#collegeadmission

How to Approach the 2023-2024 Common App Essay

May 5, 2023

The Common App provides many advantages for high school seniors applying to multiple colleges and universities. However, with convenience comes risk, mainly with the essay section. A poorly written essay goes out to every school, lowering applicants’ chances of college admissions success.

We at myKlovr want to make sure you have the tools you need to impress college admissions counselors. That’s why in this article, we’re breaking down the seven 2023-2024 Common App essay prompts with essential tips that will make your essay the best it can be.

Disclaimer: This advice does not contain every way a college applicant can write a compelling and persuasive Common App essay. Please brainstorm ideas and consult your English teacher for further advice.

1) Some students have a background, identity, interest, or talent that is so meaningful they believe their application would be incomplete without it. If this sounds like you, then please share your story.

The first four words that stick out are ‘background,’ ‘identity,’ ‘interest,’ and ‘talent,’ giving you some freedom to select a topic. The phrase ‘incomplete without it,’ implies that you possess a passion for your subject and will reflect that in your essay, a narrative ‘story.’

Essential Tips:

  • Your essay should be a chronological narrative detailing how you became interested in a topic, how your passion grew, and what you did with that passion.
  • A narrative does not try to persuade.
    • It’s okay if readers don’t care about your passion. You’re not trying to convince them of anything.
  • Once you select a background/identity/interest/talent to write about, do not go off-topic.
    • Readers will expect to learn about just ONE thing.
  • Wrap up the essay by detailing how you plan to continue developing your background/identity/interest/talent in college.

2) The lessons we take from obstacles we encounter can be fundamental to later success. Recount a time when you faced a challenge, setback, or failure. How did it affect you, and what did you learn from the experience?

Just like before, you have choices: challenge/setback/failure. Each has a different meaning:

  • Challenge: A challenge is a difficult event, but the word itself does not imply success or failure.
  • Setback: A setback implies a problem that stopped you in your tracks. However, it’s something you overcame.
  • Failure: Failure’s the easiest word on the list. You failed in what you set out to do.

The second part of the prompt is the challenge. Readers want to know about the obstacle’s effect on you as a person and how you changed as a result.

Essential Tips:

  • Avoid a negative tone.
    • Yes, your essay deals with an obstacle (not a positive experience), but the tone should remain positive.
  • Don’t assign blame.
    • If someone was the reason for your challenge/setback/failure, it’s best to think of another obstacle or attempt a different Common App prompt. You don’t want to imply that you still hold a grudge or consider yourself a victim.
  • Focus on what you learned.
    • For this essay, it’s not the story of the event that’s important but the way you grew as a person because of it. For this reason, try to limit your discussion of the event to 1-2 introductory paragraphs.

3) Reflect on a time when you questioned or challenged a belief or idea. What prompted your thinking? What was the outcome?

Here’s another two-part essay! And like other options, it asks you to describe an event and reflect on how you grew as a person.

Essential Tips:

  • Don’t be controversial.
    • Although adolescence is a time when people evaluate what they once thought were their foundational beliefs (e.g., religion, sexuality, etc.), these topics are best avoided in an essay. You don’t want to offend your readers.
  • A changed mindset equals changed actions.
    • Your changed mindset should have prompted you to take new actions in your day-to-day life. How did you become a better person?

4) Reflect on something that someone has done for you that has made you happy or thankful in a surprising way. How has this gratitude affected or motivated you?

The key phrase for this essay prompt is ‘in a surprising way.’ Readers will want to be entertained and informed.

Essential Tips:

  • Use standard story structure.
    • Readers will want to know about your life before/during/after the surprising event. Consider the event as your story’s climax.
  • It’s okay not to be funny.
    • You’d think that ‘surprising way’ would denote humor. That’s not always the case. Any kind of emotion can prompt a change of heart.

5) Discuss an accomplishment, event, or realization that sparked a period of personal growth and a new understanding of yourself or others.

Like with other prompts, the first thing you do is make a choice:

  • Accomplishment: A positive thing you did.
  • Event: A positive, neutral, or negative thing that you did or experienced.
  • Realization: A change of thinking.

