This article is a continuation of Portfolio Building for School Students - Part I
In the previous article, we looked at what portfolio building means for school students, why it is necessary, which colleges look at student portfolios, and how they look at them.
This article will now focus more on how to approach the process of portfolio building and what you should focus on.
When should I start?
Very simple. Start as early as possible.
What activities should I pick?
You should be open to a vast variety of fields and activities. School and college life is meant for exploration. Explore a wide variety of different things, and gauge for yourself what you find interesting and what you don’t.
Pick up activities both within and outside school. Within school, try to grab as many opportunities that are made available to you. Participate wherever possible. If you feel that the opportunities are inadequate, then you can also generate opportunities at school by directly approaching your teachers and school admin and suggesting ideas that the school can implement.
Outside school, there are a large number of activities that one can take up. For example, you can do volunteer work with an NGO, you can pick up a basic internship, you can join classes to pick up a new skill or to further hone existing skills. You can pursue sports more passionately etc.
I want to draw your attention to two key activities that can take you a long way:
Reading. Keep reading, as much as you can. Not just your syllabus but beyond that, in the form of books or articles or journals. Read both fiction and non-fiction.
Research. As a school student as well, you can pick up some basic research work. Identify a topic or area you are interested in and want to go deeper into. Approach a faculty member in the same field and ask them to guide you through the same. A common myth is that research is only for science and math subjects. You can in fact pick up research in any subject of your interest, be it social sciences, commerce, or subjects beyond your curriculum.
Should I focus on breadth or depth?
As you start to build your portfolio and engage in several activities, you begin to wonder, should I go more in-depth into a few select activities or should I pick up newer activities and build wider exposure.
The answer is, as expected, to find a balance between the two. What I will recommend is to pursue depth in at least one area and simultaneously pursue breadth. The reason for this is that breath is very important for a school student as you need to gain exposure and experience in a wide range of different activities, but at the same time, colleges look for students who have achieved something in at least one area, if not more.
Another point to keep in mind is, if you are weak in academics, then you can use these alternative activities that you have engaged in to compensate for your lack in academic performance, for colleges that don’t just look at your marks or judge you by entrance exams. Again, here, to properly compensate for depth in academic performance, you need to have depth (achievements) in some other field.
What should my mindset be?
The discussion in this and the previous article may instigate you to think about what else college admission bodies look for in students and to think more seriously towards building your portfolio.
I will advocate against picking activities just on the basis of “what will look good on my portfolio?”. It is very important to consider other factors such as your interests, your current exposure, and your personal development needs.
Caution for senior school students:
For students in classes 11th and 12th, in case you are targeting colleges that look at just your marks or your performance in an entrance examination (Type A colleges), then it is advisable to not spend too much time on building your portfolio and exploring other activities during your 11th and 12th. You can engage in these activities before and after your 11th and 12th. During these two years, especially during your 12th, focus more on your academics, either your syllabus or your preparation for the competitive exam.
Over the last two articles, we have understood what portfolio building means, why it is important, and how to go about the process. As you go about engaging in various activities, remember that it's not just to build your portfolio but more importantly to contribute to your personal development.
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