Supplementing College Admission Applications with a Digital Portfolio

Applying for college can be a tedious process as there are a lot of requirements that need to be submitted, from writing essays and creating portfolios. While the procedures and documentations do not necessarily guarantee acceptance, many recommend supplementing one’s college admission application with a digital portfolio.

With all the competition students are facing, especially when vying to enroll in an Ivy League school, there is a need for graduating high school students to stay competitive. Heeding the advice to submit a digital portfolio is one way of exhibiting the other aspects of an applicant’s desirable qualities as a student, which academic records, admission test scores and interviews do not fully reveal.

What is a Digital Portfolio?

A digital portfolio can boost a college admission application as most evaluators look into it to gain additional knowledge on how a student applies his or her creativity and aptitude. It’s a modern story-telling process that eliminates the need for lengthy interviews in assessing students. Through a curated collection of images, videos, and documents about a student applicant, a digital portfolio will shed light and even emphasize, certain aspects about the student not perceivable in an essay or admission test.

Such aspects include talent, character strengths and preparations undertaken as part of plans for a future career upon graduation from college. Digital portfolios that can create the best impact are those that show times spent by students in helping their communities in whatever simple ways they can; including voluntary work in helping other learners cope with their lessons.

Creating a digital portfolio in as early as high school years, will also create an advantage as the digital story will encapsulate the student’s growth as a person over the years. Nonetheless, it’s not too late for senior students, as they can still produce an impressive portfolio especially for those who have posted meaningful and creative content in their social media account.

In the past year, a lot of young Instagram users have been active in participating with meaningful social, political and environmental movements and campaigns. Photos and videos of such experiences are excellent additions to one’s digital portfolio. Furthermore, adding a link to one’s Instagram account will also provide snippets of other interesting aspects about a student’s personal life.

Telling a Story Through Images and Videos

Be in the know that people in school admission departments usually look for students who are not only passionate with their studies, but also involved in their communities. Doing charity work such as food drives, distributing donations, cleanup drives and engaging in other activities in helping the less fortunate are some good examples of stories looked for by admission evaluators .

Another great addition to a digital portfolio are the people and factors a student considers as influences in his or her life, especially those that motivate him or her to study a chosen field. These can be accomplished by including photos of experiences such as those taken during visits to places that made a student realize he or she can make a difference; or recognized a pathway for making something out his or her life. In some cases, students can also manifest their interests in a particular field by following prominent individuals who serve as inspirations in pursuing similar goals in their future.

While students can use content they’ve posted in their Instagram account, one approach to curating is to use an analytics tool that provides free instagram stats. Knowing which content had the most impact among Instagram audience and followers can help in choosing the best photos and videos to include in one’s digital portfolio.

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