Proving that a college education is what you make of it, U.S. News and World Report Columnist Lynn O’Shaughnessy offered a different take on the magazine’s annual college rankings released this week.

Citing her “wonderful experience” at the University of Missouri–St. Louis, she opined that “it’s what you do in college, not where you go,” focusing her comments on the schools (like UMSL) “that never get to bask in the bright lights of the college rankings hoopla.” More than 30 years ago, O’Shaughnessy was a history major at UMSL and “connected with a professor there who believed in me and convinced me that I had a writing talent.” She then nurtured that talent writing for The Current, the UMSL student newspaper. Later, O’Shaughnessy transferred to the University of Missouri, where she studied journalism.

Today, she is a successful journalist and writes the College Solution Blog, is a regular contributor to CBS Money Watch and U.S. News and has written several books on college issues. Visit http://tiny.cc/cdfi4 for the complete story.