Customer Reviews

The College Solution: A Guide for Everyone Looking for the Right School at the Right Price

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As a mother of a HS junior who attends a local school in France, I have to take a more active role with the US college search since his school has no guidance counselor and there are no college road shows in the vicinity. I find myself reliant on word of mouth and written sources : guidebooks, blogs ,, newspaper articles, books /websites & advice and have invested the better part of son's junior year compiling information for the college search.
I ordered this book after reading a reference on a college admissions blog. I finished it during a train ride - and found it so riveting that I missed my stop.
Based on the title, I had expected to find just tips for affording college education but was pleasantly surprised by the author's insistence on quality -how to get your money's worth. So often the writers authoring these books report from the hallowed halls of academia. This author is a parent - and bases her experience as a mother of a college freshman while wearing her financial reporter thinking cap. How many college admission books are written from this point of view?
One innovation is that the book reverses the criteria for the college search by starting with match schools , not reach, where the student has more chance of obtaining scholarship money. The bottom up approach also instructs on how to find the best fit academically with several chapters on grading academic departments and discussions on professor ratings. Not stopping with the college admissions process, she addresses another under looked category - undergraduate research. And thanks to the author's chapter on freebies & best buys, I have added another school to the list.
The book closes with a list of informational websites, helpful cheat sheets and timelines in the appendix.
The author has packed an enormous amount of information here but has addressed the most salient points in a practical college admissions and quality education search. I could have saved a considerable amount of time and money had I read this book first and feel more empowered now for the final year of the search.

This is a most helpful guide. As we make college videos, I was particularly interested in what you had to say in chapter 36, Visiting Campuses. You made two excellent points: one is usually wrong in newspaper articles and the other is almost never mentioned. First, I hate being told that summer is a great time to visit the colleges. Yes, the students may be off from school, but small colleges are deserted and even the large state universities have only limited students on campus. The campus itself, however, will look better than at any time during the academic year.
Very important too is the need to have the college build a file on the student. The best way is to visit the college itself. It shows real interest. Admissions counselors say that all things being equal, a "stealth" candidate (one where the college first learns about your interest when the application arrives) has a lower chance of acceptance than one who has shown previous contact with the college. You are a realist in saying that because of financial and time consideration, an actual visit may not be possible, and you urge your readers to show their early interest "through a request for literature, a call to the financial aid office, or a conversation during a college fair." That advice alone could justify the cost of the book.

This book covers it all in the college search to include both the academic side as well as the financial side. Most college books focus on how to get in - this book teaches you how to pursue the schools that value your student's profile and rewards them financially for being a good fit for their college. The author goes into depth on how to find the best academic programs for the majors your student wants to pursue, and how to evaluate these programs and the professors. She discusses the importance of undergraduate research opportunities, leading to active student engagement, and consequently a more successful college experience. Lynn understands the financial aid process, and addresses both the FAFSA form as well as the CSS Profile, a much more comprehensive form that many private colleges use to dig deeper into the financial lives of families. Very few financial aid books cover the Profile form with such useful information in an easy to understand and interesting manner. This book is recommended for parents, students, high school guidance counselors and independent college admissions advisors. 'College Solutions" is the current #1 leader of the college search books, and highly recommended!

As a parent of a high school senior, I have read many college admission advice books over the past two years. I found this book "The College Solution" to be different than most of the others, and I highly recommend it. While many of the other books focus on theories and tricks to gaining admission, I feel this book offers very practical advice and suggests specific actions. It mentions many helpful websites that are beneficial in researching colleges. The title of this book might make you think the book is all about financing college.... It certainly covers that, but it is much more. This is a very useful, practical book. Reasonably priced and worth it. I had originally borrowed it from the local library...after reading it I purchased my own copy so I can refer back to it periodically.

As a college counselor, I really appreciate the concise, no-nonsense information contained in The College Solution. Ms. O'Shaughnessy's practical advice will let you breathe a bit easier as you work your way through the process. I originally picked up the book to use as a resource for the financial info, read it straight through in a day and have anointed it the single most useful book I have read on college admissions in general. I highly recommend it to other counselors, as well as students and their families.

