Can Private Schools be Cheaper than Public Schools?

May 27, 2010

If you read this blog often enough, you might get the impression that I’m totally anti-private school. I frequently advise you guys to ditch private schools and their fat tuition bills in favor of cheaper public schools, and all else being equal, that’s probably going to be my advice most of the time. But I’ve [...]

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Work-at-Home Jobs: Can They Get You Through Journalism School?

May 26, 2010

The Internet is awesome. I think we can all pretty much agree on that. If you’re old enough to remember life before the Internet, you can probably also remember all the predictions about how it was supposed to unleash us from corporate slavery — or at least let us telecommute a lot. And while that’s happened [...]

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We're Closed For Flooding Today

May 25, 2010

Hello, loyal readers. Just a quick note to let you know that there will be no regularly scheduled post from me today due to some wicked flooding that my family and I sustained last night. My family and I just recently moved and we have our old house up on the market. Unfortunately, we got [...]

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Should Natasha Get Married For the Financial Aid?

May 24, 2010

Hi Judge Josh. I read most of your articles, and find them very interesting. Sweet! However, I haven’t read one that helps me in my situation. Dang. My senior year of high school, I participated in the joint-enrollment program, taking 2 classes in high school, and 2 at a university. Unfortunately, I failed one class (I [...]

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Minority Scholarships: Why Are There So Many?

May 21, 2010

It’s Friday, and I have to admit, I’m pretty worn out this week. My mind is already into the weekend, so I’m not going to tackle a big, convoluted topic today. Instead, we’ll feature an email with a little bit of venting in it. Maybe you guys have more energy to help out than I [...]

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Is “Follow Your Dreams” A Bunch of BS?

May 20, 2010

You know, I get lot of “follow-your-dreams” style questions around here. Should I or shouldn’t I? Usually there’s a money issue involved; otherwise, why wouldn’t you follow your dreams? Unfortunately, it seems few of us “dream” of jobs that pay a truckload of money, are easy to get and easy to do. I guess that’s [...]

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How Not To Destroy Your Future With Student Loans

May 19, 2010

Student loans are, and probably always will be, the most recurring topic on this site (yeah, I thought it was gonna be scholarships, too. Maybe I should change the name of the site. Any suggestions?). But that’s fine, because there are an endless number of students and parents out there with questions and dilemmas regarding [...]

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Online Degrees: Legit Contenders or Weak Pretenders?

May 18, 2010

If you’re like me, you can’t be on the Web for five minutes without coming face-to-face with about 85 different flashing banner ads for online degrees and colleges. In fact, there’s an excellent chance that as you read this, there’s an ad fitting that description in the top right corner of this very page (and [...]

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From Vegas to L.A.: Should Brittany Transfer as a Senior?

May 17, 2010

It’s Monday and I’m excited, because tonight the Phoenix Suns get started on their upset series victory over the heavily favored and extremely boring L.A. Lakers. Wishful thinking on my part anyway, but it’s a perfect segue into today’s topic. Brittany loves L.A. and is considering ditching UNLV to transfer to UCLA — even though [...]

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Art Double Major vs. Soul-Crushing Debt

May 14, 2010

Sometimes I get emails that I just don’t have great, uplifting answers to give in reply, and I figure it’s only fair to include some of those in the usual rotation here, since not everyone has an easy path in front of them. Erika’s in a tough spot, and she’s just going to have to [...]

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Electives: Tough & Interesting vs. Easy & Boring

May 13, 2010

Hi, all — we’re back today answering a great question from a fellow named Sandeep who wants to challenge himself with a tough course outside his major, but he isn’t sure whether that’s kosher. Read on and see whether your advice for Sandeep is the same as mine. Hello. I have a question for you. [...]

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Expensive Grad School vs. Low-Paying Job

May 12, 2010

You know, after our Nancy Goes to Maryland and Elizabeth Goes to Harvard posts, I was thinking you guys might be tired of these dilemma, “What should she do?” types of posts. But the more mail and comments I get, I’m thinking you guys are pretty fond of ‘em. Hey, I love them, so I’m [...]

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Internships vs. Graduating on Time: What’s More Important?

May 11, 2010

Today, for the first time I believe, I’m dedicating the entire post to the topic of internships. I can’t believe I haven’t done it before now given the importance of the topic, but thanks to Allen from Florida, I’m now on the case. He writes: Hi Josh! Hi! I’m currently a sophomore at a public [...]

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Scholarship Microtip #1: Treat Others Well (Car Wreck Edition)

May 10, 2010

What a weekend. In the midst of my family moving from one house to another and my son having a big birthday party, my wife was in a serious car accident in which her Explorer rolled three times. She was released from the hospital a day later without serious injuries, but it left us thinking [...]

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ASVAB Test: Your Secret Weapon for Finding a Job You Love? (Counselor Buddy!)

May 6, 2010

There are some days when I’m sitting here in my office when I didn’t sleep enough the night before and my coffee has worn off and I feel like I could actually fall asleep sitting totally upright in my chair if I just tip my head back…and then I realize I haven’t made my post [...]