Once you have something in mind, consider whether it led to personal growth AND how you view other people.

Essential Tips:

  • Stay positive.
    • Although your event may be negative in nature, your essay needs a happy ending.
  • Be specific.
    • The prompt’s phrase ‘other people’ can be just one person. In fact, writing about how the accomplishment/event/realization affected your relationship with just one person encourages a stronger bond with your reader.

6) Describe a topic, idea, or concept you find so engaging that it makes you lose all track of time. Why does it captivate you? What or who do you turn to when you want to learn more?

Unlike previous prompts, topics, ideas, and concepts are pretty much the same thing. No need to break them down with bullet points.

Essential Tips:

  • Get nerdy.
    • ‘Passion’ is the key word for succeeding with this essay prompt. In your first draft, jot down every reason this topic/idea/concept enthralls you.
  • Be conversational.
    • Like some other essay prompts, it’s okay to think of your essay as a one-sided conversation. No need to be academic or formal.
  • Branch out.
    • The essay’s second part asks you to describe how your passion influenced you to learn more. Possibilities include learning a new language or picking up a new instrument. Maybe you read a ton of books on a subject before trying to write one of your own.

7) Share an essay on any topic of your choice. It can be one you’ve already written, one that responds to a different prompt, or one of your own design.

‘Any topic of your choice’ is a double-edged sword if there ever was one. To be honest, I wouldn’t recommend this prompt to someone who doesn’t enjoy writing in their free time. However, let’s explore some…

Essential Tips:

  • Be careful.
    • There’s a lot of freedom here, but think of your audience – busy college admissions advisors who want to know what you can contribute to their school.
  • Consider using a work sample.
    • The phrase ‘already written’ gives you the chance to include an academic paper, one that does not go over any word count limit. Like with any piece of writing, have another person read it and provide feedback.
  • Avoid controversy.
    • Seems obvious, but worth repeating. Avoid any topics that might offend your readers.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot to unpack concerning the 2023-2024 Common App essay options. My advice – play around with a few of the prompts. Jot down ideas and see which one allows you to express yourself and make a positive impression. Over the summer, write a few drafts you can hone leading into this fall’s college admissions season.

Good luck!

Large, gray, neo-Gothic, granite college campus building, Georgetown Univ. campus.

College Accreditation: What You Need to Know

April 30, 2021

High school students and their families have a lot of questions about potential colleges. What majors does this school offer? What are the admission requirements? How can I be a competitive applicant? What about institutional financial aid?

The list goes on.

No matter your list of questions, I bet they all boil down to just one: Is this a good school?

Is this a good school? is a subjective question. Everyone will have a different opinion regarding a college’s academic offerings, campus, food, dorms, etc. But if you sweep away the opinions, and you’re left with one essential trait a school must have for it to be good:

The school must be accredited.

Schools without proper accreditation (there are plenty of them in the United States) may not offer students adequate learning outcomes. Also, some employers and graduate schools may not regard degrees from these schools as valid.

In this article, we’ll break down the three types of accreditation in order of importance and relevance to your college search.

Regional Accreditation

The U.S. Department of Education (ED) sets academic standards reputable colleges and universities must follow. However, the ED cannot pass judgment on the nation’s approximately 5,300 colleges and universities by itself. To ensure that all college students receive a satisfactory education, ED charters seven regional accreditation agencies. Each agency carries out the same mission in a specific group of states or U.S. territories.

Before you look at majors, dorms, or meal plans, ensure that a school possesses accreditation from one of these agencies. That’s your #1 priority.

myKlovr takes the guesswork out of regional accreditation when recommending schools to users. Each of the colleges and universities we feature is regionally accredited.

National Accreditation

Schools with national accreditation differ from those with regional accreditation in many ways:

  • Typical schools do not hire full-time faculty.
  • There may not be a library or other student services.
  • They are for-profit institutions answering to investors.
  • Their students may not qualify for some financial aid programs.
  • They focus on technical and career education.
  • They award credit that may not transfer to a regionally accredited school.

These differences put nationally accredited schools in a bad light. Yes, there have been controversies regarding shady national accreditation agencies accrediting substandard schools.

