Applying to Schools 🎓

Welcome back to From the Co-founder’s Desk! New to the blog? Check out this introduction. This week’s post — all about putting your portfolio to use. As an eighth grader who just finished applying to a few prep schools (wish me luck 🤞) and one who uses KudosWall to keep track of my achievements, I’ve learned a lot about using my resume on KudosWall to help me get ahead in the application process, so here is how I did it, and how you can too.

Recently, one of our awesome writers wrote a blog post all about the basic stuff you need to know when applying to a prep school. If you’ve read it already, you’re off to a great start! If not, you can check it out right here. The process for applying to a prep school can seem kinda overwhelming, but I’m going to break it down and make it easier to understand.

NOTE: the following does not include standardized tests! But you can head to this handy link if you would like to learn about one kind of exam.

ANOTHER NOTE: KudosWall is pretty awesome (I’m a bit biased) and if you haven’t done so already, you should check it out to help keep track of all your proud moments.

1.Plan everything! 📋

Depending on the school you’re applying to, your process will be a little different, but for the most part, you will find the application to be split into a few steps; Candidate Profiles, Essays, Parent Statements, and Recommendations. While there are not too many items on the to-do list, I recommend keeping a good amount of time for writing and organizing your thoughts for the essays and make sure to have a checklist with everything you need to do.

2.Writing your candidate profile 📝

Candidate profiles are designed for schools to get to know you a little better. They ask you for things like your age and family details, as well as what activities and classes you participate in. Lucky for me, I used KudosWall to keep track of all of the awards and activities I was involved in, and this definitely made the process a lot easier. Of course, you could do it the old-fashioned way and spend a few hours collecting all of your achievements, if that’s what you want to do 🤷🏽‍♂️, doesn’t sound as easy though, does it?

3.Writing your essays 🗒

Essays are a fun way of describing your personal experiences, interests, and opinions. The applications provide you with a few prompts for what you should write, and they are usually along the lines of; “What do you consider your strengths/weaknesses” and “What can you contribute to our school, and how can we contribute to you”. By writing these, schools can understand more about who you are and how you feel about certain topics. Parent statements are like shorter essays, but for parents to write about how great their children are. And if you forget a detail about what you did in the 6th grade; KudosWall’s got you covered 👌🏽!

4.Gather letters of recommendation 👍

Recommendations are another huge part of the application. Schools want to hear more about who you are, as well as what you’re good at, all from the perspectives of those who are around you. Usually, schools will look for letters from coaches, teachers, and others who know you well. KudosWall makes this step easy as well! You can use the “Request Recommendation” tool to get letters from anyone you’d like, even if they’re not on KudosWall (Although they should be 👍🏽).

5.Share your portfolio with the school 💼

Although you’ve shown a lot of what you did through your candidate statements, essays, and letters; your portfolio can show it in a more organized and professional manner. You can share your links from your portfolio on KudosWall, and they’ll definitely be impressed. While our standard portfolios can do the job really well, we recommend using our premium portfolios for maximum amazement. You can learn more about them here, and you can give it a try by signing up and using the promo-code “FCFD”.

How will you use KudosWall to help you get ahead in your applications? Let us know in the comments, and sign up at kudoswall.com!

Thanks for reading! Hit us up with any questions in the comment box below, or at [email protected] 📭

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