The College Solutions Blog

March 10, 2013

This is a stressful time for teenagers and parents who are waiting for acceptances. Or who are trying to decide what the ultimate college choice will be. Or who are wondering how they are going to pay for a school when their financial aid package is inadequate. Today I want to share some conversations that I’ve had at my gym...

March 5, 2013

If your child plans to take the ACT test, you should know about ACT superscoring. To understand what superscoring is, here’s some background: Historically, college admission offices used a student’s composite ACT score that’s made up of four underlying categories: English Mathematics Reading Science The test maker averages the four subcores, with each ranging from 1 to 36, to create...

March 1, 2013

I’ve got to confess that it’s rare that I find a book about college strategies that I like. Today I wanted to share with you a book that I actually believe is helpful. The name of the book is Right College, Right Price: A New System for Discovering the Best College Fit at the Best Price.  Frank Palmasani, who is...

February 22, 2013

After I published my last post on honors colleges, I heard from Stuart Nachbar, who produces amazingly in-depth profiles of primarily state universities at his website EducatedQuest, which I’d urge you to visit regularly. Stuart wrote a great piece on the pros and cons of honors college, which I’m sharing with you today: By Stuart Nachbar During our visits, we...

February 18, 2013

A couple of years ago I listened in on a webinar about SAT strategies that really impressed me. The guest speaker was Jeb Applerouth, who runs an eponymous test-prep firm that’s headquartered in Atlanta. Since the webinar, I occasionally visit Applerouth’s blog to see what he’s been writing about standardized testing. Jeb gave me permission to share the following blog...

February 11, 2013

I wanted to share a letter that I received recently from George Shen, a business consultant in the Greater Boston area and the father of three boys. Shen, a first-generation American who is concerned about how Asian Americans are treated in the admission process by elite schools, has formed a Facebook page entitled Asian Americans Against Affirmative Action. If you...

February 8, 2013

Earlier this week the Common Application organization released its new college essay prompts. For months plenty of people (myself included) worried that the advisory board of 15 counselors in charge of revising the prompts were going to recommend killing off Option 6, which encourages applicants to write creatively. Sure enough, Option 6 that allows applicants to write on the topic...

February 6, 2013

The steady trickle of colleges and universities that have admitted to fudging the figures that they send to U.S. News & World Report could end up changing the college rankings submission rules. In an interview published today in Inside Higher Ed, Brian Kelly, the editor and chief content officer at U.S. News, said that the college rankings giant is considering...

February 1, 2013

Colleges are beginning to realize that high tuition/high discount (scholarship) model is failing. Escalating tuition is leaving more students unable to cover college costs even as colleges continue to offer scholarships to offset costs. In my last post, I mentioned the latest drive by private colleges to rein in merit money, but, as one of the visitors to my blog...

January 30, 2013

In my last post, a mom (Rebecca) expressed her frustration with merit scholarship policies. Many parents responded, which I appreciate. It’s clearly an issue that parents like to vent about. If you missed the post, I’d urge you to read it: Are Merit Scholarships Are Fair? I have been in a position similar to what Rebecca described. When my daughter...