However…

Prospective online college students should attend a school possessing national accreditation from the Distance Education Accrediting Commission (DEAC). DEAC ensures that online learners receive the same educational experience as their on-campus peers. And although DEAC is a national accreditation agency, it follows regional accreditation standards when making evaluations.

Programmatic Accreditation

Programmatic accreditation agencies specialize in one academic subject, such as nursing, engineering, business, or theology. Academic departments pursue programmatic accreditation to improve their brand and increase enrollment.

One thing to note about programmatic accreditation agencies is that many evaluate only graduate programs. An undergraduate program without programmatic accreditation may not indicate anything negative about its quality.

Final Thoughts

Accreditation is a complicated business. However, if all the colleges on your shortlist possess regional accreditation, you’re 99% good to go. The final 1% involves online learners checking DEAC accreditation status and graduate students researching programmatic accreditation.

Handling Admission Deferrals

April 10, 2021

Getting into your dream school is great!

Getting rejected stinks!

But what about a deferral?

You probably haven’t considered how you’d react if a college told you, “Well…maybe. We’ll get back to you in a month or so. Until then, enjoy being on the waitlist. Later!”

Okay, colleges don’t say that last part, and, to be honest, it’s no fun waiting to see if a spot will open up.

In this article, we’ll discuss how you can handle admissions deferrals in a positive way that preserves your sanity and ensures that you finish your senior year strong.

Don’t Overanalyze It

First off, let’s make sure that a deferral doesn’t send you to a dark place. It would be far too easy to think, ‘Oh, if only I had been just a little bit better…earned one more good grade…studied more for that one AP Exam…et cetera ad infinitum.’

Take a deep breath. You’ll never know exactly why a school put you on the waitlist. Instead of the negative examples the previous paragraph highlights, maybe your dream school had a surplus of highly qualified candidates, you included. And maybe, just maybe, you are at the top of the waitlist, virtually guaranteeing an admission letter in May.

My best advice would be to allow that self-doubt to wash over you for no more than five minutes. It’ll happen no matter what, so get it out of the way early.

After that… 

Continue on Business as Usual

As you can’t change what will happen at this point, do your best to push the situation out of your mind. There’s still plenty to do between now and graduation day:

  • Final exams
  • AP/IB test
  • Making some good memories with friends
    • That’s important, too 🙂
  • Etc.

Focusing on what’s still on your plate will make time go faster. It really works.

A Bird in the Hand….

Now, I have my fingers crossed really tight that as you’re waiting to hear back, you’ll receive one or more acceptances from other schools. Hopefully, these letters will boost your spirits and make you feel better about yourself.

However, at this point, you have a dilemma. There’s at least one school that wants you, and one that hasn’t made up its mind. Do you go for the sure thing, or see what happens with the school that waitlisted you?

Before you decide, determine if you can wait it out. Maybe you’ll find out if you got off the waitlist before any other school’s deadline to commit. If so, waiting it out is no big deal. I recommend it.

But if deadlines make waiting it out impossible, it’s time to make a hard choice. If you have one or more ‘birds in the hand,’ do you let it go to wait on the one still hiding in the ‘bush’? In this case, I’d recommend choosing one of the schools that accepted you. Yes, it’ll be a bummer to let your dream school go, but you’ll be doing the right thing.

Final Thoughts

There’s a lot of uncertainty in these times, and I know that a deferral can make things even more stressful – stress you don’t need. So, if it happens to you, take a step back, set it aside, and push on.

Fingers crossed that only acceptances arrive in your mailbox this April.

AP Exams in May 2021: What You Need to Know

April 9, 2021

AP test-takers in May 2020 experienced difficulty navigating online testing. Many encountered IT issues affecting their testing experience and final score. These problems frustrated high school students and their families, as a good AP score equates to a stronger college application and the ability to earn a degree sooner than other undergraduates.

In this article, we’ll look at how the College Board is preparing for May 2021 by breaking down what they’ve changed in the last 12 months. We’ll also explore how myKlovr subscribers can use the service to earn the best score possible.

What Happened in 2020

The COVID-19 pandemic made companies around the world reevaluate how they do business. The College Board was no exception, as the company had only weeks to figure out how to administer AP exams safely.