This book contains useful information for selecting and paying for college. It follows the belief that small private liberal arts colleges generally provide a superior undergraduate education when compared to large universities. It is, of course, not the only book to follow that reasoning. In this book, however, there is a strong emphasis on the issue of minimizing costs and paying the bill. The book covers such topics as financial aid, merit money, scholarships, student and parent loans, education investment accounts, and other sources of funding.

The writer is somewhat critical of the well-known college rating guides. She exposes the weaknesses of such guides, reminding the reader that the ratings are based upon responses to questionaires, the colleges' entry standards, and the opinions of those associated with the colleges rather than on actual knowledge of the colleges. As noted in the book, it would be impossible when evaluating hundreds of colleges and univerities to become intimately acquainted with all of them.

The writer commends the well-known and popular book "Colleges That Change Lives", but notes that even that book has its flaws. For example, she accurately points out that Antioch College is among the 40 colleges covered in the book. Yet, Antioch College is now closed. She does not attempt to tackle the underlying reasons for the declining enrollment that eventually forced its closure, but she provides us with a reminder that there are more issues to consider when choosing a college than just its ability to change lives.

Overall, I definitely feel that this is a book that those who are beginning their college search should read.

I am a college counselor at a large, racially diverse, urban high school. I am going to recommend "The College Solution" to my student's parents beginning at Freshman orientation. There is so much useful information contained within the book's pages,of which most lay people are not aware. It is also time to look away from US News and World Report rankings. There are many other ways to search for colleges, and Ms. Lynn Shaughnessy points out many!! There is also great advice, and strategies for maximizing financial aid.
Kudos to you , Ms. Shaughnessy for condensing everything a parent needs to know between two bookcovers.

Sharon Drell
College Counselor
Cleveland HS
Reseda. CA 91335

I could have saved money and time if I'd read this book first. With our oldest son a high school junior at a well-regarded California public school in an affluent area, our local culture sometimes seems defined by the arms race in college admissions. When I kept hearing about superstar teens who get into only 3 of 10 schools, something seemed off, but I couldn't figure out what. Lynn O'Shaugnessy's book helped me understand what was going on in the admissions cycle, and we're now looking at prospective schools in a whole new light. A must-read for parents looking for a Consumer Reports take on college values and real prices, as well as those hoping to make the admissions process affirm their teen's growing (and justified) confidence, not demolish it.

I am a career coach for students and young people seeking admission to college, graduate schools and the workforce. My practice focuses on students learning how to optimally position themselves. I ask the question, "What unique strengths do you have to offer that this college needs?"

Lynn O'Shaughnessy has taken this question to a new level. I help my students understand that a key to college acceptance is communication of how their unique strengths can fill a school's gaps (i.e., academic talent, diversity, athletic or artistic abilities). This book adds the financial element to that equation. A student's ability to fill a college's gaps not only drives acceptance, but influences a college's financial generosity as well. This is a simple, intuitive concept that not many families recognize.

As families push their high schoolers to "stretch" themselves to apply to prestigious "reach" colleges, they are overlooking great educational opportunities. If you get into Ivy U by the skin of your teeth, and you feel like they are almost doing you a favor by letting you squeak in, you are unlikely to get any financial incentives for going there. But if you are bringing something special to Under Ivy U, and they really want you for the contributions you can make (i.e., freshman stats, sports, arts, academic potential), they might feel a little more like you are doing them a favor, and they'll be willing to offer you a financial incentive to do so.

Simple, isn't it? Thank you, Ms. O'Shaughnessy, for pointing out such a clear and brilliant principle. I suggest your book to all my students, and will continue to do so!

-Kris Hintz, wwww.positionu4college.com

As a college counselor and parent, I have read just about every college admissions book on the market. This book was recommended on a college admissions blog- it wasn't available at the local library so I took a risk and bought it sight unseen. I read it in one sitting, and now recommend it to all my clients, friends, and coworkers.

What makes this book so unique is how very practical the information is. Lynn offers tips on getting merit aid (do you know about a college's Common Data Set?) and I learned so many valuable insights.

This is a book that parents and counselors will reference again and again- I find myself pulling it out frequently as my youngest child moves through the admissions process.

This comprehensive, easy to read book has made me feel empowered and knowledgeable- I highly recommend it!