The College Solutions Blog

September 1, 2009

If you want to shrink the cost of college, you should become acquainted with something called the Common Data Set. The Common Data Set was dreamed up years ago as a way to satisfy collegiate publishers like US News & World Report and the College Board, which have voracious appetites for higher-ed statistics. Rather than answering every publisher’s questions, schools...

August 25, 2009

Now here’s a shocker:  College admissions are getting even more competitive at Ivy League schools and other highly elite colleges. That’s the conclusion of a new study, Playing the Admissions Game: Student Reactions to Increasing College Competition, which was written by profs at Harvard and the University of Michigan. Reading the report would make many parents think that their children...

August 21, 2009

I read a story in The Wall Street Journall this week, which should make “B” and “C” students hopeful. Universities have traditionally based their college admission decisions primarily on a student’s grades and test scores. But some school, including Tufts University, Boston College and DePaul University, are now eager to evaluate applicants on noncognitive traits that have nothing to do...

August 4, 2009

How do you get into the Ivy League?  Be a legacy applicant. A friend of my blog, Lee Bierer, an education columnist for the Charlotte Observer and an independent college counselor, writes about Ivy League legacy chances in her latest column. Here’s where you can check out her take on Ivy League admissions for legacies. It’s clear that legacies enjoy...

July 30, 2009

How do you get the most out of a college tour? Here’s how:  talk with professors. As I mentioned in my last post, this is what my son has been doing this week as we tour liberal arts colleges in the Pacific Northwest. Since Ben is interested in physics and a possible 3-2 engineering program, he made appointments to talk...

July 27, 2009

I’m taking some time off from my college blog this week and a friend, Ruth McKinnie Braun, who is the creator of the great website: SuchASmartMom.com offered to pitch in and provide this post. Hope you enjoy it….. Summer is the perfect time for low-key college planning. Setting aside time for exploring college options without the pressure of homework, tests...

July 16, 2009

A strange thing happened to me last night. I had started a post about dealing this summer with one of the real pains of the college application process – the college essay. But then I got distracted and walked out of my office. I wandered out to the patio to talk to my son’s girlfriend about what she was doing...

July 13, 2009

If you have a child who is attending — or hopes to attend — a school in the University of California or California State University systems, these are scary times. Tuition at the 23 Cal State schools is expected to jump by 30% for the fall semester. Tuition at the University of California campuses will increase more than 9%. Students...

July 1, 2009

Are colleges going  to be the next big bubble that bursts? College prices continue to rise even as fewer and fewer parents are remotely able to cover the tab. Ever since George Washington University broke the $50,000-a-year barrier awhile ago, a growing number of elite schools now charge at least that much. Imagine that. Or rather, imagine paying that. I...

June 10, 2009

Are colleges favoring rich kids more than usual? A story in The New York Times suggests that private schools, which are hurting financially, are favoring affluent students whose parents can write fat tuition checks. The article focused on Reed College, which is an academically celebrated school that’s a magnet for iconoclastic students. With its endowment in the crapper and more...