The College Solutions Blog

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

Academic majors
Featured image for “The Best Way to Study for Final Exams”
December 6, 2013

The Best Way to Study for Final Exams

When I talked to my son Ben yesterday, he was dreading next week when he had exams, a paper and a presentation due.  It was the same story when my nephew called to chat. With so many students taking finals in the coming days, I thought I’d rerun an old post about how students can boost their chances of doing...
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November 29, 2013

Thanksgiving Blessings

Hi everyone – I will be launching a six-week, online course called Cutting the Cost of College beginning Feb. 12. Please scroll down to the bottom of this post to learn more and email me at Lynn@TheCollegeSolution.com if you want further notifications! Lynn O’Shaughnessy I have much to be grateful for during this time of thanksgiving and one of my...
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Featured image for “Do STEM Majors Really Enjoy an Advantage?”
November 13, 2013

Do STEM Majors Really Enjoy an Advantage?

I’m sure a lot of you out there are relieved if your children intend to major in a STEM (science, technology, engineering, math) field, which represent just six percent of the current American workforce. STEM majors find the job market much easier because too few Americans are receiving degrees in these difficult disciplines. And STEM majors make more money than...
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Featured image for “Suggestions for the Mom Stressing About College”
August 19, 2013

Suggestions for the Mom Stressing About College

I want to thank everybody who offered advice to the single mom, who is anxious about her daughter’s college options. You can read all the comments and the original post here: A Mom Stressing About College Today I thought I’d offer my own suggestions about the options for this teenager, who thinks that she might want to be a teacher....
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Featured image for “Having Second Thoughts About the University of Pittsburgh”
July 1, 2013

Having Second Thoughts About the University of Pittsburgh

I received this email over the weekend from an anxious father that I wanted to share with you. The dad is having second thoughts about the school that he pressured his daughter to attend. He is already contemplating his daughter transferring next year to a different school. I think his story could generate some interesting discussions about rankings, price, graduate...
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Featured image for “Chasing After the Money in College”
December 11, 2012

Chasing After the Money in College

Is your child interested in picking a college major based on lists of the country’s highest-paying college degrees? Plenty of students are pursuing degrees that they perceive will generate the biggest salaries. I assume that’s why business is the most popular major – more than one out of every five students select it. I can’t resist mentioning that the blockbuster...
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Featured image for “What is the Difference Between Colleges and Universities?”
December 3, 2012

What is the Difference Between Colleges and Universities?

Today’s post comes courtesy of a new website, LiberalArtsColleges.com, which was created by David Kochanek after he realized that there wasn’t a single online source dedicated to all liberal arts colleges. As some of you know, I’m a huge admirer of liberal arts colleges and both of my children ended up at one.  I believe liberal arts colleges represent the...
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Featured image for “Happy Thanksgiving Everyone”
November 21, 2012

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone

With Thanksgiving just one day away, I want to express my deep gratitude for all of you who spend time on my college blog. I appreciate each of you and especially the loyal visitors who stop by regularly. I want to give a special shout out to all of you! The number of visitors to my blog continues to climb...
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Featured image for “10 Questions to Ask a School about Career Services and Jobs”
November 19, 2012

10 Questions to Ask a School about Career Services and Jobs

Parents and teenagers are understandably interested in colleges and universities that prepare students for eventual jobs. What schools, they wonder, will give their grads an advantage in the job world? It’s a tough question to answer because the statistics that schools share about their graduates’ success in finding jobs are often wrong. To learn more about this sad reality, read...
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Featured image for “Do You Really Need a Film Degree?”
November 8, 2012

Do You Really Need a Film Degree?

I am always amazed by the number of parents I bump into whose children want to attend a film school. After running into yet another parent who was asking about film degrees, I decided to track down the following post that I wrote a couple of years ago… If you want to get into the movie industry, do you need...
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