The College Solutions Blog

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

Academics
Featured image for “Picking a College Major for the Money”
February 4, 2014

Picking a College Major for the Money

Is your child interested in picking a college major based on those ubiquitous 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...
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Featured image for “A New Look at Salaries of Liberal Arts Majors”
January 23, 2014

A New Look at Salaries of Liberal Arts Majors

The Association of American Colleges and Universities released a report yesterday that suggests that by their peak earning years, college graduates who majored in the liberal arts are earning higher salaries, on average, than students who studied in professional and pre-professional fields such as nursing and business. I wanted to share the study, which relied upon data from the U.S....
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Featured image for “Questions to Ask a College Career Service Office”
December 30, 2013

Questions to Ask a College Career Service Office

Today I’m sharing a guest post from Stuart Nachbar, who is the president of EducatedQuest.com, an excellent college admissions blog and guide to some of the best values in higher education. He can be contacted at stuart@educatedquest. I thought you’d appreciate Nachbar’s advice about how to evaluate an institution’s career placement services. If you haven’t already read it, please see...
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Featured image for “Why Are Some College Career Service Offices Lame?”
December 26, 2013

Why Are Some College Career Service Offices Lame?

I will be launching a six-week, online course called Cutting the Cost of College beginning Feb. 12. Please scroll to the bottom of this post to learn more and email me at Lynn@TheCollegeSolution.com if you want further notifications! Lynn O’Shaughnessy Before spending an obscene amount of money on a bachelor’s degree, families want to know if their children’s job prospects...
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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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Featured image for “Thanksgiving Blessings”
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 “6 Ways to Get the Most Out of College”
August 28, 2013

6 Ways to Get the Most Out of College

I created a slideshow for my college blog at CBS MoneyWatch today that shares 10 tips for writing a winning college essay. Minerva, my eight-year-old golden retriever, illustrates Tip. No. 3. Please check it out! LO I wrote the following post in August, 2011, but with college students heading back to school, I decided it was well worth running again....
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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 “A Look at Where 15,600 Liberal Arts Grads Got Jobs”
March 7, 2013

A Look at Where 15,600 Liberal Arts Grads Got Jobs

Today I’m sharing a post written by David Kochanek, who is the publisher of LiberalArtsColleges.com, a site dedicated to providing students and parents with the information they need to make intelligent college decisions. In his post he examines the the beauty of pursuing a liberal arts degree from the perspective of Williams College, an elite institution, which has tracked where...
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