The College Solutions Blog

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

Evaluating Schools
September 20, 2009

Asking the Right Question at a School Interview

On Thursday evening, I asked my son Ben what he knew about Drew University. “It’s got lots of squirrels,” he shot back. When we visited Drew during a college tour last year we did notice the squirrels on the New Jersey campus that is nestled in a lovely forest. I wanted to be sure, however, that Ben remembered more pertinent...
Read More
0
September 15, 2009

Finding the Best Colleges

What are the best colleges in America? Not so fast with your answer. The best colleges aren’t always the ones that enjoy the biggest, shiniest name brands and monopolize the rankings. So how do you find the colleges and universities that do a fantastic — if unheralded — job of educating students? You’re going to have to dig a little...
Read More
0
September 7, 2009

Naming Names: A List of the Most Generous Colleges

In the last few days, I’ve been working on an assignment about college rankings — when it’s published I’ll be sure to link to the article. Today, however, I thought I’d provide links to some helpful college lists courtesy of US News & World Report. Colleges Giving the Most Merit Scholarships One question that I get asked frequently is which...
Read More
0
September 6, 2009

The 75 Biggest Myths About College Admissions

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,...
Read More
0
September 3, 2009

What's Up With Washington University?

I got an email this morning from a women who had become frustrated after reading my blog post about the usefulness about the Common Data Set. As an example, I mentioned Washington University’s Common Data Set in the post and she tried tracking it down on the Internet. She couldn’t find it and neither could I. “So now what?” she...
Read More
0
September 2, 2009

Why You Should Check Out the College Navigator

All week I’ve been sharing great tools to research colleges. Today I want to feature the federal College Navigator. The College Navigator is a dull-looking website, but it contains incredible tools that tap into a vast college database that the U.S. Department of Education maintains. To illustrate what College Navigator can do, I’m using as an example Ohio State University,...
Read More
0
September 2, 2009

A New College Blog Worth Reading

I wanted to let you know about a new college blog that you should check out. Washington Monthly just launched its own college blog, which I consider to be great news. While US News & World Report hogs most of the press attention when it comes to college coverage, I’ve always admired Washington Monthly’s thoughtful higher-ed pieces. Washington Monthly launched...
Read More
0
September 1, 2009

Finding College Cash in Obscure Documents

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...
Read More
2
September 1, 2009

What Are the Chances of Graduating In Four Years?

As I mentioned yesterday, most teenagers don’t know how to truly evaluate colleges and universities. Finding the right academic fit, however, is crucial, which is why this week I’m going to be sharing my favorite tools to research colleges. Today I’m focusing on CollegeResults.org. CollegeResults.org, which you’ll find on the Education Trust’s website, provides the four-, five- and six-year graduation...
Read More
0
August 26, 2009

Why College Professors Are Failing Students

Are professors spending too much time publishing and not enough time teaching? Absolutely! What I want to share with you today is an research paper that argues that professors are neglecting students because they are so busying writing papers and books that hardly anybody cares to read. The reason for the fixation on scholarly research is simple, according to Mark...
Read More
0