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How to Get a Job, Part 4: Be Flexible

May 5, 2010

It’s the final day of this little how-to-get-a-job sequence, and I hope you’ve enjoyed it thus far. Bookmark those posts; they were true 40 years ago and they’ll still be true 40 years from now. Today’s final tip is simply to be flexible on the job. And if possible, indicate in the interview that you’re [...]

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How to Get a Job, Part 3: Be a Nice Person (or at least act like one)

May 4, 2010

We’re back today with the shortest and sweetest of the four tips on how to get and keep a job: Be nice. Or at least act like you are. This has almost nothing to do with your ability to do the actual work you’re hired to do, but it has everything to do with people [...]

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How to Get a Job, Part 2: Put Your Heart Into It

May 3, 2010

Happy Monday, everyone, and my deepest apologies for no-showing you in this space on Friday. I was in Minneapolis for American Advertising Federation business (including the National Student Advertising Competition, which was outstanding — congrats Wisconsin-Madison!) and was occupied literally every moment of the day from waking up at 6:30 to hitting the rack around [...]

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How to Get a Job, Part 1: Research & Understand Me

April 29, 2010

Yesterday I made a comment about how, as an employer, the qualities we look for in a good employee aren’t really super-complicated, and that I could probably boil it down to four things in a blog post if anyone was interested. A lot of you said yeah, let’s hear it — so here it is [...]

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GPA Questions Answered & How to Get a Job

April 28, 2010

The comments came fast and furious yesterday as I expected after the GPA post, but they were surprisingly less vitriolic than they’ve been in the past. That must be Counselor Buddy’s soothing effect on you. You brought up a lot more varied questions on the GPA topic, so I’m taking today to answer some of [...]

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Hard Classes vs. Spotless GPA: What’s Better?

April 27, 2010

You guys seem to like Counselor Buddy, so today you get an extra dose of her! Like me, C-Buddy has acquired over the years a pretty long list of things that students could be doing better to help themselves get into college, and also to win scholarships. Unlike me, however, C-Buddy works face-to-face with high [...]

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Two Fatal Mistakes with Recommendation Letters (Counselor Buddy!)

April 26, 2010

Good evening, young champions. Counselor Buddy returns today to give you a very important tip that I never would’ve thought of, and I pepper in comments that I think are helpful, or at least moderately humorous. Let’s get at it. Hey, I’m not sure if this is post-worthy, but I’ve got a pet-peeve that I [...]

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Exercising Helps Everything

April 23, 2010

Writer’s block is killing me today, and a lot of the scholarship questions I have in the hopper here are either too personal to publish here on the blog or they’re questions I can’t answer because they’re way outside of my sphere of knowledge. I absolutely WILL post every weekday on this blog, though, so [...]

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Big School or Small School? (Jose’s Story)

April 22, 2010

Well, I wouldn’t worry about the state budget cuts too much if you have a full ride. Nothing’s beyond the realm of possibility when it comes to politicians, of course, but it would be an EXTREMELY unpopular move to renege on full-ride scholarships. And since politicians’ highest allegiance is to avoiding unpopular stances so that they can keep their offices and the power that comes with them, I wouldn’t lose too much sleep over that part.

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Can You Work Full-Time & Study Full-Time at the Same Time? (Sam’s Story)

April 21, 2010

I love it when someone approaches me with the words, “Hey, settle this bet for us.” It’s fun to be a bet-settler, but there’s some pressure because a) I mean, this is a bet. Someone’s going to be declared the LOSER because of what I say; and b) You have to set aside your natural [...]

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Everyone's On Plan C

April 20, 2010

If you are not absolutely lockdown certain about what to do with your life, this message is for you (and even if you ARE sure…you should read it, too. :)

YOUR LIFE PLANS ARE PROBABLY NOT GOING TO WORK OUT LIKE YOU THINK.

Now, that sounds a little negative. But I don’t mean it that way. I actually mean it in a very positive way. Let me explain.

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Christian’s Story: Does the School You Choose Ever Matter?

April 19, 2010

It’s Monday, and I for one am raring to go. Got 45 minutes of cardio in this morning before breakfast (a very healthy one, I might add), and I’ve got a fresh pot of coffee and a quiet house. As Joe from “Family Guy” would say….LET’S DO IIIIIIIT! A fellow named Christian Reich wrote me [...]

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Where Should Katie Master Public Health? (Pun Intended)

April 16, 2010

It’s Friday, and what better way to end the week than with a discussion that’s relevant to everyone? Today, a stressed-out lass from Maryland named Katie helps us explore the question of how much — if at all — the school you choose affects your future. I’m guessing debate will rage on this on at [...]

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Three Kids, No Money, a GED & Plenty of Heart (Tony’s Story)

April 15, 2010

I got a great note yesterday from a guy named Tony who’s in a tough spot, so I thought I’d use his letter as the basis for today’s post. Tony may just be the poster child for this time and place in our history, and I hope he’s in the beginning stages of what turns [...]

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Sugar Daddies, Gap Years & Broken Dreams

April 14, 2010

Hola, friends. I’m writing today’s post from a hospital waiting room, where my wife is having nose surgery. No, it’s not a nose job — it’s actually surgery to open up her sinuses and hopefully stop her headaches not caused by me. Best part of the waiting room? Free wi-fi and bagels. Worst part? “The [...]

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