The College Solutions Blog

November 6, 2009

The odds of getting into UC Berkeley are shrinking even more. The odds of getting into UC Berkeley were never high. According to the College Board’s latest figures, Cal Berkeley’s acceptance rate is 22%. Expect that to get even worse. UC Berkeley is going to become even more impregnable for California high school seniors. Next year, UC Berkeley expects to...

November 5, 2009

A friend of mine called me last week to ask whether her daughter should apply early action to Boston College. For a lot of high school seniors, applying to a college early action is a great idea. But early action isn’t for everyone including my friend’s daughter Julia. I’ll explain why momentarily. First of all, I want to emphasize that...

November 4, 2009

What is the most expensive college in America? Sarah Lawrence College grabs the dishonors this year for having the highest price tag. Sarah Lawrence’s sticker price is $54,410. What I find most alarming about the price of Sarah Lawrence, however, is that dozens of other colleges and universities are charging nearly as much. It was just a few years ago...

October 23, 2009

I’m exhausted today so it’s hard to get motivated to write something for my college blog. I gave four lengthy speeches at college fairs around San Diego on three consecutive nights this week. During the past few days, I also spent a lot of time at High Tech High, which is my son’s school, talking with college admission representatives and...

October 18, 2009

As usual, I’m sharing with you the posts that I wrote for my college blog for CBSMoneyWatch.com last week.  It was challenging for me to get them done because my son and I were traveling in the Midwest looking at colleges for the last time. Here are my three most recent posts: Want to Succeed in Business? Play Poker. I’m...

October 14, 2009

Yesterday, my son Ben and I spent a lovely day at Beloit College. An admissions officer applauded Ben for making the long trek from San Diego to Wisconsin to visit the college. She mentioned that some students never visit the campus before applying to the liberal arts school. I’ve always thought it was strange that teenagers apply to colleges without...

October 11, 2009

Last week I was talking to the college counselor at my son’s high school about research findings that suggest that Asian students face much greater odds in getting into Ivy League and other elite institutions. During our conversation, the counselor took a hardback from his book-lined room and suggested I read it. School of Dreams: Making the Grade at a...

October 9, 2009

The seniors at my son’s high school are in a panic. They can’t procrastinate any longer. They have to write their dreaded college essay. A lot of college essays fail because students are so afraid of messing up. It’s hard for teenagers to be genuine when they worry about alienating admission officers. I  had the opportunity yesterday to shares some...

October 8, 2009

How do teenagers find great colleges? Traditional ways have included buying a copy of one of those big, fat guidebooks such as Princeton Review’s The Best 371 Colleges and the Fiske Guide to Colleges. Or teenagers look at US News’ college rankings. Today, however, you can discover higher-ed possibilities by turning to online college matchmakers. Here are two popular matchmakers:...

September 6, 2009

Being the mother of a college junior and a high school senior, I’ve bought and skimmed through a lot of college books over the years. Many of them disappoint me because they are often focused on getting kids into the Ivy League. This fixation is ridiculously misplaced when you consider that only .2% of kids attend these eight schools. Frankly,...