Building Your Personal Brand for College Admissions

Webinar Transcription

2025-09-10-Building Your Personal Brand for College Admissions

Lydia: [00:00:00] Hello everyone. Welcome to, “Building your Personal Brand for College Admissions.” My name is Lydia Hollon. I am your moderator for tonight and a senior advisor here at CollegeAdvisor. I’ve been with the company for about four years now, and in addition to advising students, I am an education consultant and former high school teacher.

Lydia: I am excited to introduce you all to our presenter for tonight. But before we do that, to orient everyone with a webinar timing, we’re gonna start up with a presentation, then answer your questions in a live q and a on the sidebar. You can download our slides and start submitting questions in the q and a app.

Lydia: We’ll also be recording this session so that you can review the webinar again later. Now let’s meet our [00:01:00] presenter. 

Pam: Hi everyone, I’m Pam. I’m super excited to be presenting on this topic today and to be speaking to you about building a personal brand. I, um, went to Harvard as an undergrad. I was in the admissions committee there.

Pam: Um, I also went to Stanford to get my PhD and my postdoc and was a clinical professor there. Um, and I was also on the Stanford Admissions Committee for undergraduate admissions high school, summer college and pre-collegiate studies and the medical school. Um, so I’ve been thinking about branding for students at all levels of education for a while.

Lydia: Awesome. So before Pam gets into her presentation, we’re gonna do a quick poll to figure out what grade you all are in. And if you are a parent joining us tonight, feel free to just choose that other category. Um, but while I give you all a chance to answer that, Pam, I’m curious, what was your quote unquote brand when you were applying to college?

Pam: I should have [00:02:00] thought about that as a question because everyone to do this, um, I would say that I was a neuroscience, um, climbing. I was a neuroscientist Who climbs? What about you, Lydia School? 

Lydia: Uh, I would say I was like the activist, like I feel like that’s the, the word that I could best describe it. I was very much into community organizing.

Lydia: I spoke at a lot of school board meetings. Uh, I was very passionate about education and equity, and so that was like, I love that. My, my and I work in education now, so Makes sense. Education activist. 

Pam: Admitted. 

Lydia: Yeah. Okay. So looking at responses,

Lydia: seems like we’ve got a mix of people. [00:03:00] 2% in ninth grade, 3% 10th, 18%, 11th grade. And unsurprisingly, uh, we’ve got 31% in 12th grade, but also a lot in that other category, so probably a lot of parents joining us as well. 

Pam: Super 

Lydia: cool. All right, so I’ll go ahead and pass it off to you, Pam, to get us started.

Pam: Awesome. Okay, so I’m gonna go ahead and get started talking about what’s a personal brand? So personal brand or your application, um, personality makes you memorable to admissions offices. So you may have heard, um, that you should develop a spike rather than be well-rounded. And if you think about the human brain, sorry, I am a neuroscientist, so we’re gonna get into a little bit of that.

Pam: Um, is much easier to remember things that stand out. So really unconventional, really unique, one of the kind, um, things helps you to remember something really well, whether it’s good or bad. So you wanna think about, when you’re thinking about, well, how can I be unconventional or unique or stand out?

Pam: You’re focusing on just a few key areas of your profile. Um. Meaning your academics. [00:04:00] So not your entire, your entire academic history, but key components of your academics and then key components of your extracurriculars. So that’s why we always say, you know, if you don’t have 10 activities, that’s fine, but if you have three to four really strong ones, that’s what admissions officers are going to remember.

Pam: Usually towards the end of the list, there’s things that are less important. So you’re not trying to boil the ocean, you’re trying to just pick a few key things and think about your brand and how to build your brand and your story based on those few key themes. So you really wanna keep this really short.

Pam: You wanna think of it as a tagline, like a hashtag, um, or a sentence or a phrase versus a paragraph. So it shouldn’t be, oh, I’m the student who does this and this and this and this. I also volunteer here and here and here and here, and I’m this kind of student of the, it should just be the neuroscience declines.

Pam: Um. Here, I use the example, this is actually a real one, but there was a student who we called in the office. Um, so when admissions offices are in committee, um, we use a shorthand to refer to students. So it might be that [00:05:00] wildfire kid or the surf who cares a lot about water rights and water quality. I had a student like this, um, and so I was getting up and trying to remind everybody who he was and why we should advocate to bring him in.

Pam: So that’s what a brand does. It helps you to just keep in mind or for the admissions officer to remember, uh, who you are. So at the end of reading a file, a lot of times we get a lot of details thrown at us in the seven minutes that we have to review it. So we’re trying to remember what were the key things so that I can figure out is this someone who deserves a spot in the class.

Pam: Um, so if we come to the end of the application and it’s like, oh, what was it about again? That’s really tough. That means you’re probably not gonna make it, um, because we can’t remember. And then we have to go through and comb through all the details again. So that means that you didn’t do a good job presenting what your brand.

Pam: Um, next slide please. Let’s see if I can do it. So the key components of a personal brand, right? Think of it as being memorable. Um, so like I said, you wanna think of a tweet or hashtag, [00:06:00] it should be short, simple, sweet. Um, no one else should have the same tagline. So if your tagline can be, I’m I’ll, I’ll admit I didn’t know that neuroscientist, who’s the climber necessarily is the most unique tagline.

Pam: So if somebody else can have that tagline, then maybe mine’s not so strong. Um, so then maybe you wanna refine it a little bit more. Maybe it’s that, um, I’m the neuroscientist who’s really interested in studying the, who’s into the genetics of anger, and that’s the thing that makes me stand out, not so much the fact that I’m into neuroscience.

Pam: Um, so that’s, that’s what your tagline is. And then it should be relevant to your profile. So if it’s something that you think, well, this will make me really unique because I really love playing bocce ball. I dunno, I dunno why I brought that up, but that’s what the first thing that came to mind. Then maybe that’s not so, not such great tagline because is there a reason for us to bring you in because of that?

Pam: So ideally it is highlighting the strength of your academics and your extracurriculars while [00:07:00] deemphasizing areas that maybe aren’t as relevant or where you’re weaker. So these, this tagline should really be so dominant that you are covering up the parts of your profile that maybe aren’t as strong. Um, it also helps AOS to envision admissions offices to see how you’re gonna contribute to campus.

