The College Solutions Blog

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

University of Wisconsin
Featured image for “Research Universities:  A Dirty Little Secret”
March 27, 2015

Research Universities: A Dirty Little Secret

Most students who hope to earn a bachelor’s degree will enroll at a university. The schools that students dream of attending are almost always research universities. It’s far less common for teenagers to end up at a college. I find that reality unfortunate because a college can often provide a better education for undergraduates than a research university. And it’s...
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Featured image for “Are Flagships Worth the Price for Outsiders?”
April 9, 2014

Are Flagships Worth the Price for Outsiders?

I received an email recently from a mom who was upset because her smart daughter didn’t receive any scholarships from the schools on her list. All the school were prestigious public flagships outside her state. These institutions will be among the toughest to receive meaningful scholarships from because they are most demand from their own state residents and they can...
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April 20, 2012

When Two Children Head to College

Yesterday’s post, which explored the school options of a brilliant teenager from Wisconsin, generated many insightful comments from parents.  Here is the post: Should a Kid Borrow $80,000 for a Brand-Name University? If you missed the post or the comments, I’d urge you to check both out. To summarize, the teenager managed to get admitted to some elite schools including...
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April 19, 2012

Should a Kid Borrow $80,000 for a Brand Name University?

I am sharing an email that I received Tuesday from a Wisconsin mom, who is stressed about the admission decision that her teenage son must make by May 1. What follows is a cautionary tale for any families which have not been through the college admission process yet. Read on to discover how to avoid the kind of mistakes that...
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March 4, 2011

Flagship Universities Going Rogue

With support from their state governments dwindling, some state flagship universities are seeking greater autonomy. Among the schools clamoring for more freedom are the University of Oregon, Louisiana State and University of Wisconsin, where my mother earned her master’s degree decades ago. I read a story in The New York Times yesterday about these universities lobbying for more freedom here:...
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April 1, 2009

Public University Bargains for Affluent Students

While everyone likes to gripe about the cost of college, in the world of state flagship universities true bargains exist. UCLA and the University of California, Berkeley, are two of them. The tuition at each of those schools is below $7,000. In comparison, Harvard’s tuition is more than $36,000. The protests against annual rises at state institutions, however, has masked...
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