How To Build A Profile That Makes You Stand Out

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 10+2 academic years in itself. 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:

1. Academic & Extra-curriculars

Emphasizing and building your academic strengths in your resume, and personal essays is 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, and Research papers are all aspects of outside-of-school extracurriculars that are critical in profile building. Schools look at the extracurricular activities of students to get a deeper understanding of their community and worldview.

2. Well-rounded Personality

A holistic and well-rounded personality of students is the icing on the cake that admissions counselors 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 authorities. 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 essays. It is essential to showcase your moral values and belief systems in your essays. An engaging SOP and resume constructed on the pillars of your personality, strengths, weaknesses, and experiences is the blueprint of an effective and constructive profile.

3. Letter of Recommendation

A sensible and meaningful letter of recommendation from a school teacher, head of department, colleague, or counselor 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 having to mention or elaborate on them. IvyLeagues want to know how you fit into your community and what your community perceives of you.

4. Relevant Work Experience

Having hands-on experience in the field you are interested in is the cherry on the cake for profile building. Emphasize the meticulous manner in which you took up tasks, planned on executing them, and fulfilled your job expectations at the firm you worked for. Elaborating on the initiatives you not just participated in but were an active member of the organizing committee during your course study or school years like organizing a student welfare program, a conference, a fundraising campaign, and workshops can work wonders in building your profile for college admissions. 

5. Determining your USP

The current statistics of an increasing number of students applying for education abroad make you wonder how would your profile 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 counselors to consider them and envision your contribution to their institute.