The College Solutions Blog

Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.

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Featured image for “Check the Return on Investment (ROI) for Colleges and Academic Majors”
September 20, 2022

Check the Return on Investment (ROI) for Colleges and Academic Majors

College degrees cost too much to ignore the return on investment (ROI) for colleges on your list, as well as the ROI for a particular academic college major. Luckily, a handful of resources, which rely on federal data, can help you pinpoint the ROI for not only specific colleges, but also academic majors within particular schools. Return on Investment (ROI)...
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Featured image for “Researching Colleges During a Pandemic”
April 13, 2020

Researching Colleges During a Pandemic

I’ve gotten questions recently about how to research colleges during the COVID-19 pandemic when you can’t visit campuses. I talked to a mom from Seattle over the weekend, whose daughter was choosing between seven colleges that stretch from the state of Washington to New Jersey. With merit scholarships deducted, the cost of all these schools for the Seattle family were...
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Featured image for “Stop Stressing About Picking the “Right” College Major”
October 3, 2016

Stop Stressing About Picking the “Right” College Major

Are you stressing about what your teenager’s college major is going to be? If you’re worried about your child not picking the right college major, you must ABSOLUTELY watch the video and read the blog post below! In the video I interview Jane Horowitz, who is a phenomenal career-launch coach for college students and new college grads and the founder...
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Featured image for “How To Measure College Grad Salaries”
April 18, 2016

How To Measure College Grad Salaries

When searching for schools, parents are increasingly asking admission reps this question: Will my child earn a good salary after graduating from your college? College and university admission staffs will enthusiastically answer yes (!!!) to that question, but proof is almost always flimsy at best. Schools typically brag about high job placement statistics for their graduates because they rely on job surveys of...
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Featured image for “A Young Alum from Georgetown Weighs In”
March 4, 2015

A Young Alum from Georgetown Weighs In

In my last post, I urged parents, who are stressed about how their kids are going to get into the most elite schools, (these are mostly affluent families) to ditch this toxic worry. If you missed the post here it is: Stop Fixating On These Colleges I had a young alum from one of those elite schools write a thoughtful...
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June 13, 2014

A New Way to Become a Teacher

A month after he graduated from Beloit College with a degree in mathematics, my son Ben is taking his first step towards becoming a high school math teacher. He starts his Denver Teacher Residency program Monday through a collaborative effort between the University of Denver and the Denver Public Schools. Ben will be taking classes for the next year at...
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Featured image for “Plan B for Future Art and Music Majors”
May 19, 2014

Plan B for Future Art and Music Majors

Today I’m sharing a guest post that explains some excellent, but overlooked options for students who are interested in attending a music conservatory or an art and design school, which are often extremely expensive options with poor financial aid. The author is Stuart Nachbar, who is president of EducatedQuest.com, a college admissions blog and guide to some of the best...
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Featured image for “How My Daughter Made The Most Out of College”
May 8, 2014

How My Daughter Made The Most Out of College

A new survey conducted by Gallup and Purdue University indicates that the type of institution that college graduates attend matters less to their future happiness at home and work than the experiences they have in college. I felt vindicated when I saw the Gallup results because I’ve been saying for years that what’s most important is not where you go...
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Featured image for “How Higher-Ed Lobbyists Are Keeping You in the Dark”
March 19, 2014

How Higher-Ed Lobbyists Are Keeping You in the Dark

Want to know why you can’t obtain the average salary figures for graduates of a particular school? You can direct much of the blame to powerful lobbyists for the nation’s private, nonprofit colleges and universities. That’s the conclusion of a damning new study, which was funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, that the New America Foundation released this...
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Featured image for “Guess What College is Producing the Highest Earning Grads in Colorado”
March 14, 2014

Guess What College is Producing the Highest Earning Grads in Colorado

When searching for colleges, families should be able to know if the graduates at a particular school have been able to find jobs. And preferably good-paying jobs. As I’ve mentioned before on this college blog, it’s almost impossible to find meaningful numbers because the employment statistics that college reps eagerly recite, with few exceptions,  are almost always bogus. (See previous...
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