Pam: So if we can see that your impact on campus as a. Neuroscientists studying the genetic basis of X will be really impactful or will make a difference, and we see that the science will move forward, um, on campus and beyond, then that’s a reason to bring you in. So that’s what the tagline or the personal brand begins to do.

Pam: It helps to bring together the entire application. Like I said, we got a lot of information throw thrown at us, but if you can begin to tell us what the theme is and guide us towards it, um, then you’ll have a winning application. So you might be wondering, well, I really dunno what my personal brand is. Um, you know, how can I begin to identify it?

Pam: And I’m gonna say that your brand is already there. You just need to [00:08:00] uncover it. You might need help. You might need to ask your teachers, your friends, um, anyone else around you, what they remember about you or what, what’s the most, I guess, outstanding or distinctive things about you. Um, and then help them to help you to come up with what the brand is.

Pam: So, one other things that you can do. Uh, to reflect, right? You wanna sit with yourself and think, well, what experiences have shaped me? Um, what’s a really important part of my life? So, for me, climbing’s a big part of my identity. Um, so I would say that’s something that I care deeply about. And then you wanna write down, what are three defining moments from high school so far?

Pam: It does not have to be, um, you know, in terms of academics or extracurriculars, but were there three defining moments so far? And then which activities do you care about the most? Which ones mean the most to you and that are part of your identity? That without it you feel like that, that wouldn’t represent all of who I am.

Pam: So you wanna connect your academic interests, your top extracurricular endeavors, and then your personal qualities into your brand, [00:09:00] your tagline. And then when you’re asking others for help, ask them, well, what are three words that they might use to describe you? So right now with my seniors, I’m working a lot with them on, um, senior council questionnaires that their schools and their teachers are asking for letters of recommendation.

Pam: And oftentimes those questionnaires ask, what are three adjectives that you would like me to use to describe you? So your teachers can be a really big part of your brand and your tagline, and I think students don’t think about that very much. But ideally, if what you’re saying about yourself is backed up and confirmed and validated by your teachers, then that’s a very strong brand because there’s additional evidence that your brand is true because other people around you, in your community can see it too and can attest to it.

Pam: So that’s how you begin to connect the dots. So you’ve got your story, your strengths, and then your impact in your school community. You put it into a short tagline or a single statement, and that’s your brand. Later on, we’re gonna practice, um, some branding. [00:10:00] So you guys should start putting on your thinking hats and thinking, well, what would my brand be?

Pam: Um, so how can I build on my personal brand? So now that you might have, um, a draft of your tagline, you wanna evaluate the list that you made in the previous slide. Um, so these are the adjectives that your teachers and peers might use to describe you. There are things about your most formative experiences, your top extracurriculars, the experiences that meant the most to you.

Pam: So now you wanna begin to refine it. Um, so you might have your draft, and the draft might sound really broad, like, well, I really care about science. I’m definitely a STEM kid. A lot of kids say this to me. I’m definitely a STEM kid. Um, but that’s too broad. Right. So, ’cause a lot of people could have that same tagline.

Pam: Um, and so if it’s too broad, then be specific and memorable. So I’m fascinated by how sound waves can heal wounds. And I’ve spent two years researching Bioacoustics in a Stanford lab. Uh, these are all real examples, by the way, [00:11:00] um, from, from my students. And then, um, and this is their, their prior what they said to me, you know, I, I care a lot about helping people.

Pam: Um, so instead what it might sound like is I started a nonprofit rescuing abandoned animals, and I’ve placed 73 pets in permanent homes. Or I’m a leader. I definitely, you know, I’m student body president. I’ve been that for the last four years. I’ve been the class representative, et cetera, et cetera. But I think that’s too broad, uh, because remember there are 40,000 high schools in America, so therefore 40,000 student body presidents.

Pam: So as captain of my robotics team. I led a project to design a flood resistant drone for disaster zones. Sorry, that came out all weird because my tongue was being strange. But basically they led a project to build a drone, um, that helped in disaster areas like wildfires and then flooding. So that’s the kind of leadership that they talked about, or a lot of students say, I really care about making a difference in my community.

Pam: Um, so [00:12:00] instead the tagline should be something around, I created an app that connects refugee families to local food sources and other, um, key government and county resources that they need. So do you see how it gets a little bit more specific and memorable? Um, the more you begin to refine and then you wanna be really concrete.

Pam: Um, I wouldn’t say that you should use numbers. I see a lot of activities lists where, um, this is a lot of numbers in describing the activities and I think that’s because a lot of admissions officers say, well, you should try to quantify it. But then I think students go overboard by putting too many numbers in at the expense of not having us not understand what the activity was actually about.

Pam: So you wanna use the numbers and the names or specific actions to tell us what you did. So if the category is community service, right? You don’t have to say dead community service, you would say, I taught coding to 25 middle schools girls. Um, and then I know that you guys are probably so sick of hearing, showing, [00:13:00] not telling.

Pam: I had a student tell me this cycle that if he heard that one more time. Um, so what we’re, what we mean here is focus on what you did, not just who you are or what you are. So you wanna say things like, you know, a lot of students say to me, I’m interested in biomedical engineering, but instead say, I built a prosthetic arm prototype.

Pam: So that’s a lot more memorable. It’s a lot more concrete and it shows impact and action and your identity in just a few words. And then impact matters because we wanna see when you come to our campus, what kind of change or what kind of, um, impact would you have on our community? How are we going to see you participate in the labs, in our classrooms, um, outside of the classrooms, in the dorms and elsewhere.

Pam: So you wanna tie it back to who you helped or what problem you solved.

Pam: I have a lot of tips on how to build the personal brand because I figured that you guys are probably wondering, well, how do I go about doing this? So there’s a lot [00:14:00] of action advice in this, um, set of slides rather than telling you what a brand is. Um, but if you have any questions, and I’m not, I haven’t been clear so far on what branding means, please just let me know in the chat.

Pam: So again, right depth. Beats breath. So meaning you wanna go deep, you don’t, you don’t wanna go broad. Um, I was just working today with students on their activities list and additional information and I saw everything piled into additional information and I said, can we take out some of those activities?