Their solution was online, at-home testing. Unfortunately, approximately 1% of test-takers experienced IT issues, including the inability to upload work or submit answers. Students worried if their submission would count or if the College Board would allow them to retest.  Other questions concerned whether the newly developed online exams put students with disabilities or those with slower internet speeds at a disadvantage.

The College Board has had a year to fix the bugs that plagued some students and frustrated parents in 2020. Let’s see what changed!

A Look at May 2021

The first big change involves exam dates. The College Board created three testing windows. Let’s break them down:

  • Window #1: May 3-17
    • At-school testing
  • Window #2: May 18-28
    • At-home and at-school testing
  • Window #3: June 1-11
    • At home and at-school testing

At-school testing will resemble what high school students experienced before COVID-19 (There will be masks and perhaps a few plastic dividers this time). Also, multiple opportunities to give the same exam will allow schools to reduce the number of test-takers in the room, promoting social distancing.

What will online testing look like this year? The College Board’s detailed guide breaks down the technology requirements that students must satisfy before exam days, such as a fully charged computer and stable internet access.

Here are some key takeaways:

  • Students cannot return to unanswered questions.
  • There are now accommodations for students with disabilities.
  • The digital testing app allows students to continue working on an exam if their computer momentarily loses its internet connection.

Other benefits in 2021 include digital practice tests launching in April.

The testing experience in 2021 also solves a problem that many students experienced in 2020 – uploading work. In 2021, no AP exam requires test-takers to upload images or other files. That information should come as a relief to high school students.

Getting Ready for Exam Day with myKlovr

In the weeks leading up to your AP exams, use myKlovr to set goals for exam-day success. Your goals may include:

  • Studying for a certain number of hours each week.
    • Always a good idea.
  • Receiving one-on-one assistance from your AP teacher.
    • Ask them to review one of your free-response answers.
  • Downloading the AP exam app and taking a digital practice test.
    • Remember, a lot of exam-day stress comes from the unknown. You need to feel comfortable with online testing if you want to do your best.
  • Checking the latest updates from the College Board.
    • Although it’s unlikely anything will change before exams begin in May, please stay on top of the latest news.

Also, don’t forget that a myKlovr subscription includes tons of Young woman studying with laptop in college libraryresources at no additional cost.

Final Thoughts

Spring 2021 is a time of hope for many reasons, including the changes to online and in-person AP exams. Please reach out to us if you have additional questions regarding how myKlovr can help you prepare for exam day and college admissions.

Grit and Success

March 30, 2021

Overhead view of two students studying on a bench indoors

Grit is a short word describing a tremendously valuable personality trait that educators and parents wish they could teach children and young adults.

What’s grit? It’s a lot of things:

It’s not giving up in the face of adversity.

It’s possessing strong moral values.

It’s having the courage to take on new challenges.

It’s the desire to do something well.

It’s putting passion into your work.

In other words, grit makes someone successful in a rapidly changing world, no matter their age, level of education, or profession.

So, that’s what grit is. But knowing what something is doesn’t mean you can do it. Not yet, anyway. In this article, we’ll look at ways you can build up the traits that define grit and prepare for a successful college application season and beyond.

Where Do I Start with Grit?

Well, there’s good news, and there’s not-so-good news.

The Not-So-Good News

The main characteristics that define grit involve picking yourself up after failing at something. Failing is an unpleasant experience, but one we’re all familiar with in one way or another. Maybe it’s struggling with personal relationships or performing poorly in school. Whatever it is, grit begins at or near the bottom.

The Good News

The good news is that when you encounter failure, you have a choice about how to react. Now, doing so is MUCH easier said than done. However, like any other skill, practice makes perfect.

Starting Small

Everyone has something they do that instills feelings of joy and frustration. Maybe it’s a video game, sport, hobby, or any other passion. The point is that you already have a starting place to begin incorporating more grit into your life.

The next time you do that activity, take a mental note of why you persisted despite negative outcomes or emotions. What is it that drives you to continue? Everyone’s answer will be unique, but whatever it is, use that information to push yourself a little bit harder next time. Your chances of failure or frustration may increase, but these experiences will allow you to practice the traits defining grit in a small and safe environment.

