I’m writing the brag sheet for my son. Could anybody kindly send me 1 copy? I just wonder if I write the righ way? Thanks a lot!
Just make a list of the activities your kid participated in, and especially include the time spent on things done outside of their school.
We just had a list…done by HS school year. For example…
FRESHMAN YEAR
High school swim team
School musical ensemble
Precollege youth orchestra
Youth auditioned chorus
HS band librarian
That’s how we did it.
I put together brag sheets for our kids. These weren’t exhaustive lists of activities – either extracurricular or within the school programs. Instead they focused on or highlighted:
a. Key extracurricular activities or participation at or connected with the school (sports, debate, music, jobs, etc.) Stressed leadership roles, initiative. Not just “memberships” in clubs.
b. Key extracurricular activities outside of or independent of school (community, charitable work, athletics, arts, jobs, etc.). Stressed leadership roles, initiative. Also included summer programs (arts, music, etc.).
c. Awards or signs of recognition (especially competitive awards in art, debate, sports, journalism, math, science, computers – but also community activities).
The brag sheet could be used for various purposes, including providing information for letter-writers to mention but also for inclusion in applications where appropriate. The sheet stressed things in category “c.”
Keep in mind that the letter-writers won’t be aware of some of the kids’ activities, especially those not connected with school, so the brag sheet can be especially useful for them, but also for our kids to remember to plug info into appropriate slots on their application forms.
Thanks!
Does your guidance counselor not have a specific form for parents with specific questions? Ours did.
A list of ECs/awards was not on it. It was a form with questions about my impressions of my kid’s strengths and weaknesses and challenges and things I thought the GC might not be aware of.
My kids had their own meetings with GC and their own forms to fill out, it was suggested that those form the basis for the app EC sections. OUr parent sheet was really to help the GC write her rec.
our form for LORs that students give to teachers asks: favorite activity/lesson in that teacher’s class and why; skills learned from that course, accomplishments most proud of, something unique about self, college major and why; & anything else.
Here’s the link to the brag sheet from one of our local high schools. This should give you some good hints on what to do. When I did this for my kid, I made sure my language was polished enough that the guidance counselor could cut and paste right into the rec (since she didn’t know him from Adam).
https://yhs.apsva.us/counseling/college-career-services-office-forms/brag-sheet-parent-2018/