Pam: Because it becomes overwhelming and then you don’t become memorable. And whether or not you volunteered one to the food bank, is it going to be so important as the things that you spent four years doing consistently? Um, so the key is not to do more activities. So sometimes when students hear about building their brand, they think, oh my gosh, I have to go out and do more.

Pam: It’s making your activities that you do have more intentional and interconnected. So colleges remember students to focus on one to two areas deeply and make an impact. So the path is that you wanna go deep in a [00:15:00] subject or an area and then you wanna explore a micro topic that others might overlook. So instead of environmental science.

Pam: You might wanna focus on urban heat islands in your city. I had a student do this and he used this thing called GIS mapping to look at how crime rates might evolve with heat. Um, so that’s one example. See how that’s more memorable than saying, oh, I really care about environmental science. Um, you could combine two passions.

Pam: So if you merge to seemingly unrelated areas to create something new, like for example, you did coding plus dance into a motion tracking app, um, to analyze choreography, that’s way more memorable. So there are a lot of students working on, um, robots to do this actually. Um, I know this is happening at Stanford where they’ve got a lot of robotic, um, dances, um, with trackers on them.

Pam: So it’s kind of cool. Um, and then you wanna try to serve a specific community. So tailor your work to a group with unique needs. So maybe we hear a lot about, you know, building STEM [00:16:00] kids for underprivileged or low income students, but what about visually impaired students at local schools? Um, so it doesn’t always have to be the same population and then try to make something tangible that represents you and your voice and your set of skills.

Pam: So maybe you had a podcast interviewing local veterans about resilience. Um, they’re often an overlooked population. Or maybe you created a zine about mental health in sports. Um, I have a student doing something about, um, he’s a boy, but he’s working on, um, girls’ flag football. So I think that’s really unique.

Pam: Okay, so now we have a poll. 

Lydia: So we’re gonna take a brief break before we get back into the presentation to ask another question, get an idea of where you all are in the college application process.

Lydia: And while we do that, I’m curious, since you have, you know, been on admissions committees and selection committees and things like [00:17:00] that, Pam, is there any persona, um, or personal brand that you’ve read from a student that just really stood out to you? 

Pam: Oh, so many. Um, someone who’s biomimicry to heal concrete.

Pam: That was one. Um, I thought that was very cool. Um, let me think of others. And then Lydia, feel free to jump in if you have students who you thought of that, um, really stick out in your mind in terms of how unique their profiles were.

Lydia: Yeah. Uh, I would say for me, um, I had a student who. Was really passionate about writing, but used writing as a way to help kids who were in the foster care system advocate for themselves. Um, and so they, they created like a whole writing contest [00:18:00] specifically for them. Uh, and they got the opportunity to get their work published in the local library.

Lydia: Um, I love that. And all the students got to participate in like a writing workshop and write their own stories. And so, um, yeah, it it was really cool. 

Pam: Um, 

Lydia: yeah, actually there, there were so many. 

Pam: I love that. I love that I had a student who worked with foster care, um, students, um, for a Museum of Lost Childhoods.

Pam: Um, and it was just full of items that maybe you don’t think so much about, like a comb when you’re, um. When you’re a normal teen, like with a stable home, but when you’re in the foster care system, um, your homes had to go missing a lot of your things, you know, as you move around from place to place. So there’re just all these items with stories about, um, you know, the foster kids’ lives.

Pam: And I really thought those really unique because it made me reflect on childhood in a different way. 

Lydia: Yeah, yeah. I mean there, there are so many, so many great ways that you can highlight what makes you unique and, you know, [00:19:00] stand out from the pack. But it’s always nice to be able to hear from a student and just see like the ways that they’re able to take their passion and apply in ways that you would’ve never expected.

Lydia: Yeah. Okay. I will go ahead and pass it back to you to jump back into the presentation. 

Pam: Awesome. Okay, you guys, I think you can probably tell that we’re warming up to getting you to get us, uh, get to thinking about what your specific tagline is and then sending them to me so I can give you feedback. But you wanna think of your application like a puzzle.

Pam: So admissions offices are like little detectives. We’re going in trying to piece together all these bits of yourself that you’re showing us. Um, and if you could do it for us in a way that is coherent and lead us, it’s kind of like putting together a puzzle room, uh, where there’s a theme and you try to figure out what the theme is.

Pam: Think of it that way. So each piece should reveal something about yourself, which aligns in this larger picture. And we’re trying to figure out what is that thing. Sometimes we’ll get it from a [00:20:00] letter of recommendation, like a teacher will say, um, you know, the student did this because, and we’ll go, oh, there it is.

Pam: That’s the thing that brings together the whole application. Um, but if you can do it for yourself and your essays, the way you write about your activities, that’s easier for us. And it makes the job go quicker because then we don’t have to spend time trying to figure it out and puzzle it out. But instead we’ve got it all, you know, packaged neatly.

Pam: So when you align these pieces with your personal brand, meaning your academics, your extracurriculars, um, your personal qualities are coming through the essays, what your, your say about you, then the colleges don’t just see a student with great grades, they’re seeing a student. They, they need to have, like, this is a, we call it a craveable profile.

Pam: Like, I really crave this, this profile and we need to have it. So that’s when we admit because, um, we feel really compelled or we might read it and and say, oh my gosh, I can’t wait to meet this person. And the only way that we can meet you is to admit you.[00:21:00] 

Pam: So where in your application can you highlight your personal brand? Um, so a lot of students dismiss the activities list, but I would say this is. The best place to start. Um, this is the way that you should begin building your brand. Think of it as evidence. So a lot of times when you’re writing essays, it can just be all in your head, meaning these are your thoughts, your internal reflections.

Pam: We want to hear those. They’re very important. But I think paired with, and then I took action, that’s very powerful. So every character and word counts in the activities list, you only get 150 characters. So again, think, tweet, not sentence. And from the category itself to the description, you can tell us a whole lot.

Pam: So think about, let’s say that your activities list has 10 items, and you’ve got three social justice, three community service, and say. For research or something like that, or, or, you know, sports is in there too, but do you see how that begins to build some kind of a theme or some kind of story? Um, and so you, you really wanna make use of [00:22:00] every single piece of real estate they give you, because this activities list is a very important part of how we begin to evaluate the file.

