How to Make a College Portfolio - Connections Academy®

Applying to college can be stressful for high school students. Students can help make their college portfolios stand out from the crowd to boost their chances of admission and qualify for scholarships. But what is a college portfolio, and how exactly can students put one together?

What Is a College Portfolio?

A college portfolio is a collection of documents that showcase a student’s accomplishments and academic performance, as well as their goals, talents, interests, and values.

Standard Components of a College Portfolio

Their professional resume, including academic and extracurricular accomplishments
A personal statement, essay, or bio
Letters of recommendation
Academic records
Copies of any awards, scholarships, or other honors received

Optional Components

Depending on what program your student is applying for, they may want to include special items that showcase achievements or projects that align with their future major, such as:

Statistics about athletic accomplishments 
Articles or essays written for student publications 
Creative works, such as paintings, poetry, or recordings of musical performances 
Photo or video essays about personal interests, clubs, or activities

Why Build a College Portfolio?

While transcripts can show good grades and test scores, they aren’t the only considerations for college admissions committees.

Committees want to see that applicants are well-rounded people with goals, interests, and drive. Carefully curated digital portfolio with videos of performances or competitions can be an excellent way for students who are pursuing careers as athletes or artists to show off their skills, tell their story, and demonstrate why they’re a good fit for a particular school or program. 

When Should You Build a College Portfolio?

Students can start working on their college portfolios at any point, but high schoolers can start compiling info about their extracurricular activities during their freshman year at the latest.   

Collecting evidence of achievements by taking notes, photographing events, and saving files and memorabilia early on can help in the long run, rather than relying on memory alone to fill out their college applications. To ensure that the college admissions portfolio is as polished and perfect as possible, students should begin organizing and designing it around four to six months before their college applications are due to help prevent a last-minute rush! 

How to Create a College Portfolio

A college portfolio needs to be able to make an immediate impression and give the college admissions team a clear picture of the applicant. Any information should be easy to find and understand but also give a true sense of who the student is and how they align with the school they’re applying to.

Step 1: Gather Materials

Start by pulling together all the items required and include any additional ones that might be helpful for admission to the particular program.

Step 2: Organize the Portfolio

There are many ways to organize the elements of a portfolio, so students need to carefully consider which approach can highlight their achievements in the most impactful way while presenting the information clearly.

There are a few different ways students can structure their portfolio:

Chronologically. Organizing items by date can be a good way to show increasing responsibility or growth in one primary interest.  
By category. Sorting by topic or category works well for students who have several areas of strength to showcase.  
By theme. For creative works, or for students who wish to emphasize how their various interests mesh together, developing one cohesive theme for the whole portfolio may be the best approach.

Step 3: Personalize Their Portfolio

Personalization is a two-pronged approach. First, the portfolio should feel unique to the student with a design that reflects their personality, a collection of work that shows off their strengths and achievements, and a statement that describes their techniques or approach. If a school has particular values, a mission, or a perspective, then a student’s portfolio can be built to reflect those, emphasizing why they would be a natural fit should they be admitted.

Step 4: Review and Revise

Like any project, a portfolio needs to be checked before final touches. Make sure to proofread any written sections, check image quality, and test any links to make sure they’re not broken or redirected. Ask a mentor, teacher, school counselor, or trusted friend to review the portfolio. Ask them to identify any inconsistencies or places where details are unclear, and what their impression of the overall story is. Once they gather the feedback, students can make final tweaks before sending it off as part of their application.

Ways to Make Your Portfolio Stand Out

Besides simply knowing what goes into a portfolio, your student needs to know how to make their portfolio stand out. Here are some tips:

Don’t use a basic template.

College admissions teams look at hundreds of portfolios. They may be likely to glaze over a template they have seen repeatedly. Create a unique design or have your student change the template so much that it can’t be recognized.

Digital vs. Physical Portfolios

Students researching how to create a portfolio for college have a few different options available to best way to display their work.

Provide insight into accomplishments.

Digital portfolios live online on a website, portfolio app, or cloud folder, making them inherently easy to update, tweak, or redesign as needed. They can also be shared with ease and are more cost-effective than physical ones. Digital portfolios are best if students want to show a broad variety of work or to showcase multimedia.

The drawbacks of a digital portfolio are often file size limitations, the risk that work can be copied if not password protected, the potential for technical issues if their website goes down or has a glitch, or how fast someone scrolls through their work.

Physical Portfolios

Physical portfolios allow students to have ultimate control over how reviewers experience their work. Students can choose what order their portfolio is viewed in and can control the storytelling element with more ease. In some cases, a physical portfolio demonstrates the level of effort and care that went into assembling it and adds a tangible, personal touch to the project overall.

Physical portfolios are great for one-on-one interviews where the presence of a tangible item can make a stronger impression than a digital link or imagery could, or if the work needs to be demonstrated in person. However, physical portfolios have greater potential for wear and tear, especially if students are transporting it to several places. Physical portfolios can also be more costly due to the printing or reprinting of materials and can be cumbersome to transport if they’re large.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

To make sure students make the best impression they can, their portfolio should be well-balanced with not too much or too little work, have clear organization and navigation for a positive reviewer experience, and keep a consistent design. The work included should also be up-to-date and speak to their personality. Students can ask a mentor, family member, or friends to review and give feedback to make sure everything flows without inconsistencies.

Here are a few ways they can stay on top of keeping their portfolio fresh:

Reevaluate the flow and story every time a significant change to the portfolio is made.
Test links included in a digital portfolio to make sure they’re still live and not redirected or leading to a 404 dead end.
Curate carefully. Don’t include half-finished pieces--even if their potential is good—or work that doesn’t highlight your sharpest skills.
Include and update contact information and bios as necessary. This is especially important if the student gets a new email address or phone number.

Prepare for College with Online School

Getting students interested in potential colleges and careers early can help motivate them for their futures— and make the college application process a bit easier. Learn more about how Connections Academy can prepare students for their future with career prep built right into the curriculum by downloading our free eGuide and speaking with an enrollment specialist.