The College Solutions Blog

August 6, 2016

This is the time to start your college essay. That’s why I am excited to share a three-step method to create a winning college essay. This guest post comes from Janine Robinson, who created Essay Hell, a phenomenal blog that’s stuffed with advice about creating college admission essays. By Janine Robinson After working with thousands of students from all over...

May 9, 2016

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

April 25, 2016

When researching colleges, many families gravitate to what they call “great schools” without having any idea of whether these institutions merit their reputations. In reality, no college or university is a monolithic entity that is uniformly excellent, average or mediocre. That’s why just picking schools by relying on general impressions, U.S. News’ actual rankings or a campus tour won’t be...

April 5, 2016

I’ll be launching my latest online course – The College Cost Lab – in June. If you’d like to be among the first to know when I have more details,  just email me at Lynn@TheCollegeSolution.com. Lynn O’Shaughnessy In my last post, I wrote about smart teenagers who worked hard to get into elite schools only to have their dream schools...

March 28, 2016

I’ve been getting emails from parents, who are bitter that their bright teenagers have been getting rejection letters from elite colleges and universities. What follows are two email excerpts. From a dad named Jeff: My son is his high school’s valedictorian. He scored 35 on the ACT and had straight A’s all four years at an academically competitive school. He...

March 7, 2016

For the past two years, teenagers and their parents across the country have been dreading the new SAT test. The College Board announced back in 2014 that it would be dramatically revamping the SAT to align the new test with the Common Core. The wait for this test ended on March 5 (Saturday) when the College Board rolled out the...

January 31, 2016

Financial aid awards are often confusing. I believe many colleges and universities intentionally make financial aid awards hard to decipher to trick families into thinking that their institutions are being generous even when they aren’t. Obfuscation is an effective way to keep parents off balance. Since we are heading into the season when students will be receiving their financial aid...

November 7, 2015

Note: I wrote this post last year, but it’s just as relevant today. Lynn O’Shaughnessy High-achieving students who apply every year to the Ivies and other elites schools have heard the grim statistics about how ridiculously hard it is to get into these schools. That reality, however, doesn’t deter students from applying even though the chances for most smart students...

October 26, 2015

It’s college essay time. That dreaded stretch of the college admission process that high school seniors AND their parents often hate. I feel for everyone going through this right now, which is why I want to help. In this post, you’ll see a video that provides college-essay tips for high school seniors and another video that gives parents advice on...

October 13, 2015

Today I am sharing an excellent analysis of the new SAT, which makes its premiere in March, 2016.  Jed Applerouth, the founder of Applerouth Tutoring Services wrote the piece, which I found so insightful that I asked him for permission to run it on my blog. Lynn O’Shaughnessy By Jed Applerouth By our appraisal, the revised SAT is superior in...