"Portfolios" for scholarship applications?

[Christy B]

A college age friend has asked my help in preparing portfolios for college scholarship application. Sounds intriguing, and since my own dd is a rising 10th grader, I figure helping now will put me ahead of the game when it's her turn! WHERE do I start? I am familiar with 4H project record books, which was what prompted my young friend to ask for my help, she said that looked like what she thought she needed. Any ideas, suggestions?

[Gwen in VA]

Is your friend planning on majoring in art?

 

Has the college(s) your friend is interested in specifically requested portfolios?

 

Many many students have gotten fantastic scholarships without portfolios. The vast majority of high school activities and achievements lend themselves pretty well to verbal descriptions, in which case the portfolio may just be a lot of extra work.

 

That said, we are planning on doing a portfolio for ds2. He is going into engineering, and he has done many hands-on projects that are of a significant nature and don't lend themselves to a quick one-line description. We think for his application a picture or two or thirty will be worth many thousands of words. So we are planning on doing a portfolio for him, but he is a peculiar case.

 

There is a book called "The Homeschooler's Guide to Portfolios and Transcripts" that may be of use to you. I didn't find it particularly useful, but at the time I looked through it I wasn't actually trying to do a portfolio.

[Sandra in NC]

Last year, someone on CC was asking about submitting extra material for consideration. The MIT rep said not to mail anything...to create a website and include the link in the application.

 

There was a place to include a website link on most of the college apps my son filled out last year.

 

I guess it's the 21st century version of a portfolio.

[Christy B]

Thanks! Those are some good things to consider.