Pam: Um, if you think about it, some schools have no supplementals at all. And so students think, oh, that’s great. I’m gonna apply there just because they don’t have a supplemental. But that means that all of the burden goes to your activities list because that’s really what you have left to tell your story, that in your personal statement.

Pam: So then it’s all the more important that you begin building a really strong, strongly worded and clear and coherent activities list. And then your personal statement is where you breathe life into the, the small character descriptions that you’ve given in the activities list. And this is the heart of your brand.

Pam: So here’s where you tell us the motivation. So maybe you started. So think about a company. Um, a lot of times we get drawn to brands because we hear the origin stories of the founders, and we get really aligned with their mission and their values, and that’s what they want. They want us to start buying the products because we’re so, um, enthused and inspired by, by their, their story that even if the product is not that amazing, um, we’re still really [00:23:00] brought in to, to the story.

Pam: Right. So tell us the motivations, the kinds of, um, things that you were thinking about when you did X, y, Z. So when you were becoming a surfer who cared about water quality, what was it about surfing that led you to water quality? Um, what was it about surfing that led you to thinking about water rights?

Pam: So the origin story is often what keeps us coming back. They’re really sticky, right? So think again about every time you see a great movie or hear amazing song or, um, you’re reading a book that you really like. I think probably I do this a lot, I’m, I’m sure other people might too, but I was rushed to the back to look at, oh, who is this author?

Pam: Like, what’s their life story about? What’s their background? This is so intriguing. Um, so that’s what your personal statement should be doing, telling us a little bit about yourself in that way. And then your supplements are where you build out your brand. So you may be an organic farmer or something, but what kind of produce, what’s special about your brand of organic farming?

Pam: So you wanna connect this, if possible, to what we call institutional priorities. Um, so [00:24:00] colleges reveal the things that are important to them through their mission statement and their values. You have to dig and you have to read a little bit between the lines. I guess I’m used to it because I read a lot of mission statements from colleges.

Pam: Um, but they do reveal the things that matter to. And the way that they brand themselves. So that’s their form of branding. So they’re trying to communicate to you these are the values that we hold true, and these are the things that we’re looking for in students. Um, and it’s through all of their marketing.

Pam: So for example, if you look at a school like CMU versus say, Santa Clara University. So Santa Clara is a Jesuit university. When they talk about engineering, they’re gonna talk a lot about social impact and entrepreneurship. Whereas CMU is talking about cutting edge innovation, you know, breaking the boundaries of, of science, pushing technology forward.

Pam: Um, so do you see how the, the two schools have a different heart, right? They have different values. Um, and they begin to tell you this in many, many, many ways. If you look hard enough. And then, like I said before, your letters of [00:25:00] recommendation, they should reinforce your brand with specific anecdotes. So if you’re a surfer who cares a lot about water quality, are your teachers writing about how you’re really, you know, in class you did a project about water quality or water rights, um, did you get up and do a presentation about something?

Pam: Um, when given the option, like, you know, in class discussions where you’re talking about it and telling others about your perspective. Um, and then if possible, and if they offer it, and there are interviews or videos that you can record, we wanna hear your voice in your own words. Like, these are really important to us and alumni interviews are still a thing.

Pam: So share how you solved a real world problem related to this niche area of yours related to your brand and whatever unique thing that you were trying to, to resolve.

Pam: Okay. So now, 

Lydia: oh, 

Pam: go ahead. Oh, no, I was gonna say we’re just going to q and a. I’m excited. Yeah. 

Lydia: Yeah. So yes, at the end of the presentation portion, I encourage you [00:26:00] all, if you haven’t already asked the question that has been burning, uh, go ahead and get those in. We’re gonna get through as many as we can tonight.

Lydia: I know that we’ve got a large group with us, so we’re gonna try and answer as many questions as we can. Um, and also remember, you can download the slides from the link in the handouts tab, and as we go through these questions, I will share them with our presenter. She’ll give you an answer, and I might also contribute if it feels applicable.

Lydia: Um, but as a heads up, if your q and a tab isn’t letting you submit questions, just double tag that you join the webinar through the custom link in your email and not from the webinar landing page. All right, so we’re gonna go ahead and jump in. Our first question is what if you aren’t sure what field you want to study, it makes it harder to shape your brand.

Pam: Very true. But there are probably things that you really care about, or there are subjects you like better in school than others, and that can be the start of building your brand. So when given the choice and, um, you know, [00:27:00] what electives do you choose? Um, you know, if you had one free period to fill, I know a lot of times in, in school, they don’t give you a lot of options, especially in ninth grade.

Pam: But as you get into 11th grade and beyond, were there classes that you chose because you’re like, oh, I really want to take that class. I was dying to take it and, um, or I couldn’t fit in my schedule, but I went outside of school and I did it. So that shows us a lot of motivation and initiative, um, for why, you know, you, you chose that particular thing, or in your spare time, what is it that you are watching on YouTube, listening to reading.

Pam: Um, those are all clues to what you might be interested in, even if it doesn’t fit into a major. A lot of students feel that their major determines their career in the future and that they must decide now whether they’re going to be an engineer or a doctor or you know, scientist or something. But it just, it’s not that scary.

Pam: It’s more what are your. Inclinations now, like things that you’re interested in, um, and not, I wouldn’t necessarily just tie it to the major per se. Right. That’s, I think that’s something that’s like, oh my gosh, I didn’t know I gonna study in college. [00:28:00] And that’s okay. But you probably have inklings of things that you’re interested in.

Lydia: Yeah, and I always say that, you know, if you’re not completely sure what your passion project or what your personal brand, um, should be, uh, and what you wanna study, I think just always aligning it with the things that you find yourself gravitating towards. Because even when you’re applying to college, admissions officers are looking at your application knowing that a large percentage of students do change their major at least once, once they get into college.

Lydia: And so it’s not like you’re married to a specific track, but it should, your application should show a clear understanding of. Who you are and what it is that you enjoy and the way that you might wanna pursue that in terms of what you study may change. But, um, having a clear idea of, oh, this is what I’m passionate about, this is what I’m interested in, that still can go a really long way.

