First step to education in the digital world we live in today: Personal Branding. To successfully apply to college, you should know who you are, what you stand for and what your academic goals are. Each person is complex, yet admissions officers only have a small amount of time to spend learning about each prospective student. The smart student boils down key aspects of himself or herself into their personal “brand” and sells that to the college admissions officer. Are you the geeky aspiring astrophysicist, who also happened to be captain of the Varsity soccer team? Are you the scholar-athlete who won state championships yet still chaired the student council and maintained a good GPA? Or are you the artistic type, who doesn’t have the best grades yet reads Russian literature and paints watercolor portraits? Schools are looking for every type of student, but you have to make yourself stand out! No school wants boring students.
As this cheesy guy says, you are your personal brand. Or can become it.
Even if your grades or test scores are average, your essays and personal statements don’t have to be. “Personal Branding” can help you stand out to admissions officers.
- First identify your strengths and weaknesses, understand who you are as a person, and discover your aspirations and goals.
- Then craft your brand by distilling the most interesting and compelling parts of yourself into a finite image.
- Finally, weave that brand in a consistent way through your applications and admissions essays.