Applying Grit to School and Life

Okay, so you have some grit, at least when it comes to an activity you enjoy. That’s great news because you can now consider applying these positive traits to other parts of your life, namely education.

Now, if you already earn good grades, you may wonder how grit can help you. Remember that grit has a lot to do with failure and that as you start taking more advanced courses and applying to colleges, failure or frustration will occur more. And let’s not forget that many college freshmen, even those who earned top grades in high school, struggle to adapt to new academic and social expectations. Those with grit push forward and succeed.

A simple way you can apply grit to your education is by taking a proactive approach to roadblocks or problems you encounter in school. This approach starts with asking questions:

  • Am I responsible for this negative outcome?
    • If so, what did I do?
  • What result did I want to happen?
    • This question helps you set a future goal.
  • How can I turn my goal into reality?
    • Talk to a teacher/counselor.
    • Ask for tutoring.
    • Find study materials online.

These questions also apply to issues surrounding interpersonal relationships with teachers and peers. As a teacher, I saw firsthand the relationship between perceived social acceptance and academic performance.

Improving Your Grit with myKlovr

We at myKlovr developed the first virtual college counseling service to prepare students like you to succeed in the college admissions process and beyond. Our services can also help you become a student with grit and better your college and career choices. Here’s how:

  • Set goals.
    • MyKlovr allows users to set academic and personal goals. As you think about building your persistence, set 1-2 goals for the near future. If you cannot accomplish your goals, reflect on what happened and what you can do when giving yourself a second chance.
      • Remember, start small.
    • Connect with your myKlovr network.
      • We encourage all users to add trusted adults (e.g., parents, teachers, counselors) to their unique myKlovr network. Ask people in your network how you can improve your grit.
    • Take career assessments.
      • MyKlovr’s career assessments help users research potential career paths. Discovering one or more options gives you the chance to start setting goals and pushing yourself to achieve them.
        • Users who take career assessments use the results to research potential undergraduate majors and the colleges offering them.
        • Career assessments also reveal users’ personal strengths, such as action-taker, visionary, and mentor. This information helps them identify areas where they apply grit regularly, as well as explains why they struggle in others.

Final Thoughts

Like chess, it takes minutes to learn what grit is and years to master it. Yet if you set reasonable goals, reflect on failure, reach out to trusted adults, and use myKlovr’s ample resources, you’ll have a good start in applying grit in your education and personal life.

Good luck with grit. No matter your plans for the future, you’ll need it.

The Importance of Social Media in College Sports Recruiting

February 26, 2021
Social media has very quickly become a huge part of the recruiting process for student-athletes. If you’re a high school student, you most likely have a Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, or Pinterest account, if not all of them. Because of this college coaches have become more and more active on these platforms as a way to research and get in touch with high school athletes. It is very important to realize that coaches use these accounts as their first impression. Trust me when I say, coaches have done their research on potential athletes’ way before they make the initial phone call or email.
Now more than ever, it is so important to make sure you are posting the right content on social media, because once it is out there all it takes is one screenshot and it is saved forever. You do not want a coach seeing something that is not deemed appropriate i.e., swearing, drinking, smoking, bragging, or anything that can be considered provocative. You want to use social media to your benefit, not to your detriment.
So, what do you post? When do you post the things that need to be posted? That is where we (A4A) come in. A4A teaches athletes what content to post after big games, tournaments, showcases, meets, matches, showings, or wins. We teach our athletes that it is alright to be confident, just don’t be cocky when posting. An athlete talking about how their hard work has paid off when they hit their goal is awesome. Thank your coaches for calling the plays or your number to enable you to have scored what you did that day is even better! A great approach for high school athletes is the J.J. Watt approach: “Read each tweet about 95 times before you send it. Look at every Instagram post about 95 times before you send it. A reputation takes years and years and years to build and it takes one press of a button to ruin it.”

Just remember to be smart and be careful!

Steve Britschgi
Image of three young people excited about volunteering.

