The College Solutions Blog

October 23, 2013

For years, George Washington University has told families that it observed a need-blind admission policy. Students were accepted regardless of their ability to pay.  GW’s student newspaper wrote an excellent article this week that revealed that the university’s stated need-blind admission policy was actually a need-aware practice. The university admitted that it put hundreds of students on its wait list...

October 21, 2013

The Common Application emailed the lengthy letter below to the counseling community on Friday, which college consultants, high school counselors and anyone with a high school senior might like to see. In the email, the nonprofit apologized for its continuing problems and for being too slow to respond. Let’s hope all the problems are fixed soon! If you missed it,...

October 16, 2013

College blog post update: Since I first wrote the post below, there have been more developments in the continuing Common App fiasco: More schools are extending their Common App deadlines for Early Action and Early Decision. Here are the names of some of them:  Duke, Roanoke, Marist, Boston University, SUNY Geneseo Northwestern, University of Chicago, Columbia, Tufts, Barnard. The Common...

October 14, 2013

Many parents worry that their college savings accounts will kill their chances for financial aid. Most families, however, who have saved for college are not hurt in student financial aid considerations. Here are the two biggest reasons why saving money often won’t jeopardize your financial aid chances: 1. Colleges don’t care how much you (or your child) has saved for...

October 9, 2013

Today I’m sharing a conversation that I had yesterday with Amy Seldin, the founder of College Abacus. College Abacus is the place that I’d recommend heading to when you want to use any college or university’s net price calculator. If you don’t know what a net price calculator is, here is a brief description: A net price calculator will provide...

October 7, 2013

Last week I drove up to Costa Mesa, CA, to attend the launching of an ambitious lineup of 19 online and mobile apps that could revolutionize the way families make college decisions. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation provided the seed money for the 19 apps that began as a contest designed to encourage entrepreneurs and app developers to build...

October 4, 2013

Do you know what your Expected Family Contribution is? If you don’t, you should make it a priority to obtain this number. I’d argue that families need to know what their preliminary EFC is long before they begin looking at colleges. Unfortunately, most families don’t have a clue about what their EFC is until their children are seniors in high...

September 30, 2013

Applying early action and early decision has become an increasingly popular practice among teenagers who are aiming for highly selective colleges and universities. Today I am happy to share with you a post written on this important topic by Peter Van Buskirk, a former admission dean,  higher-ed speaker and educational advocate for families. You can learn more about Peter by...

August 12, 2013

Earlier this month I attended my husband Bruce’s 40th (!) reunion at Cherry Creek High School in suburban Denver and got to spend some time in the Rocky Mountains that my husband adores. You can receive an excellent education at Cherry Creek High School, which was a magnet for affluent families 40 years ago and it still is today. As...

August 9, 2013

Today’s college blog post was written by Alison Cooper Chisolm, who heads the college admissions consulting practice at Ivey College Consulting. Prior to becoming a college consultant, Chisolm worked in admissions for more than 10 years at three selective universities (Southern Methodist University, University of Chicago and Dartmouth College). Chisolm is the co-author of How to Prepare a Standout College...