Lydia: [00:29:00] So, uh, another question that we have, uh, this is kind of an amalgamation of a few questions that I, I’m seeing that have a common theme, which is how do you figure out what your passion project should be? Does it need to be related to some sort of community service or can it be something else? 

Pam: It can be something else.

Pam: It does not need to. I think people’s amic minds, they think I must do community service. Um, but I would say it’s more important that you engage in something that you actually care a whole lot about because otherwise you’re just checking off the boxes and reporting hours to us. Um, and that’s actually not what we wanna see.

Pam: I know that the, there are things that exist within high schools where they say you must have 20 hours before, um, you graduate of community service or you win the presidential Gold award ’cause you did a hundred hours of service. We’re less concerned about the hours and the numbers in those ways. Uh, whether you got to a hundred hours but then didn’t actually, it didn’t change you, it didn’t help you evolve.

Pam: That’s not what we’re looking for. So when we thinking about passion projects [00:30:00] or um, community service, what we’re really asking is what do you care about and the things that you know, where do you spend your time so that they reflect what you really value? 

Lydia: Yeah. 

Pam: So dunno if I answered the question, but 

Lydia: No, I, I think that you did like, I think.

Lydia: You know, the questions that I’m seeing kind of boil down to how do I figure out what my passion project could be? I feel like the best way to think about a passion project is if you could change one thing about what you see in the world, or one thing about your community. If there’s one change that you would wanna make before you graduate, what is that change that you would wanna make?

Lydia: So maybe for some people that’s something community service, nonprofit related. For other people, it’s like, I feel like a lot of people really don’t know about investing and I wanna raise awareness about that and I wanna educate people by creating a YouTube channel or, um, you know, I am really passionate about [00:31:00] jewelry.

Lydia: For example, I had a student that I work with who had a jewelry company and like, I want people to be able to access. You know, affordable, handmade pieces in an ethical way because they’re like concerns about certain gemstones and things like that. Not always being obtained in the most ethical way. So I wanna give people access to that in a way that’s ethical.

Lydia: Like think about the things that you find interesting that you care a lot about, and what is a way that you can push that further. I think sometimes people. Think that a passion project has to be this cookie cutter thing of I’m working at a soup kitchen and like I just got a lot of hours working at the soup kitchen.

Lydia: Or, you know, I started a nonprofit that’s just kind of generic and just quote unquote, serves underprivileged kids. But there’s no connection that you have to, you know, that community, like there needs to feel like there’s some level of authenticity, um, to the thing that you’re doing and the [00:32:00] community that you’re serving.

Lydia: Um, so when you have an actual story, like you were talking about Pam, like with the founders for example, took a story about why they made the decisions that they did. And so you as a student wanna be able to have an explanation for why the, you made the decisions you did. You don’t wanna just. Be doing work in a random community that you have no connection to and didn’t really care about until college applications rolled around and you realized you needed to do something important.

Lydia: There needs to be a story about the gap that you saw and how you decided to fill it. You decided to fill it in that, um, this is a more technical question, which is if an application has blanks to fill in activities, but also invites you to upload a resume, should you do both Or does the resume override the activities list, or I’m assuming, you know, replace it where you need to do both.

Pam: Um, the resume should not override the activities list. [00:33:00] Whatever’s in the common app is going to be the most important thing. Um, so you should fill out the blanks for the activities list. Usually what ends up happening, so some colleges allow you an optional upload of a resume, and I usually have students do that when they have a lot of things on their rec.

Pam: Some students have, you know, 20, 30 things on their resume. And this, the, the thing that they, that they did doesn’t fit into 150 characters. So the resume stands there because there’s so many things that they did or they went really deep into a, a passion project. Um, so the resume gives a lot more detail on what it was.

Pam: It might have links to look at the project. It might have, um, audio or something like that. It might have pictures. So that’s what the resume is there for, is to give additional information beyond, um, what was on the activities list. But I would say the activities list is the priority. And then if you have a resume that you know you need to have for activities that didn’t fit, then yes, submit it.

Pam: I would say that, um, and Lidia, I dunno how you feel about this, but, um, sometimes students don’t [00:34:00] have anything beyond, um, what was in the activities list for their resume. And they ask me mm-hmm should they upload it? And I usually say I might leave it, um, because that’s just more, it’s more noise. 

Lydia: Yeah.

Lydia: Yeah, I, I, I would say that yeah, that can be true. The a situation where if you have, if you truly have nothing more to add or no more activities, um, to include outside of your activities list, I would say it could be beneficial if there are like certain details maybe that like you feel would be good for them to be able to see that you don’t have space to fit in the activities list.

Lydia: But like you said, Pam, you know, it can be just additional noise if it’s truly not contributing. Like you wanna think of your application as each piece playing an important part and putting together pieces of a puzzle. So. If each piece of the puzzle [00:35:00] is the exact same shape and saying the exact same thing, it’s not really helping.

Lydia: Um, so you know your resume, even if it is covering the same activities, it should be looking at it through a different lens or maybe highlighting some things that you didn’t have space or ability for whatever reason to cover, um, in your activities list. Excellent. Thank you. Um, another question that we have, um, and this is something that I feel like I hear from students as well when it comes to their essays, which is I feel like I’m not that interesting.

Lydia: I’m not that unique from the average student. How do I come up with a personal brand that stands out when I’m really just like the average American kid? 

Pam: I think every student says that, which is so lovely because you’re so humble. But, um, I would say that I haven’t met a single student yet who didn’t have something interesting that they’re working on.

Pam: Like, I speak to students every [00:36:00] day and I say, oh, but which other students thinking about Locus or which other students are working on concrete? Um, and I think, but it’s so boring, right? Like, we’re working on a concrete project. I’m like, that’s really interesting. Tell me more about that. Um, so I think you need to maybe sit with a teacher or a friend or a peer or counselor and um, have them pull out.

Pam: I work with coaches all the time, like my own coaches, in addition to being a coach. And I would say that they help me to do that very well, where I think, oh, I’m not that special, or I don’t have that many talents or whatever. And they point out where you do have talents and are, um, maybe a standout.

Lydia: Mm-hmm. Uh. Another question we have is, should our personal brand that tagline align with the culture and values of the particular school that we’re applying to? 

