Finding Your U – A Book Review
Recently, I was offered an advance copy of “Finding Your U – Navigating the College Admission Process,” by Katrin Muir Lau and Judith Widener Muir in hopes that I would be willing to write a book review. I am always willing to do that as one of my goals with My Kid’s College Choice is to recommend great resources to help you and your kids figure out the college search and college admission process.
Finding Your U is one of those great resources. It covers all the basics of the college search and college admission process, including:
- How to decide where to apply
- How colleges decide who to admit
- Paying for college and the financial assistance that’s available
- What to do after decisions come in
It even has a section with tips for international students.
In the chapter How You Decide Where to Apply, there’s a great checklist for your student to use early in the college search process to determine what type of college is a good fit by answering yes or no questions about location, academics, student body and campus life. This chapter also covers the best ways to learn about a college and the best ways to make contact with colleges, including tips for college visits. It also offers suggested resource books and websites for learning more.
The chapter How Colleges Decide Who Gets In is the best part of the book. It is all about the college admission process. It covers everything about the college application and what schools are looking for. I especially like the Essay Examples where the authors show good opening sentences and best ways to cover specific topics. This chapter also covers the Activity Resume and Letters of Recommendation, with tips and examples. In addition, the chapter covers Interviews, Demonstrated Interest, Special Interests and Sports. Basically, everything you need to consider to be prepared for applying to colleges is covered.
Overall, Finding Your U is a good and quick read for families who are new to the college search and college admission process and need to know the basics. In one place, you can learn all of the things that you would need to find through separate articles and resources on the internet.