The College Solutions Blog

January 17, 2010

Beware of  The Princeton Review’s latest college rankings of the 100 Best Value Colleges for 2010. Here’s why I’m not a fan of Princeton Review’s generous college rankings: Some parents who use this list on their college search could up spending more than $200,000 for a college degree. Some deal, huh? Kiplinger’s best value college rankings doesn’t make clear who...

October 5, 2009

A guest commentary that I wrote for the Center for College Affordability and Productivity on college rankings got posted today. In my post, I shared why I think the college ranking system developed by the center for Forbes Magazine is superior to the more popular and older college rankings that US News & World Report generates. Last week on my...

October 2, 2009

Where do you find a great college? I hear that question all the time. You can pour through the big fat college guides from folks like the Princeton Review and Fiske, but they ignore most schools. For instance, Princeton Review’s latest guide covers 371 schools, but there are more than 2,200 four-year colleges and universities in this country. What I’m...

September 24, 2009

College rankings are sexy and fun to read, but have you ever wondered if they are really legitimate? If you have, I urge you to check out my latest story for CBSMoneyWatch.com that explores a variety of college rankings. In my article, I take a look at the methodology of various college rankings and then rate the rankers. My favorite...

September 2, 2009

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...

August 20, 2009

U.S. News & World Report released its 2010 college rankings in the wee hours this morning. For those who couldn’t wait to see the latest results, the magazine had posted a clock on its website that informed rankings enthusiasts of how many days, hours and minutes were left until the unveiling. In the university rankings competition, Harvard and Princeton tied...

August 7, 2009

If you look at the just-released college rankings from Forbes Magazine, you’ll notice some peculiar numbers. Forbes ranks Cornell as the 105th best school in the country, but U.S. News & World Report ranks it as the 14th best national university. Forbes rates Dartmouth and the University of Pennslyvania as the 98th and 83rd  best schools, but US News college...

June 4, 2009

The annual U.S. News & World Report’s college rankings edition is fun to read. In the past, I’ve poured over it myself. The rankings, however, are flawed. I’ve covered many of the reasons why U.S. News & World Report’s rankings are sketchy in my book, The College Solution, as well as in some of my blog posts. Here’s one reason...

August 15, 2008

I’ve only run across two or three people out here in California, who have heard of my daughter’s college. Even when Caitlin tells people the name of her school-–Juniata College–they stumble on the pronunciation. I used to do the same thing before we visited the college that’s nestled in the Allegheny Mountains in rural Pennsylvania. It’s obviously easier on the...