As a high school student preparing for college, one of the first things you’ll need to know is how to set yourself apart for admission. Unfortunately, grades are not enough to prove your readiness for college. While they play an essential role, college admission officers still want to be sure that you can handle the demands of college life. This is where a college application portfolio comes into play. You’re probably wondering what it is and how to create a college application portfolio. We’ll offer all the information you need in this article, but before we go on, let’s explain what it is.
What is a College Application Portfolio?
Put simply; a college application portfolio is a collection of materials designed to display your skills, talents, or works over the years leading up to college. Unlike resumes, portfolios are more artistic, showing your abilities and skills with images. Students would typically leverage college application portfolios to show admission officers how good they are beyond exam scores and grade performances.
Different situations require different portfolio designs, and that’s why it’s vital for you to know the different portfolio designs and how to create each.
What Should Be Included in a College Application Portfolio?
So far, we've established that a portfolio for college application should give a sampling of your skills, talents, or interests. However, despite the power of a college application portfolio, it'll still be ineffective if it does not adequately demonstrate your strength and how you are handling your areas of interest. Remember that portfolios are different from test scores, grade performance reviews, and commitment essays. Portfolios show off who you are outside the academic setting, and that's why modern portfolios are designed to be visually attractive to catch admission officers' attention at first sight. That said, here are some of the areas that a college application portfolio should typically cover, irrespective of what you're submitting it for.- A complete artwork that showcases examples of your creative process and how you're handling the things you're interested in.
- Your areas of specialization. Include examples of all the skills you've developed over time.
- Cover a wide range of works showcasing your talent.
- Clear photograph or video of you and your team working on your area of interest.
How to Make a Portfolio for College Application?
The whole process of making a portfolio for creating a portfolio for college admission can be a hard mountain to climb if you don't know where to start. Usually, you'll find samples of portfolios online, but you may need to understand the process beyond the process you see online. Usually, we recommend that you start by deciding the right portfolio format for your case. There are two main formats for a portfolio: a PDF that displays your work and a website that you can link to. Usually, each of these formats has its pros and cons. Here's a brief review of both.- PDF: Saving your portfolio in PDF formats is pretty easy. Apart from helping you organize your work in a clear and simple way, you can also easily attach it to emails and upload it with other application documents. It offers you a lot of control over the format and layout, so you can use your experience in design and publishing to create beautiful, attractive portfolios that will catch admission officers' attention. However, the disadvantage of saving your portfolio in a PDF format is that it doesn't allow you to easily upload multimedia projects like audio files, videos, and 3D designs.
- Website: There are many sites available today for users to create attractive portfolios and art displays. The specific site you use won't necessarily matter, as long as it allows you to create the kind of project or art you want to show off. A portfolio website allows you to get creative with creating your online portfolio for college. It allows you to include texts, videos, arts, and photos. It is also an excellent way to show admission officers how technologically savvy you are. On the downside, the whole process of creating a website portfolio is often more complicated than creating a simple PDF. It also gives you less control over how your work appears on different devices.
Usually, you should start building your portfolio as early as junior high school and do it throughout high school. Even if the projects you work on in your freshman year are not as good as those you create in your senior year, admission officers would still be impressed by the dedication and efforts you put into improving. Remember that your portfolio would usually tell the college admission officers who you are outside the academic setting and who you can be in the next couple of years. So, while showing off your best works, you also want to show them your progression process so that they’ll know how much you’ve improved over time.
