The College Solutions Blog

October 11, 2010

I have parents ask me variations of this question all the time: What are the best colleges and universities to attend that will ultimately generate jobs for my child? I think it’s rare that going to any particular school, by itself, will result in an automatic job for a new college graduate. I am willing to concede, however, that there...

September 27, 2010

During my last two posts, I have focused on picking college majors. This is the last post that I’m going to devote to majors for awhile. Here are my previous posts: Chosing a College Major College Majors: 5 Things You Need To Know Is getting a head start on a college major a good thing? Not according to a study...

September 26, 2010

How do you choose a college major? This is my second blog post that explores this question. If you missed the first one, here is the link: Choosing a College Major Today I want to share some more tips on majors: 1. Rethink a business major. Business is the most popular major in the country, but don’t assume that you...

September 24, 2010

Last spring I bumped into a dad I know whose daughter had attended the same middle school as my son. I asked him where his daughter would be attending college in the fall and he said: She’s going to a community college. I was surprised because Rachel is a very bright girl. The dad explained, however, that his daughter didn’t...

September 7, 2010

My family lives in California where roughly 84 percent of the state’s college-bound students enroll in public colleges and universities here. With such a strong tradition of students staying put for college, my son Ben wasn’t surprised at the reaction he routinely received this spring when students at his high school in San Diego asked him this question: “Where are...

August 29, 2010

If you hadn’t already noticed, this is college rankings month. US News & World Report, the big college rankings  gorilla, released its latest lists of the best liberal arts colleges and best universities earlier in August.  Forbes Magazine rolled out its best college list this month too and the Washington Monthly unveiled its picks for  best colleges a few days...

August 22, 2010

Some of you already know that I write a weekly college blog post for US News & World Report. While the magazine’s website contains a treasure trove of valuable information about college, I hate it’s college rankings. This put me in an uncomfortable position when the 2011 college rankings were released with tremendous fanfare last week. To coincide with the...

August 10, 2010

Are AP classes really worthwhile? There is no doubt that advanced placement classes are popular.  Last year, nearly 1.7 million students worldwide took more than 2.9 million AP exams. Twenty five percent of high school graduates have taken at least one AP exam. With teenagers returning to the classroom grind soon, I thought this would be a good time to...

July 29, 2010

This week, I’ve been looking at the size of colleges and explaining why size matters. It drives me nuts that students routinely pick schools by size without understanding the educational ramifications of their choices. Here are my three previous posts on this subject: My Pet Peeve: Picking Colleges By Size Research Universities: What You Need to Ask What’s a Medium-Sized...

July 28, 2010

What does it mean when a teenager says, “I want to go to a medium-sized university?” This week I’ve been discussing the issue of college size. Kids often base a great deal of their decision about college on its size and why that can be a problem. Here are my past two posts: My Pet Peeve: Picking Colleges By Size...