

October 15, 2009

My son and I have one more stop this week on his last college tour of schools before he starts applying to his favorites. We arrived in chilly Appleton, WI, tonight and we’re looking forward to touring Lawrence University tomorrow. Ben is one of three million high school seniors who are contemplating their college choices during this admission season. Coincidentally,...

October 8, 2009

How do teenagers find great colleges? Traditional ways have included buying a copy of one of those big, fat guidebooks such as Princeton Review’s The Best 371 Colleges and the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Or teenagers look at US News’ college rankings. Today, however, you can discover higher-ed possibilities by turning to online college matchmakers. Here are two popular matchmakers:...

September 20, 2009

On Thursday evening, I asked my son Ben what he knew about Drew University. “It’s got lots of squirrels,” he shot back. When we visited Drew during a college tour last year we did notice the squirrels on the New Jersey campus that is nestled in a lovely forest. I wanted to be sure, however, that Ben remembered more pertinent...