The College Solutions Blog

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

US News & World Report
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June 24, 2013

Teacher Education Programs Flunk Out

My son Ben wants to become a high school math teacher, which means his formal education won’t be over after he graduates with a mathematics degree from Beloit College next year. Ben will have to obtain a credential and possibly a master’s degree before he ends up with a teaching position. That’s why I was particularly discouraged, but not surprised...
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September 12, 2012

How U.S. News’ College Rankings Can Hurt You

At midnight East Coast time, U.S. News & World Report released its 2013 college rankings. And what a shocker – Harvard and Princeton tied for first in the national university category! Yale came in third. Among liberal arts colleges, Williams got the No. 1 ranking followed by Amherst. Equally shocking. (Please note my sarcasm.) Despite the annual hoopla over these...
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June 15, 2012

Three Degrees of College Prestige

Today I am happy to share with you a thoughtful post that David Montesano, one of my favorite independent college college consultants, wrote about college rankings. Montesano is the owner of College Match Educational Consultants, which has offices in the San Francisco Bay area, Seattle and elsewhere. Three Degrees of College Prestige In an era where a sour economy is...
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May 3, 2012

The Realities of Merit Scholarships

I am attending something called the Super ACAC conference this week in Reno, NV. It’s a rare combined meeting of three related organizations that cover California, the Pacific Northwest and much of the rest of the western United States. College admission administrators, high school counselors and independent college consultants are attending the conference. On my Facebook page on Monday, I...
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February 20, 2012

The Nation’s 62 Most Generous Colleges

What are the most generous colleges and universities in the country? US News & World Report attempts to answer that question every year when it rolls out its lists of institutions that self report that they meet 100% of each student’s financial need. Today I’m sharing the latest list that US News released last week. Not surprisingly, highly elite schools...
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July 27, 2011

College Rankings: The Good and The Bad

Here is a true story: This spring a Denver teenager got into Dartmouth College, which was her dream school. The girl, however, is going to Princeton in the fall. Why? Her mom lobbied her to attend Princeton because it is No. 2 in US News & World Report’s rankings while Dartmouth is No. 9. This might be an extreme example...
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September 14, 2010

College Rankings: My Pet Peeve

As many of you know, I’m not a fan of college rankings. I think most rankings are lame and their methodology is creaky. When a mom emailed me yesterday complaining about the rankings, I decided to use this as an opportunity to share one of my biggest pet peeves about the college rankings of U.S. News & World Report, which...
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