Personal Branding: Why is it Important for Students?
As a student candidate, you must want to stand out amongst the others in the eyes of the admissions staff. This requires you to have strong personal branding. Your personal branding is your unique selling point that highlights your best quality.
What is Personal Branding?
In simple words, personal branding refers to how you display yourself in the eyes of the public. In the case of a university application, admission officers are your audience.
Let's take a look at how to build your personal branding for uni admission.
How to Build Personal Branding
Think about your personal brand as early as possible. Even in junior high school, you can start preparing for it. You have a year to explore your interests and what makes you stand out. By doing so, you'll be ahead of the race.
Let's go through the steps one by one on how to build personal branding for university admission.
Discover Yourself
You can start to explore yourself as early as Grade 9. When we say you need to start early, we mean it! It is the best time to find out your passion and interests. Take a quick look at the past. See what activities you like. Perhaps volunteering plays a big role in your life, or maybe you are a member of the neighborhood beautification committee. All of it matters.
Research for Potential Activities
Don't just tell the admissions committee what you like, show them! Once you have already discovered who you are and your interests, you can start searching for potential activities for you. On the other hand, the ultimate way to build personal branding is with a personal project. The personal project helps you showcase your unique quality. Moreover, you can find a project that suits your interest and can help make the world a better place.
Do you want to know the greatest way to showcase your personal project? Read here.
For those who want to start building their personal brand, here are some strategies that you can use to build the best personal branding for you.
Personal Branding Strategy
In terms of admission requirements, each university is different. Some may require a personal statement, while others may require essays, recommendation letters, or even videos. That is to say before you begin working on your application, you should first develop a personal branding strategy. In your application, you want it to be an accurate reflection of yourself so that the admissions officer feels as if he or she has met you in person.
Start by self-reflection
Self-reflection lays a great foundation for a good application. Serving as your 'pre-writing' session, it shouldn't take a long time. You can simply sit down and brainstorm for five minutes. And then you can start building a brief outline of what you want your brand to be, which might include your experiences, perspectives, or perhaps goals for the future.
Putting all the pieces together
In all of the documents, including the essays, it shouldn't feel as if one doesn't fit in with the rest or as if each one was written by a different person. Before accepting you into their university, admission officers want to get to know yourself holistically. You have to make sure they all make sense and don't contradict one another, but ensure there isn't too much overlap so that all the documents you've submitted highlight the different aspects of your uniqueness.
Curious about the complete strategy? Find out more here.
For the cherry on top, we give you tips and tricks to build your personal branding. Check it out!
Personal Branding Tips
Admission officers are looking at different dimensions of your personality, from the activities you're involved in, what difference you can make to the world, as well as your motivation. If you're not sure where to start on building your personal brand, check out these personal branding tips!
Understand who you are
Before curating your personal brand, start by thinking about who you truly are, including your goals and values. If you are having trouble understanding yourself, you can ask friends, family, or teachers to help you out. They may provide insights into yourself from a different perspective, helping you to be more aware of your personality and qualities.
Assess your strengths and weaknesses
You may have heard the saying, 'keep your friends close and your enemies closer.' Well, it's similar when assessing your strengths and weaknesses. You should be aware of both aspects. In this way, you can dive deeper into the activities that make use of your greatest strengths. On the other hand, you can cross out the activities that don't contribute to your goal or purpose.
Bonus personal branding tips: Build an accurate digital personal brand
Not only do employers look at the social media accounts of potential employees, but so do university admission officers. According to a survey conducted by Kaplan Test Prep, 47% of admission officers who look at applicants' social media say that it has positive impacts on them and it influences their view of them.
Find the complete tips on building a personal brand here.
We got you covered in every aspect to start building your personal brand for uni admission. It may be a long process but it is not hard. Personal branding is important to put you ahead of the race in university admissions.
Need guidance on personal branding? Let ALL-in show you the way!
What we can do for you:
- Maximize your university entrance prep with Admission Mentoring.
- Explore your interests and dive into different industries through Career Exploration.
- Improve your grades and knowledge through Academic Tutoring.
- Highlight your personal brand through the Writing Skills improvement program.
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