Book Review of the "International Family Guide to US University Admissions" by Jennifer Ann Aquino

My review of the book International Family Guide to US University Admissions by Jennifer Ann Aquino is a bit overdue but there is a reason for that...I read her book twice and really enjoyed it and have found it very helfpful and relevant in my new position at Columbia College Chicago.  Additionally, as the father of three who will soon be involved in the college applicaiton process with my 16 year old daughter and then my two sons ages 12 and nine this book will become helpful to me on a personal level.

I first read Jennifer's book in early fall 2017 and my review was in the queue for posting here on IHEC Blog.  On October 2, 2017 I started a new job and on October 5th I departed for the AIEC conference in Hobart, Tasmania and was gone for nearly two weeks.  Things were busy but during winter break and into this new year I picked up International Family Guide to US University Admissions again becuase I'm having more of a role in international recruitment and admissions and knew that Jennifer's insight would be incredibly helpful to me as I learn more about this area of global student mobility and a large part of my new position.

International Family Guide to US University Admissions, 324 pages and published in 2017, is broken down into 12 chapters with Conclusion and includes The Writing Handbook to guide students through the writing requirements.

Contents of the book are as follows:

Introduction
Chapter 1 And You Are. . .?
Chapter 2 You’ve Got to Understand How It Works to Win
Chapter 3 Being Your Nerdiest Self . . .and Taking Time to Do It
Chapter 4 Your Goldilocks Moment
Chapter 5 Less Snap-Chatting and More Real-Chatting
Chapter 6 School’s [Not] Out For Summer!
Chapter 7 You Can’t Fake It
Chapter 8 The Pressure Is On!
Chapter 9 The Busiest Month of Your Life
Chapter 10 The Final Month of Writing College Applications. . .Ever?
Chapter 11 A Rite of Passage in the Making
Chapter 12 Anticipating, Deciding, and Arriving
Conclusion: The Beginning of the Rest of Your Life
The Writing Handbook
References
Index

As Jennier highlights in the Preface, one must read the book linearly as she walks students and their families through the detailed timeline of the admissions process from beginning to end.  What I really like is that she incorporates active Milestones, case studies and worksheets into each chapter.

International Family Guide to US University Admissions is an excellent resource and tool for international families and students considering applying to a college or university in the United States.  Jennifer provides sage advice in this excellent step-by-step guide of the admissions process in the United States and will serve as an incredibly helpful resource for prospective international students and their families.  As I previously mentioned, I found the book to be incredibly helpful to me and my new role in understanding the admissions process in the U.S. and I appreciate understanding the process via the international student and family perspective.  This will serve as an informative resource for me in my office library for many years.

That said, in about a year I'll have to check the book out of my office and bring it home as a resource for my wife and me as we begin to help guide our 16 year old daughter through the college and university admissoins process!

If you are interested in learning more about and purchasing the book you can do so via Jennifer's website here.

Note:  I receive no compensation for this book review other than the copy of the book I received in the mail for this review.