The College Solutions Blog

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

College admissions
Featured image for “How to take advantage of college admission changes during COVID-19”
September 7, 2020

How to take advantage of college admission changes during COVID-19

No matter when COVID-19 finally disappears, the college admission practices that changed due to the pandemic, will not completely disappear. In a recent webinar, I discussed how the pandemic has impacted college admissions in significant ways and how families can take advantage of these changes going forward. COVID-19 and College Admissions Here are some COVID-19 developments that you should know...
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Featured image for “What’s Critical in a College Admission Checklist”
November 27, 2017

What’s Critical in a College Admission Checklist

Using  a college admission checklist is critical when your child is applying to colleges and universities. Allowing  a teenager to apply to any colleges without a solid game plan can be a financial and academic disaster. In fact, ignoring advance planning is one reason why ONE OUT OF THREE students who start at four-year universities end up transferring somewhere else....
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Featured image for “Stop Fixating on These Colleges!”
February 22, 2015

Stop Fixating on These Colleges!

A lot of the parents attending my current online class on how to cut the cost of college are affluent and highly educated. Quite a few of these moms and dads attending my course have indicated to me that they would like to see their children attend elite schools. Not surprisingly, these parents have expressed concern about the cost of...
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Featured image for “Top 3 Keys to an Impressive Application”
July 11, 2014

Top 3 Keys to an Impressive Application

Today I’m running a guest blog post by Jessica Yeager, a grad of Harvard and MIT, who is a tutor and college consultant for high-achieving students and their parents. You can get her four-step workbook: Base Brainstorming Workbook  for free. The college application is one of the most stressful, scary, and overwhelming experiences for most teenagers and their parents. How can...
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Featured image for “Advice for the B Student”
June 3, 2014

Advice for the B Student

If your child is a “B” student, he or she may have more options than you might assume. Don’t believe me? Here is a story of a young woman – I’ll call her Katie – whose mom is a friend of mine. Katie attended a private high school in California where she earned a 3.0 GPA. She applied to these...
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Featured image for “Why Colleges Are Stressed About Filling Their Seats”
November 25, 2013

Why Colleges Are Stressed About Filling Their Seats

The prospect of rejection is one of the most stressful aspects of the college admission process. In reality, however, most students don’t have to fear rejection. In its annual survey of college freshmen, UCLA always seems to find that at least 75% of students are accepted into their first-choice school. Today, I wanted to share a study, conducted by Inside Higher...
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Featured image for “How Admission Offices Use Big Data to Track Students”
November 18, 2013

How Admission Offices Use Big Data to Track Students

Today I’m running an excerpt of a post that W. Kent Barnds, the executive vice president of Augustana College in IL, wrote in the Huffington Post. He was comparing the college admission process to what the National Security Administration does. What I find fascinating about the post was the insider view he provided on how college admission offices are using...
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Featured image for “College Admission Heartbreak and Reality”
April 17, 2013

College Admission Heartbreak and Reality

One way that I try to keep up with what’s happening in the higher-ed world is to belong to some LinkedIn Groups including one called College Counseling for the Rest of Us. Last week Michael Szarek, the group’s founder, who is an assistant vice president at Felician College and a college consultant in New Jersey, started a discussion by throwing...
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Featured image for “A Lousy Admission Offer From Cornell”
April 7, 2013

A Lousy Admission Offer From Cornell

Every Friday I answer questions over at The College Solution’s Facebook page. Posting questions on Friday via my Facebook page is  the best way to get my attention. Lots of people email me, but I just can’t answer all the queries, which makes me feel guilty. My husband calls it the Catholic-school-girl guilt that I have never been able to...
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October 12, 2012

What Do Admission Officers Really Know?

Is your university need blind? I once saw a couple of  enthusiastic young admission reps from a pair of Catholic universities back East try to answer that question at a college conference. The reps were specifically asked whether their schools might reject some applicants if they required a lot of financial assistance. Both admission reps vigorously assured the counselor who...
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