Valuable insights from Lynn O’Shaughnessy
a nationally recognized college expert.
Universities
October 3, 2012
50 Schools That Produce the Most Science and Engineering PhD’s
Note: I ran this college blog post last year, but it’s equally relevant today… I got an email this week from a California mother who was happy that her child would be a attending St. Mary’s College of Maryland, a wonderful public liberal arts college, in the fall. Her husband, however, remained skeptical. He worried that his daughter would be...
Read More
3
March 14, 2012
Getting Disappointing Scholarship News
I have started getting emails from parents who are disappointed that their teenagers’ financial aid packages are so meager. I wanted to share one story today from a mom, whose daughter is a stellar student and who was hoping for the University of Delaware’s top scholarship. A Mom’s Email My daughter just received her acceptance today from the University of...
Read More
5
January 2, 2012
My Most Popular College Blog Posts of 2011
I want to give a big thanks to all of my regular visitors — and the new folks too — who helped to make 2011 the best year ever for The College Solution! I know 2011 was my best year because I use Google Analytics to keep track of how many people visit my college blog. Now that we’re in...
Read More
0
November 1, 2011
Where Are the Freshmen Coming From?
Today I want to share a nifty interactive tool on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s website that you can use to see where students, who attend any college or university, are coming from. When I used it to look up the the University of Michigan, I discovered that the biggest contingent of nonresidents were from New York (361), Illinois (319),...
Read More
0
May 5, 2011
Do You Know the Difference Between a College and University?
When I’ve been giving college presentations lately, I’ve begun asking the members of the audience this question: How many people here know the difference between a college and a university? It’s rare that even one person raises his or her hand. Yikes. I think it’s important to understand the distinctions before exploring a student’s higher-ed choices. Consequently, I’m going to...
Read More
26
March 8, 2011
Is Any College Really Worth $50,000 a Year?
Affluent families, who can afford to send their children anywhere to college, are becoming more discriminating. Some are questioning whether a private college that costs $50,000 or more is really worth the price. That’s one of the take-home messages of a podcast that I listened to recently on The Chronicle of Higher Education’s website. The newspaper interviewed John T. Lawlor,...
Read More
2
December 5, 2010
Should You Attend Your Dream College?
This is the time of year when high school seniors and their parents begin reciting this age-old advice: Follow your dreams. Families tend to use this advice to justify their children attending expensive dream colleges even if these schools will require taking on crushing student debt. I am a huge advocate of families researching schools before hand to see if...
Read More
3
August 2, 2010
Cutting the Price of Out-of-State Universities
The price tag for attending an out-of-state public university can be quite high. It’s easy to understand why. States are interested in holding down the costs for their own residents. You might, however, be able to capture a higher-ed bargain if your state maintains a reciprocal agreement with its neighbors. States commonly maintain reciprocal agreements with public colleges and universities...
Read More
2
July 26, 2010
Research Universities: What You Need to Ask
In my last blog post I complained that too many high school students pick schools based primarily on size. And most of these students only want to look at schools that are large. Here is where I vented: My Pet Peeve: Picking Colleges by Size What’s more important, I argued, is a school’s mission. Today, I want to explore a...
Read More
1
March 24, 2010
University of California: Bold Reform Missing So Far
Can the players in the University of California financial crisis agree on the sort of bold reforms needed to save it from its fiscal crisis? So far it doesn’t look like it. The University of California’s Commission on the Future released its first recommendations yesterday and one of the ex-officio commission members called them “admittedly bland.” Here are some of...
Read More
6