Creating a Volunteer Movement at Your High School

October 9, 2020

Happy back to school, myKlovr readers. For most of you, school is A LOT different this fall with the COVID-19 pandemic making a proper return to school impossible. As you’re getting used to distance learning, a process that I guarantee is just as difficult for your teachers as it is for you, I want to introduce something you can do to enrich your learning experience.

In this article, we’ll take a look at creating a volunteer movement in your high school. As you’ve seen with our articles about Volunteer Crowd and Best Buddies, there are many ways to volunteer online and in person and share recommendations with your peers and teachers.

Why Create a Volunteer Movement Now?

There are plenty of good reasons to create a volunteer movement, but let’s focus on a few that apply to the here and now.

  • You Have More Time on Your Hands: Although online learning can be just as rigorous as the in-person experience, you have more free time due to not commuting, and, sadly, the lack of traditional extracurricular activities. As a result, you can explore new opportunities to fill your free hours. Volunteering and encouraging others to do the same is an excellent way to spend your time.
  • It Looks Good on a College Application: Starting a volunteer movement, especially one that involves a large number of your peers, can make your college application shine in college admission counselor’s eyes.
  • People in Your Community Need Help: The COVID-19 pandemic has made vulnerable groups even more so, and hundreds if not thousands of people in your local community fall into this category.

How Do I Make a Volunteer Proposal?

Once you decide to create a volunteer movement at your school, you need a proposal that will both do some good for people in need and inspire your peers to help out. Here are some questions to get you going.

  • What are the most pressing needs in my community which volunteers could impact?
  • What skills do my peers and I have that would benefit organizations that need volunteers?
  • How much time per week can my peers and I realistically dedicate to volunteering?
  • How can I create a volunteer movement that will inspire not just people in my grade but all learners at my school?
  • What role do I want to play in this volunteer movement? Leader? Coordinator? Participant?

How Do I Get People to Sign Up?

Now that you have a proposal, you need to get your message to your peers. Fortunately, taking classes online gives you an excellent way to communicate with other students. Let’s look at a few ways you can raise awareness and interest in your volunteering proposal.

  • Discussion Board: Using a classroom discussion board (ask your teacher in advance to set one up for you), you can reach out to your peers or perhaps the entire school. As with any proposal, write at least two drafts and have an adult, preferably your teacher, review it for clarity and grammar.
  • Ask Teachers/Administrators to Signal-Boost Your Ideas: Send your proposal to your teachers/principal to see if they would promote your ideas to the school’s students and staff. They can also offer you valuable feedback to make your proposal more successful.
  • Leverage Volunteer Crowd and Best Buddies: As you know from myKlovr’s other articles, VolunteerCrowd and Best Buddies allow students to volunteer virtually, an excellent option as in-person volunteering is impossible for most students right now. You can discuss these services’ advantages in your discussion board post or another communication method.

How Do I Keep the Movement Going?

Once your volunteer movement starts gaining students’ interest, you have to sustain that interest if you want your movement to last more than a few months. Here are a few ideas to keep your fellow volunteers engaged.

  • New volunteer projects each month.
  • Recognizing top volunteers.
  • Encouraging incoming freshmen with a presentation during a school assembly.

Personally, one thing I would avoid is trying to make volunteering a school graduation requirement. In my experience as a high school teacher, forcing high school-aged students to do anything can backfire tremendously. Also, people who genuinely want to volunteer are likely to do a much better job than those forced to do it.

Final Thoughts

“So shines a good deed in a weary world,” Willy Wonka once said by way of Shakespeare. The world is certainly weary right now, and any good deed has the potential to make our shared situation a little brighter. By creating a student volunteer program, you can make a lasting impact on your community. So, take some time between your Zoom classes and consider how you can help out those in need.

Do some good, myKlovr readers, and stay safe out there.

Person using LinkedIn on a laptop computer

How To Create A College-Ready LinkedIn Profile

July 21, 2020

LinkedIn has become the premier networking social platform across the globe. Unlike it’s more casual social counterparts in Twitter and Facebook, this platform is solely dedicated to connecting like-minded professionals and allowing them to share personal and business updates with the world. Just like you may follow someone on Instagram after meeting at a party, it is best practice to connect with someone on LinkedIn after meeting them at work-related functions.

