College Review: Muhlenberg College
After Lisa visited Muhlenberg College, she shared a few takeaways with our team that we haven’t been able to stop thinking about. Why College Students Avoid Career Services (And Why It Matters) For parents of college students, one of the largest complaints I hear/make is that despite colleges offering amazing opportunities, such as research, mentoring, and career placement services, many students refuse to avail themselves of them. I believe this to be because in order to get help, students would have to TALK TO A GROWN-UP. The discomfort this causes creates avoidance behaviors, followed by oppositional behaviors when their parents [...]
College Financial Fit Matters: Understanding Cost & Aid
There is a very specific moment in the college process when even the calmest, most rational families temporarily lose their minds. It is not the essay deadline or even the admissions decisions. It is the financial aid package letter. There are numbers everywhere. Tuition. Fees. Grants. Scholarships. Loans. Work-study. “Estimated cost of attendance.” “Net cost.” Something called “Parent PLUS” that sounds friendly but is actually scary. The letter usually suggests you should feel reassured—and yet, you do not. Because, unlike essays or extracurriculars, this part is not abstract or philosophical. It’s math, and math feels final. Why Financial Aid Letters [...]
College Review: Bucknell University
Lisa shares her on-the-ground perspective from a recent visit to Bucknell University. Bucknell is a private university that serves mostly undergraduates–about 4,000 of them. It is located near the charming small town of Lewisburg, PA, and pretty much nothing else, except for Harrisburg, PA, about one hour away. Being roughly two to three hours from major cities such as New York, Washington D.C., and Philadelphia makes the school a bit more challenging to reach, despite the shuttles that Bucknell runs to major airports during high travel times. What the school lacks in urban proximity, it makes up for in beauty, [...]
College Review: Gettysburg College
On a recent visit, Lisa toured Gettysburg College and found a campus rich in history, strong, academics, and understated charm. Located in central Pennsylvania, not too far from the Maryland border, is a small liberal arts college set right next to the national park commemorating the battle of Gettysburg. In fact, the college, founded before the Civil War in 1832, was used as a hospital for both Union and Confederate soldiers, leading to rumors that the college’s oldest buildings are haunted, including a freshman dorm, which is visited by the spirit of a young boy who died by accidentally falling [...]
College Review: Villanova University
Villanova University Campus Overview and First Impressions At Villanova, the level of energy and activity that crackles around campus is undeniable. This mid-size Augustinian Catholic university, right outside Philadelphia, is growing in both size, with the purchase of two nearby liberal arts campuses, and in stature. Construction is everywhere you look, and the school hopes to have its new, massive library building completed by next year. Students on campus appeared happy, but energized and focused. Of course, it probably helped that my visit coincided with the beginning of March Madness, in which their highly ranked basketball teams are bound to [...]
Calm College Visits—a Myth?
Spoiler alert: No, they can happen. We've even done them! College visits are often treated like sightseeing tours—or worse, a box to check on a stressful list. And that’s not even including the drama your teen can produce during these trips. We’ve done that too. In The Calm College Method, we approach visits differently: not as auditions or verdicts, but as data-gathering experiences.A good visit won’t magically tell a student “This is the one.” But it will give clarity, context, and confidence—and help families make decisions for solid reasons, not vibes. College visits are inputs, not decisions.Below is a calm [...]