Pam: No, because that’s gonna change, uh, for each school. Um, so I guess if you were to change your tagline for each school, then yes, then you would, you’d [00:37:00] align your brand each time.

Pam: But that, that’s a lot of work by the way. Um, and then you’d have to get to know their institutional priorities as well. But if you can make it work, that’s what we think of as fit, meaning whatever your strengths are and what we’re looking for align, then that’s really good, um, fit between the college and the student.

Pam: So that can be very effective. 

Lydia: Yeah. And, and what, what you mentioned about institutional priorities, Pam is a really good point because, you know, colleges may have these stereotypes of the kind of kid or the kind of student that tends to go to that college. But there are also other things that are going on in the mind of an admissions officer or within the admissions office when it comes to how they’re selecting students.

Lydia: And some of that has to do with, you know, trying to have a diverse student body. And when I say diverse, I don’t mean in the sense of like DEI or like things like that. It also can mean diverse in the sense of the kinds of activities that students are [00:38:00] participating in, wanting to make sure that there students, using the facilities that they paid for, there gonna be enough students that are participating in, you know, these recreational activities that we have set up.

Lydia: Are there gonna be enough students that are taking certain classes or, you know, gonna participate in certain departments that we have professors for. Um, and so trying to fit yourself into a really specific boxing, guess what the college is looking for, can be really difficult because even with the same college.

Lydia: That can change to some extent from year to year, just based on how the demographics of the student body change from year to year as students, you know, uh, transfer graduate and things like that. So I would always say, if you’re concerned about fitting into what a school is looking for, do the research on the kind of culture that that school offers.

Lydia: And rather than trying to [00:39:00] mold yourself to the school, like mold your college list to who you are as a person and what you’re looking for, because you can only shift that tagline, um, but so much, right? Once you’re getting to the point where you’re a senior in high school, your, your activities list is what it is.

Lydia: Your resume is what it is. I mean, you can, your, your essay that, your personal statement that you write like. Technically the common F essay, ideally you’re writing that one time and all the schools are getting it. I wouldn’t want you to write a different essay every single time. So there, there’s only so much that you can tweak.

Lydia: Um, and so it makes more sense to just try and shape the college list around what you feel aligns with who you are as a person, rather than trying to make yourself seem like an activist when you’re applying to Brown. And then really focusing on, you know, being like a robust [00:40:00] STEM researcher type student when you’re applying to MIT like it folk.

Lydia: Make it representative of who 

Pam: you feel you actually are. Perfect. Such a great amen to that answer. Thank you. 

Lydia: Uh, the next question that we have is, how important is building your brand when it comes to athletic scholarships or when the school uses both athletic and academic scholarships for the sport that you’re looking to play?

Pam: Ooh, interesting. Um, I think the athletic side, they’re going to take care of that. Right? So meaning they’re just looking at talent and whether or not you fit their team, um, and fit what they’re looking for in terms of the positions they’re looking for on the academic side. Um, I’m assuming that this means that you’re, you’re trying for both Lydia, is that how you would interpret the question?

Pam: Yeah, that’s how, that’s how I read it. Then I would say that on the academic side, [00:41:00] that’s where you use what we’ve been talking about in this, um, webinar in terms of building your personal statement, um. So since we may not get a separate time to do it in the chat, if you have a tagline that you’ve been thinking about for this whole presentation that you wanna run by us and have us talk to you about it, um, please feel free to put your taglines and personal brand, um, into the chat.

Pam: Thank you so much for all your amazing questions, by the way. I see there’s so many and, uh, I hope we get around to a lot of them. 

Lydia: Um, yeah, I’ll let, I’ll let a few of them start to compile. Then we can do a speed round evaluation of, of a few. Um, yeah, so I’m looking through and another question that we have is, what is the most important part of your personal brand?

Lydia: Is it the impact that it makes? Is it [00:42:00] the alignment with the other parts of your application? Like what makes a personal brand strong? 

Pam: So I think, uh, let me see if I can go back in slides. Um,

Pam: ideally if you can, you’re thinking about your, your major or your academic interest if you don’t have a major yet, and then your top extracurriculars and then your personal qualities. So that’s what I mean. There should be, it can’t just be, a lot of students tell me I’m the most curious person. I really, I really wanna tell them that I’m really curious.

Pam: I’m like, how did you show that curiosity though? Where do we find evidence of that curiosity? It might be, I want isef. It’s like, well then that’s a great, great achievement in terms of Yes, definitely. You’re very curious. Um, so right, so, so let’s say that I’d gone through the, this exercise and that had been me.

Pam: Then I might’ve written that down as a defining moment from high school when I [00:43:00] won isef, because I am really curious, especially in the sciences, and it might have been an activity that I care about the most, whatever it was that I. Worked on in my research. Um, and then maybe that was an experience that also shaped me.

Pam: It probably would have been if I’d been working on it for a couple years. Um, and so that becomes the side of my brain. It’s like, okay, so what about it was I looking at, um, I don’t know, coral, and how do we heal Coral, um, in the oceans? And maybe that’s the, you know, I’m a, I’m a Carl healer or Carl Gardner for instance, that, you know, that’s maybe my brand.

Pam: So I hope that answered that question. 

Lydia: Yeah. Um, another question that we have is, what role does or can social media play in developing your personal brand? 

Pam: Oh, you can use it to leverage your brand. I mean, that’s how you begin to advertise your brand and put it out there. So just like social media does for any other brand.

Lydia: Yeah, [00:44:00] I, I feel like social media can be a great tool for you to. Yeah, like amplify work that you’re doing because, you know, let’s say that you wanna teach people how to do something. Well, if you’re just doing it at your school, maybe you’ll reach like 30 people. But if you really know how to market yourself online, maybe you can reach 3000 people by posting, you know, whatever you’re trying to teach people online.

Lydia: Uh, I think that it can also be a great way to have definitive metrics for impact that you’re making when you can point to followers or views or subscribers or whatever. Um, I’m curious, Pam, like, as an extension to that question, what role does social media play in general when it comes to evaluating students?

Lydia: Like are admissions officers looking at your social media to see the kinds of things that you’re posting or if they align with the person that you say you are in your application? Like. What [00:45:00] level of, yeah, privacy, I guess, should students be expecting when it comes to social media and should they, they be trying to make their personal social media pages look a certain way so that it lines up with their application?

