The College Solutions Blog

January 8, 2019

Does your child need to attend an Ivy League college or other elite university to end up getting great jobs with great salaries? The answer is… No. No! Noooo! NOOOO! Got It? At the risk of being obnoxious, I repeated my answer because the parents, who are most likely to obsess about Ivy League colleges or other elite universities, are...

October 16, 2018

If you need assistance completing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid or the CSS Profile – or wondering where to start – you’ll find helpful resources below! If your child will be in college for the 2019-2020 school year, you can file the FAFSA and the CSS Profile now. The official release date for both financial aid applications was...

August 22, 2018

Teenagers can boost their college admission chances by being smart about the extracurricular activities that they pursue in high school. Unfortunately,  a lot of misinformation exists about extracurriculars which prevents students from making the most of their activities outside the classroom. For instance, many parents believe that their children need to be well-rounded to increase their admission chances. That is,...

July 10, 2018

High school seniors, who are aiming for prestigious colleges and universities, will soon have to decide if they will apply early decision. When students apply early decision, they promise that they will attend if the institution accepts them. A student accepted via early decision must withdraw all other college applications. Early Decision Gamble Students must make this ED commitment before...

May 8, 2018

While U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings are wildly popular, few families know much about how they are created. Before you place too much faith in U.S. News’ college rankings, here are 15 things that you should know about them. 1. U.S. News relies on rankings to stay alive. U.S. News’ college rankings wields tremendous power even though the...

April 2, 2018

When building a college list, it’s critical to check college graduation rates. Paying for college is hard enough without adding a fifth or six year to the tab! And yet most students do not graduate from college in four years. Many parents whom I’ve talked to over the years seem shocked by this reality.  It is understandable since schools with...

March 5, 2018

This is the time of year when elite universities, which have kept applicants in suspense for months, notify teenagers of their admission decisions. Most of these applicants are going to be terribly disappointed, but I want to EMPHASIZE that the majority of teenagers get into their first choice school. (They can’t always afford to go their favorites, but they get...

November 27, 2017

Using  a college admission checklist is critical when your child is applying to colleges and universities. Allowing  a teenager to apply to any colleges without a solid game plan can be a financial and academic disaster. In fact, ignoring advance planning is one reason why ONE OUT OF THREE students who start at four-year universities end up transferring somewhere else....

November 14, 2017

I had a mom in my course, The College Cost Lab, ask me a question this week about high school extracurricular activities that I wanted to share with you. Here was the mother’s question on extracurriculars: I was wondering what your opinion is on what my daughter should focus on doing the summer before senior year. I have heard some...

August 28, 2017

It’s only natural that many talented students aim for the most selective school that they can gain into. It’s not always a smart idea, however, for applicants to attend the most selective college or university that admits them. Today I am sharing the observations on this topic from Scott White, the head guidance counselor at Morris High School in New...