The myth that surrounds LinkedIn is that it is strictly for working-class adults. Most students believe that you do not need one until you graduate college and begin looking for a job. This is not necessarily the case. If used correctly, a high school student can leverage their LinkedIn profile to increase their college admissions prospects, build their network, and meet the right people before going off to college. Here are a few basic guidelines for creating that college-ready LinkedIn profile.

It All Starts With The Picture

I will assume you are capable enough of logging onto LinkedIn and follow the steps laid out to get started. The first step in this process is selecting the right profile picture. This picture is the first impression you make on new contacts you connect with. This picture must be as professional-looking as possible. Do not use a picture of you making a silly face, out at a sporting event, or with someone else. It should be a headshot of just you.

When taking the picture, try to find someone in your network who own a professional camera. The quality will be much better than taking a selfie on your iPhone. In the event that you cannot find anyone with a professional camera, try to find someone with an iPhone X or higher. Next, be sure that your picturing is being taken against a blank background to avoid distractions. Lastly, wear the type of shirt you would wear to an interview and make sure your hair is done. For men, this is the time to shave your beard or at very least trim it down.

The Headline of Your Story

Your LinkedIn profile is a chance to tell your story of who you are, what you have done, and, most importantly, what you are looking accomplish. As a high school student, your primary purpose is to impress college admissions counselors and connect with college employees, alumni, and future students. Keep this in mind as you begin to fill out the rest of your page. 

Underneath your picture and name is a section for a headline. This is an opportunity to catch the attention of anyone visiting your page. Spend some time thinking about college and what you plan on studying. Let’s say you are currently a junior, still applying to colleges, and interested in education. Your headline would read something like this: “Motivated High School Junior With A Strong Interest in Studying Education In College.” This headline tells your new contact who you are and what you are looking for.

What Are You All About?

As you scroll down the page, you will run into the “About” section. This is not a section to leave blank or mindlessly enter in a few random facts about yourself. Think about your audience and the message you are trying to send. This section should tell the story of a motivated high school student who is actively building its network to create long term success. After reading, you’re about section, people who have never met you should know that you are a motivated individual who cares deeply about their future career.

Personally, I have no problems talking about myself. However, I am a speaker and author, so it comes naturally. For many, speaking about themselves is incredibly difficult. You may find it even more challenging to write about your positive attributes and future plans. If this is the case, simply go back to the questions I asked earlier about what you are looking to accomplish on LinkedIn. Who are you looking to connect with? What topics are you interested in studying? Where are you currently going to high school? What extracurriculars are you currently participating in? Those answers should give enough information for a brief 3-4 sentence About paragraph.

You Have More Experience Then You Think

As a high school student, you may not think you have anything to put into the experience section. Typically, this section is meant to list out the jobs you have had, the companies you have worked for, and the responsibilities you were entrusted with. Over time, this is where you will include your internships and on-campus jobs. For now, it’s a section that can highlight the jobs you had in high school.

Any job you had in high school is worth listing. It shows that you can be trusted with responsibilities. When adding a job, think about the tasks you completed and anything that shows you being mature, trustworthy, loyal, reliable, and creative. This may include handling cash, creating the schedule for other employees, keeping count of inventory, or tracking shipping. Also, be sure to add any school clubs you were a part of or volunteer work you have done or continue to do.

What Are Your Interests?

The last important section that a high school student can focus on is Interests. This is a section to show others what types of companies, products, and people you are interested in. First, choose two companies that are well known in the field or industry you are considering. Then, choose two profiles of thought leaders such as Tony Robbins, Elon Musk, or Jeff Bezos. Lastly, choose a few companies whose products you enjoy. This is a straightforward section that simply meant to give new contacts even more information about who you are.

Conclusion

LinkedIn is a no brainer for anyone who is serious about the next steps in their life. As you progress, you will be able to add things like internships, awards won, and degrees earned. For now, focus on telling the story of a high achieving and ambitious high school student. The people you connect with will be impressed that you are taking control of your future at such a young age. Remember, you never know who you will meet or where your new relationship will lead you.

About Kyle

Kyle Grappone is an educational coach helping students prepare for the next steps in life.

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