The College Solutions Blog

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

Academic majors
February 16, 2012

The Rise of the Anti-Lecture?

About a third of students begin college expecting to major in a STEM discipline – science, technology, engineering and math. Less than half of them manage to leave with a STEM degree. At some point, most students switch to an easier major. A couple of years ago UCLA released a study that broke down by race and ethnicity just how...
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February 7, 2012

A Dilemma: Liberal Arts College vs. Journalism School

I received an email over the weekend from a mom who is stressing about whether her accomplished daughter would be better off attending a liberal arts college or a journalism school. I happen to be a graduate of the the nation’s oldest journalism school at the University of Missouri (see photo) and I’ll share some thoughts after the mom’s note....
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February 7, 2012

A Dilemma: Liberal Arts College vs. Journalism School

I received an email over the weekend from a mom who is stressing about whether her accomplished daughter would be better off attending a liberal arts college or a journalism school. I happen to be a graduate of the the nation’s oldest journalism school at the University of Missouri (see photo) and I’ll share some thoughts after the mom’s note....
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January 26, 2012

The Colleges Where PhD’s Get Their Start

What schools produce the most undergraduates who end up heading off to graduate school? The subject came up yesterday because a friend of mine was telling me about a brilliant teenager who wants to eventually get a PhD in physics. The student lives in California, but the mom wants him to apply to schools in the Midwest where she grew...
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November 18, 2011

College Students Who Study the Least

What students are the biggest slackers? A report released on Thursday by the National Survey for Student Engagement suggests that business majors may have earned that title. In the survey, which polled college students at hundreds of colleges and universities earlier this year, concluded that business majors and social science majors spend the least amount of time studying.  The typical...
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November 17, 2011

Great Website for Exploring College Majors

Today I’m sharing a great resource for students, who want to learn more about college majors and their career paths – College Majors 101. I’d urge everybody to spend some time on this website, which is stuffed with valuable information about college majors as diverse as biology and engineering to video game design and dance. This is one of my...
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November 16, 2011

What Colleges Offer the Right Majors?

How can you find schools that offer the college degree that you want? That was the question that I got from a mother whose daughter hopes to become a registered nurse. The mom asked me  how her daughter could find a list of colleges and universities that offer nursing degrees. (Nursing, by the way, is the most popular major in...
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November 15, 2011

Popular College Majors With the Highest and Lowest Unemployment

I want to welcome all my new visitors to my college blog. Spend time at  The College Solution and you’ll find lots of tips on finding great colleges and making them more affordable. What college majors pay the most money? What college majors are the ones most likely to lead to a job in this lousy economy? Which college majors...
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November 4, 2011

50 Schools That Produce the Most Science and Engineering PhDs

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 jeopardizing her chances of going to graduate school if she went to an obscure...
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October 20, 2011

Could a Badge Be As Good As a College Degree?

The college degree is the only game in town. At least that’s the way it’s been for a very long time. Most Americans believe they need a college degree to succeed professionally and the statistics certainly bear this out. College graduates earn considerably more during their careers. Among Americans ages 25 to 32, for instance, women and men with college...
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