The College Solutions Blog

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

College readiness
December 20, 2010

Tips for Collegebound Teenagers With Learning Disablities

I’ve been feeling guilty about ignoring the issues that college-bound students with learning disabilities face. Let’s just say it’s been on my to-do list. I was happy, however, when I discovered a story that Kim Clark, my friend over at US News, wrote that contained tips for teenagers with learning disabilities. What follows are some of Clark’s tips for learning...
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December 14, 2010

Sharing Secrets on Your College Application

What happens if your teenagers has made a bad mistake during his or her high school years? I’m talking about a suspension from school. A drunk driving ticket. A cheating incident. How do you handle these kinds of mistakes on your college application? Lee Bierer, an independent college counselor in Charlotte, NC, and a syndicated columnist, tackled this thorny college...
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November 16, 2010

Is Your Smart Child Being Left Behind?

How many times have you read news accounts about American students lagging behind countless other countries in academic achievement? In a recent standardized test of math proficiency, we’re way behind Taiwan (No. 1), Hong Kong (No. 2) and Korea (No. 3), but wait. We can’t even compete with the likes of Slovenia and the Slovak Republic. When I’ve read the...
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November 5, 2010

Grockit: Can Studying for the SAT or ACT Be Fun?

Studying for the SAT or ACT isn’t fun. But Grockit is trying hard to make it entertaining. Grockit, whose motto on its homepage is “Get addicted to studying,” bills itself as a social networking site for learning. With Grockit, teenagers can improve their test skills, in part, by learning from and competing against thousands of other students. They can earn...
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October 13, 2010

Thank God My Kids Aren't Toddlers

There are a couple of reasons why I’m glad that my two children, who are both in college, aren’t toddlers. One reason is obvious. I don’t think I’d have the energy today to chase toddlers around. The second reason occurred to me last week when I reading a story in The New York Times entitled, Picture Books No Longer a...
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August 19, 2010

An AP Nightmare

Is there a downside to Advanced Placement classes? I’m asking this question because many teenagers and their parents seem to believe that you can’t get into a good college without taking a killer load of AP classes. Taking three or four (or more!) AP classes in a semester can suck all the fun out of high school, but many kids...
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August 11, 2010

Starting College With the Jitters

I’m getting up before dawn tomorrow. My son Ben and I are catching a 6:45 a.m. flight to Chicago. Ben will be starting college on Saturday and he’s nervous. But hey, aren’t all college freshmen nervous? Coincidentally, I found a great blog post today, written by two college professors, who shared ways that college freshmen can increase their confidence. Here...
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August 10, 2010

Are AP Classes Worth It?

Are AP classes really worthwhile? There is no doubt that advanced placement classes are popular.  Last year, nearly 1.7 million students worldwide took more than 2.9 million AP exams. Twenty five percent of high school graduates have taken at least one AP exam. With teenagers returning to the classroom grind soon, I thought this would be a good time to...
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May 10, 2010

How I Paid $0 for My Son's Summer Program

Are you looking for summer programs for high school students? I was recently hunting for a high school summer program for my son Ben. I paid for an online physics summer school program at Stanford that cost about $500, but I ended up going elsewhere and cut the price down to $0! Before I explain how, I want to state...
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February 22, 2010

Good News for College Transfer Students

Where do college transfer students go after they earn their two-year associate’s degree? It’s been a tough question to answer when you consider that colleges and universities have traditionally been focused on high school seniors. The transfer student who graduates from a community college has legitimately felt overlooked. But that reality could be changing for a couple of reasons. Reason...
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