Building a profile for studying abroad is an ongoing process, starting as early as high school. Profile building if taken seriously and commenced at the right time not only helps you in academic growth but even in your career graph. An exponential rise in the number of students applying for education abroad has increased the stress and demand from students to build a strong profile in their high school years. Hence, with a ten-folded demand of our students wanting to know how to build a strong profile for college applications, we have come up with this easy-to-follow guide:
- Academics & Extra-curriculars
Emphasising and building your academic strengths in your resume, personal essays are an adjunct to the amount of time, energy and focus you have placed in it throughout your growing years. Schools and colleges are seeking students who have not only performed academically well but taken on challenges for themselves to continuously grow in their field. Highlight experiences and challenges you have encountered during your academic journey.
Academic performance during school years is one of the cornerstones of a good profile. Getting a good handle on your SAT or ACT scores can also be a good start to building a strong profile. A diverse and dynamic profile is a combination of good grades and interesting extracurricular activities. Volunteering, Internships, Projects, Research papers, PP Branding are all aspects of outside of school extracurriculars which are critical in profile building. Schools look at extracurricular activities of students in order to get a deeper understanding of their community and world-view.
- Well- rounded Personality
A holistic and well-rounded personality of students is the icing on the cake that admissions officers look for. Are you willing to step outside your comfort zone? Can the student work well under pressure or when there are too many dishes on his plate? What is the student’s take on challenges? These are crucial aspects of you that are looked for by the admissions committee. Whether you are a musician, a sports enthusiast, an entrepreneur or work for a social case, make sure to highlight these aspects in your resume and personal statement. It is essential to showcase your moral values and belief systems in your essays. An engaging personal statement and resume constructed on the pillars of your own personality, strengths, weaknesses and experiences is the blueprint of an effective and constructive profile.
- Letters of Recommendation
A sensible and meaningful letter of recommendation from a school teacher, head of department or school counsellor adds a lot of value to your profile. The LOR needs to speak about you, your qualities, your strengths, an initiative or project that you took up, how have you evolved as a person and the perception people have about you. It needs to showcase your qualities without you, as the candidate has to mention or elaborate on them. Ivy League schools and other top universities want to know how you fit into your community and what does your community perceive of you.
- Relevant Work Experience/ Internships
Having hands-on experience or internships in the field you are interested in is the cherry of the cake for profile building. Emphasise the meticulous manner in which you took up tasks, planned on executing them and fulfilled your job expectations at the firm you worked for.
- Determining your USP
The current statistics of the increasing number of students applying for education abroad makes you wonder how your profile would stand out, right? Well, that’s when you start focusing on your Unique Selling Point. Think of your strengths, a quality you have imbibed or is inborn in you that has shown up in most of the endeavors you take on yourself, the experiences you have had up until now and the abilities you have developed over time. You could be a disciplined multi-tasker, or a curious go-getter. Whatever the skill, make it a point to showcase it as your best stake for the admissions counsellors to take them into consideration and envision your contribution into their institute.