Pam: Um, I would say that usually a lot of admissions officer say, oh, we don’t have time to go and look. Um, but I would say that I definitely looked when I had a student who wrote about being, um, a slam poetry artist and he’d done very well and won a lot of competitions and I, and the student was overseas so I got really curious, um, and I looked him up.

Pam: Um, so I did watch some of the slam poetry competitions. Um, so I would say curate it so that nothing is something that you don’t want an admissions officer to see. So if we were to look and we were to find things, I had a student who I did that with and she posted all these pictures of herself online and some skimpy clothing.

Pam: And I said, [00:46:00] please, can you make that private? Um, because I don’t know that that’s necessarily the impression that you wanna give in, in case they were to look and in case they did have time to go Google you for some reason. 

Lydia: Yeah, I think that’s a, that’s a great answer. You know, you wanna operate under the assumption that, you know, if your stuff is online, someone can find it if they want to.

Lydia: Mm-hmm. Are they probably gonna go out of their way to look at it when they have so many applications to get through? Probably not. But you never know. And also you always hear these stories of students, you know, losing their acceptance to a school because they did something really bad. And sometimes mm-hmm.

Lydia: If you’re doing things that are really careless online, even if the admissions officer isn’t actively looking for it, if somebody else comes to them with concerns about the things that you’re posting online, then that can also impact it. So, um. Yeah, like definitely just [00:47:00] be mindful, keep it classy I think is is great.

Lydia: And if you’re able to use your social media as a way to document the stuff that you’re doing, I think that’s great. I’ve worked with students who, when they applied to college, social media was actually a really great tool. Not even because they had a ton of followers or anything, but because every time they went volunteering or did something related to the things that they were passionate about, they posted about it and they had like in the captions some information about it and they weren’t intentionally trying to document it, but it made it so much easier when we got to the point where we were filling out the activities list and filling out applications because we were able to look back at all the volunteering that she had done because her Instagram was basically like a scrapbook of all the community service and the impact that she had done.

Lydia: And so like social media can be a great tool, even just for yourself to keep track of the work that you’re doing because when you’re. Busy and doing all the things. As a student, [00:48:00] it can be so easy to mm-hmm. Not really realize how impressive you are and how much of an impact that you’ve made. Um, I’m gonna just remind you all about CollegeAdvisor real quick, and then we’re gonna go into the, um, personal brand reviews.

Lydia: So, CollegeAdvisor’s team of over 300 former admissions officers and admissions experts is ready to help you and your family navigate the college admissions process in one-on-one advising sessions. We’ve already helped over 6,000 clients in their college journeys, and in our 2021 to 2023 data we found CollegeAdvisor students are two to four times more likely to get into colleges like Stanford, Vanderbilt, and Harvard.

Lydia: So increase your odds and take the next step in your college admissions journey by signing up for a free 45 to 60 minute strategy session with an admission specialist on our team using up the QR code on the screen. During this meeting, you’ll receive a preliminary assessment of your academic profile along with some initial recommendations, and in the end, you’ll [00:49:00] learn more about the premium packages we offer that pair you with an expert who can support you in building your college list, editing your essays, and much more.

Lydia: All right, so back to the q and a. So the first one that we’ve got, 

Pam: I was, I was gonna say Yeah. Questions? I’m not sure. Yeah, 

Lydia: yeah. Um, so one that we have is, uh, I am a competitive golfer with an interest in sports journalism and have conducted research on how different types of warmup music affects the outcome of golfer scores.

Pam: These are great taglines. You guys are doing really well. 

Lydia: Yeah, I think that’s really interesting. I’m curious for that student, um, like since you’re interested in sports journalism, like how the, the kind of research that you did, it sounds somewhat scientific, like the connection, like [00:50:00] how you would want, how that connects to your interest in journalism and things like that.

Lydia: But I think it’s always great when someone can take an interest and think about how can I extend this in a way that might be useful for other people? Mm-hmm.

Lydia: Um, another one we have is, I’m compassionate about human connection in the medical field. That’s led me to want to work in sonography because it combines working personally with people with an intersection with growing technology. 

Pam: Awesome. 

Lydia: Yeah, I think that that one’s really good. I think, um, one thing that I would be mindful of, and this goes back to the like concern about uniqueness, is a lot of people who are interested in the medical field are interested in it at its core because they want to help people, help people.

Lydia: Like they, they value human connection. Yeah. So I [00:51:00] think, um, a good thing to think about with that, like you talked about the intersection with growing technology. Like is there specific, are there specific developments in the field of sonography that particularly interests you or, um, I don’t know. Is there something specific about the kind of human connection that you get through sonography?

Lydia: Like, is it, you know, being able to hear a baby’s heartbeat or something like that? Like, you know what, whatever. But like, I think getting. Into the details is what would make that something that can stand out rather than being the general, I am pre-med because I wanna help people or because I care about people.

Lydia: Um, I think we missed another, the story to design. Oh yes. The storyteller through design. What do you think of that one, Pam? 

Pam: I like that one a lot. I would wanna know, um, how, like meaning what is it? What kind of stories are he telling [00:52:00] and why it’s designed the best way to tell those stories. Yeah. Is it a story of a room?

Pam: Is it the story of how people inhabit that room? Is it a different kind of design? 

Lydia: Yeah, I think the con yeah, I think the concept is really great. I just would wanna, I would wanna know the direction that you’re going, but, uh, I think that it’s a great start. It sounds interesting. Um. Another one that we have is standout student working to raise awareness of the pending crisis and the scarcity of retirement savings by the average American household, avoiding the death of the American dream.

Pam: That one sounds like a 

Lydia: parent. Yeah. I I think that, that, um, like, I, I would be curious where that came from. Like what, what about retirement savings makes you intrigued and like, what are you doing [00:53:00] to, um, raise awareness because Yeah. I, I like that is an issue that definitely pro that probably is not even at like, even kind of crossing the mind of someone who is 17 years old.

