Nowadays, college admissions officers consider more than just academic grades. Students who will contribute as well-rounded individuals to the college community stand out to college admissions committees. One way to grab attention is to showcase your extracurricular activities and accomplishments in a college admissions portfolio. Highlighting your skills, dedication and future interests may also be appealing to selective programs. For my rising freshman and sophmores, start early! Create an excel spreadsheet or other document to track volunteer hours and activities as well as keep track of important contact for future letters of recommend or reference on scholarship applications.
Building a college admissions portfolio can be done two different ways: by compiling a document, like a pdf to showcase your work, or by developing a website with links to documents and scanned image files. Both formats come with their own advantages and disadvantages.
The benefit of the pdf format is that it's easy for anyone to look at, and it organizes your work in a clear, simple way. It can be attached to emails or uploaded along with other application documents, as well as easily modified in a different file, then saved as a PDF. You maintain control over the layout and formatting and can tailor any document for the receiving organization. The biggest drawback to the pdf is that it's not ideal for multi-media projects such as videos, audio files, or 3D designs. For my athletes, you'll want to create a separate sharing site where coaches and athletic directors frequent.
If you choose the website option, there are plenty of online options that allow users to create portfolios, blogs, or art displays relatively easily. The specific site you use doesn't matter, as long as it suits the kind of art or project you want to show off and your ability to design with it. I would caution that anything posted online is there permanently, even if deleted, thanks to programs like the "wayback machine" and software that can pull data previoulsy posted. Some suggest building your portfolio online shows admissions officers that you're comfortable using technology as well as experiencing the attention that comes along with public audiences.
I advise starting your portfolio early and updating every semester during high school. Even if the projects or artwork you produce as a freshman are not as refined as those you create in your senior year, the commitment and effort you put into improving can be noteworthy to college admissions officers. Keep in mind that you are narrating a story to the admissions team about your current self, but more significantly, about the potential for growth over the next four years. While showcasing your finest work is essential, demonstrating a progression that highlights your development is also an effective method to capture their interest.
Keep it concise! If you've been producing entire albums of electronic music during high school, don't include every track. A selection of your four best is sufficient. There's no exact number, because it depends on the nature of the work and how long it takes admissions officers to experience it. You can include up to a dozen photographs or other visual art work, but only three or four video pieces or short stories, for example. If you are showcasing academic work, upload written essays along with honors from National Honors Society or other organizations. A link to images from science or history fair projects is beneficial as well as any athletic achievements. If you are an athlete, be sure to link your MaxPreps or other athletic profile with season highlight reels and stats.
Finally, be sure to proofread! Have several friends look over the written work as well as ensure no personal data could lead individuals to your doorstep. For the PDF, avoid including phone numbers and emails as these documents are not in a controlled environment once submitted. Similar, if not stronger, protections for the website should be considered as well. Bots scrub websites for personal data and emails will generate automatic marketing in most cases. To avoid being targeted by those seeking to make money from your information, keep posts basic.
Looking for some coaching on a portfolio? Let me know. I offer consultations and create unique templates to use for your tracking and submission purposes.
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