Acceptance letters
University of Chicago’s Ego
I had lunch today with a dear friend whose son hopes to be attending the University of Chicago in the fall. This is a kid from Southern California who fell in love with the institution when he visited. Taylor, I changed his name, applied early action to the University of Chicago and he remains optimistic […]
11Nov2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 2 comments | Continued
Should You Apply to a Reach School?
Do you know what a reach school is? I’ve been surprised recently to find out that many parents and teenagers don’t understand what the term means. I discovered just how elusive a concept it is during college talks that I occasionally give at high schools and other settings. When I ask, “Who knows what a […]
2Nov2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 0 comments | Continued
Beware of Universities Dishing Out Compliments
Has your teenager received flattering email or literature from universities or even VIP college applications from schools that are already prefilled? If your child has gotten any of these communications, let me make this quite clear, it doesn’t mean anything. Despite all the collegiate flirting, the schools may not be interested in your child. Flattering […]
1Nov2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 4 comments | ContinuedAnswers to College Recruiting Questions
I’ve gotten questions lately from parents whose children are being recruited by college coaches. I wanted to share the questions because it might help other families who are or will be navigating the Byzantine world of college athletics. I talked to Karen Weaver, my go-to-expert on college athletics. Weaver is the director of athletics at […]
28Oct2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 0 comments | Continued
Getting To Know Regional College Admission Reps
Yesterday I wrote a post about attending nearby colleges and universities. Here it is: Sticking Close to Home for College For students who are adventurous enough to explore colleges in other states, I wanted to mention a trend that I read about in The Chronicle of Higher Education a couple of days ago. More private […]
26Oct2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 2 comments | Continued
Does Applying Early Decision Work?
If you want to attend an elite college or university, you can increase your chances if you apply early decision. That’s one of the conclusions that you can draw from a new annual study released by the National Association for College Admission Counseling, The State of College Admission 2010. Highly selective colleges are increasingly relying […]
21Oct2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 6 comments | ContinuedWhy Colleges Can Be Nosy
Before I left for St. Louis, my hometown, to attend the annual conference of the National Association for College Admission Counseling, I asked my blog readers to pose questions that I could ask to college experts here. Here was one of my reader’s questions: Why do schools ask applicants where else they are applying? Are […]
1Oct2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 1 comment | ContinuedApplying Early Decision to Brown University
The last two days I’ve been writing about applying early decision in the college admission process. Here are my two posts: Finding the Success Rate of Applying Early Decision Case Study: Applying Early Decision After reading my case study post, a mom posed with her own question about early decision. I decided to answer her […]
10Sep2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 3 comments | Continued
Case Study: Applying Early Decision
Yesterday I shared an easy way to to obtain early decision statistics from individual colleges and universities. Here is the post: Finding the Success Rate of Applying Early Decision As I promised at the time, I want to delve into the specifics of a high school senior, I’m going to call her Sarah, who wants […]
9Sep2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 4 comments | ContinuedFinding the Success Rate of Applying Early Decision
Should you apply early decision? I got an email last night from a psychologist who asked if his daughter should apply early decision to The College of New Jersey, which is a public liberal arts college. Last month, I wrote about the early decision dilemma that a mom from Minnesota was facing regarding her daughter’s […]
8Sep2010 | Lynn O’Shaughnessy | 3 comments | Continued