Lydia: Yeah. Um, or their friends. Um, yeah. And it’s not like, uh. Like, even for me, that’s unfortunately not crossing the mind of a lot of 30 year olds either. So, um, um, and so, uh, yeah, I would be curious like where that passion came from. Is it like a personal connection? Did you see a grandparent, you know, have to return to work, um, in their seventies or their eighties because they didn’t have the amount of social security that they thought they did or they thought it was gonna keep them afloat and it couldn’t?

Lydia: Um, and that led you to like an interest in finance. Like I would just wanna go deeper into what makes that personal for you. Because like you [00:54:00] said, Pam, that is an interest. That sounds like something that a parent would have because that’s more in line with someone that, an interest that someone in their forties or fifties would have, not someone who’s a teenager.

Lydia: So I think just really explaining where that personal connection comes from and then the work that you did to do, to do it. Um. Because I think that goes back to like what we were talking about with wanting to make sure that the work that you’re doing is in communities, that it makes sense that you have a connection to, and it doesn’t feel like you’re just kind of throwing, you know, throwing something at a wall and seeing what sticks.

Lydia: We wanna see like why you’re connected to that issue and why you’re connected to that, to that group. Um, another question. This I think don’t see any more specific taglines. Let me know if I’m not seeing one. Can I 

Pam: answer one that I wanna make sure that we get to? 

Lydia: Yes. 

Pam: Um, there are somebody on here who’s feeling very anxious because of the information that I just shared.

Pam: And [00:55:00] the goal of this was not to make you guys really anxious. The goal of this was to help you to feel empowered going to the application process. So I definitely wanna address this one because, um. So this is Terry and they’re saying that they’re introverted and have some extracurriculars, but don’t necessarily excel at them.

Pam: Is it too late to build a brand? I would say definitely not. And if not, how do I get focused really quickly? It’s not that you have to get focused really quickly. Like I said, the brand is already there. You just have to figure out and discover what it is. Um, so you’re pulling together different parts of, so I would sit with yourself and think, what is important to me to let an admissions officer know?

Pam: So if you were to have a conversation with me, what are three things that you might want me to walk away from that conversation remembering or knowing about you? Um, think about it that way, and if it’s, if. You may not necessarily excel at extracurricular. Some of my best, um, and favorite activity descriptions are always, um, I wasn’t the leader but I cheated the loudest and I was [00:56:00] always showing up for the team.

Pam: And I think that says a lot about a student, um, when they’re not necessarily the president or the vice president or the captain or the co-captain. And that’s okay. Um, so in what ways in your life have you, um, shown up for others or whatever qualities it is that you wanna, you know, have the admissions officer know about you?

Pam: Sorry to jump in, Lydia. 

Lydia: No, I think that’s so important and I think it can be easy when you’re talking about personal brands and passion projects, like it can really make your head explode. ’cause you, it makes you think that everyone is, you know, curing cancer and do like doing everything. They ran a marathon, finished a triathlon, and then entered Mensa and like all these, all these different things.

Lydia: But it, it’s really not that. It’s not that. Um, I think that everyone, if you really sat down as a personal brand, whether you have been intentional about crafting one or not, um, there are, there is a [00:57:00] sentence that whether you can put it together or your mom or a friend, there is a sentence or two that you could put together that probably captures roughly the kind of person that you are and the person that you wanna be.

Lydia: And so I think a lot of this is kind of self-reflection. Like there was a question in here about, well, what, what do I do if I’m just a student athlete and I really just spend my time going and playing my sport and then going to school? Well, what is my personal brand? Even with that, you know. Your brand doesn’t have to just be student athlete.

Lydia: There are millions of student athletes. Your brand can be reflective of why you do that specific thing, right? Like there are different reasons that someone might play volleyball versus basketball, or even two people that play the same sport might have different motivations for doing it. And it might have a connection to a specific subject.

Lydia: Like there might be, um, you might be really interested [00:58:00] in physics, right? Like there’s this Disney movie called Go Figure and the girl’s really passionate about physics and then she sees the connection between physics and figure skating and things like that. And like that, that’s kind of an example of how there are connections between the things that you’re interested in.

Lydia: Um, and that in itself can be unique when you really think about, well, why am I passionate about this thing? Um, and once you spend time kind of thinking through and talking through that. Then you can start to unpack your brand. And then from there, if you do have the time, you can invest more energy into developing that because you have a clear idea of what it is that you’re kind of packaging yourself.

Lydia: But, um, yeah. I’m gonna pass it off to you, Pam. Are there any final remarks that you would like to share before we wrap up for the evening? I know we’ve got a lot of questions that we didn’t get a chance to get to, but I I want you to get a chance to have your [00:59:00] final piece 

Pam: to share. I’m so sorry we didn’t get around to all your questions.

Pam: They were amazing. And thank you so much for your engagement. Um, it was super fun to talk about this. I would say that, um, the remaining questions were where I felt, okay. I definitely was not clear about this, and I just wanna make sure that I’m clear. Everyone’s asking, where’s it go? Where’s the tagline go?

Pam: It doesn’t go anywhere. It’s just when, when you look at the totality of your application, that’s what they should be thinking. So meaning this shouldn’t be buried somewhere. So if you are somebody who is, um. You know, a neuroscientist who climbs, then maybe that’s in your essays, it’s in your activities list, it’s in things that your teachers are talking about or saying about you.

Pam: So it should be all over the place in, in multiple forms. So meaning when I said, you know, it needs to get deeper, the specificity comes through the essays. Um, and so maybe in 150 characters in the activities list, you know, you don’t get a whole lot of room to go that deep, but maybe that’s where in your supplements you become strategic and you think, oh, I need to go deeper about this part of my brand because I didn’t really get to talk about it very much.

Pam: Um, so you’re thinking of, of your [01:00:00] entire application, like a portfolio that together should reveal this brand. 

Lydia: Yeah. I think that that’s a great way to capture it. Like what is the vibe that you want them to walk away with by the end of your application. 

Pam: Exactly. 

Lydia: Okay. Hopefully that’s, well, thank you so much, Pam, for an awesome presentation.

Lydia: Um, I think even though we didn’t get a chance to answer everyone’s questions, I think you did a great job. Uh, getting to a lot of them, and I appreciate all the insight that you were able to share with us tonight. 

Pam: Thank you for being an amazing host, Lydia. Goodnight, you guys. All right, goodnight. Have a great night.

Pam: Bye.