Top Tips to Build a Strong Profile For Your Dream School

Figure Out Your Unique Selling Point

Many of the applicants can have a better academic record than you. You need to figure out your unique selling point and highlight it in front of the university admission committee. Consequently, begin by jotting down your strengths. Quote instances or cite examples that perfectly substantiate your academic and professional life. You need to give importance to forces that will help you succeed in the program you wish to pursue.

One way you can validate your strengths is through a certification program. You need to categorize your strength into professional, academic, technical or communication prowess. Thus, you need to identify your USP to help you gain a competitive edge over other applicants in the same domain.

Work on Your Resume

The University Committee has to go through thousands of applications and select suitable candidates for a particular program. Create a powerful resume that highlights your strengths and weaknesses. At the same time, this will also help build up a strong student profile for your admissions.

The resume should provide more relevant information than what is included in your university application. The summary should enhance your application and provide you with another opportunity to let universities evaluate your candidature better.

Go for short sentences and be extra careful with the grammar. Your resume should give you a clear idea of academic achievements. Your resume should be able to cover topics like -

Academic Achievements -

• Work Experience (if any)
• Extracurricular Activities
• Research Publications
• Certifications
• Community Services, and other relevant details.

Make your Statement of Purpose Engaging!

Your SOP allows you to showcase your passion, skills, unique attributes and interest in the specialization you wish to pursue. As a result, it would be best if you focused entirely on explaining the program's purpose you aim to opt for. The SOP should include a brief introduction of yourself, your academic background, career goals and the factor that led you to pursue this program.

Talk about what made you choose the particular program from that specific university. The paragraph requires immense research on the program, the faculty and the curriculum that make the university your preferred choice. It would be best if you also talked about how you can add value to the university and how you hope to be an asset after completing the program.

Recommendation - It is always advised to take the help of SOP experts and counsellors to increase your chances of admission. Suppose you find working on specific points in your SOP challenging or have a tough time choosing the right school. In that case, the SOP experts and experienced counsellors at Azent always help you increase your admission chances.

A letter of Recommendation is Equally Important!

It would be best to refer to the strengths you have jotted down in your USP list and look for people who can recommend your candidature based on your skills.

A LOR is based on skills like an - 

-- Excellent Academic Record

-- Workplace Achievements

--Creativity

-- Motivation

-- Communication Skills

-- Integrity and other relevant skills.

You must take the help of professors to write a letter of recommendation as they are the people who genuinely qualify to assess your performance and also vouch for your academic credentials.

Pro Tip - A master's degree requires a student to submit three types of LORs – one professional and two academic letters of recommendation. This would help the university admission committee better evaluate your academic and professional capabilities.

Connect With the University Alumni

Connecting with university alums who can systematically help you prepare for higher studies would be best. Valuable alum insights will help you know what the admission committee usually looks for. You can strengthen specific areas in your profile to increase your chances of admission.

Search the university page on Linkedin and look for the career insights page on the school page. Next, look for the top companies where the alums are working and try to connect to as many numbers of alum members as possible.

You can make use of blurbs to communicate with them. One such blurb example is –

"Hey, Tony! You are an alumnus of my dream school – Monash University – and I sincerely hope to get some valuable insights from you. What does the university admission committee usually look for in an ideal candidate? How did you secure admission? What should I work on to strengthen my chances of admission? Any professor whom I should connect with? Please help me out .. cheers!"

Connecting with the alma mater in this manner would help you reach out to them quickly and get to know the areas you need to work on. Most of the students take the help of alums to learn a bit more about the university, the program curriculum and other attributes that are unique to that particular school.

Reach Out to the Professors of Your Dream School!

Connecting with your dream school professors to strengthen your admission chances is essential. Visit the website of the school you want to apply to. Once you find the target major, you need to look for the faculty and connect with professors from your research area through emails.

This will help you get acquainted with the research in your domain and introduce yourself to the professors by connecting with them over email.

One example of such an email is as follows-

"Dear Dr Faruque,

I figured out that your research interest includes the Internet of Things, which is also my area of interest. Hence, I am contacting you for quick feedback on the same.

In my project, I used Raspberry Pi 3 to create a home automation system to connect home appliances such as your Smart TV. I was able to communicate with a TCP/IP-based network successfully. However, I faced a challenge keeping connective alive so I could ping the appliance's status. You might have met such an issue while you worked on it. What is the best suitable network protocol that you would recommend? Any pointers would be helpful.

By the way, I am also thinking of applying to Monash University to pursue my interest in the IoT space. I will keep you posted on my progress.

Regards, Laila"

This kind of email will always help you to interact with professors personally and thus increase your chances of admission to the university.

Relatable Work Experience in Reputed Organization Matters!

It is a plus point for your student profile if you have worked with a company or done an internship related to the program you wish to pursue. This would help the university committee members understand that you have always been academically successful and have bagged a job in the same domain. Your work experience gives a clear idea that you have hands-on experience in the field you wish to study further.

Work Towards Building a Well-rounded Personality

Universities do believe in taking students who have a holistic and well-rounded personality. If you are one of those individuals with an impressive academic record and professional experience, it is time you need to shape up towards developing an all-rounder personality. You can be a sports enthusiast, possess entrepreneurship skills or may join a social cause. Do not forget to highlight all these in your student profile.

You can always build your leadership skills and create a strong student profile by organizing events, cultural festivals, and technical fests at your college or workplace. Leading a group of team members to work together for the success of such events, arranging sponsorship and successfully conducting such events promptly will always give you an unparalleled opportunity to discover various characteristics of a leader.

Recommendation - You can go for some social services such as organizing blood donation camps, teaching underprivileged children, or helping with day-to-day activities at a nursing home. You can also join civic initiatives such as cleaning a lake, spreading awareness about healthy living, or raising funds for some social cause.

Diversify Your Profile

Apart from the technical skills you have acquired, if you have learned any other new skills through certification courses or have any experience that can add value to your student profile, then you need to mention it.

For example - suppose you have volunteered for any particular project or participated in any conferences or competitions. In that case, you must highlight these points to bring them to the notice of the university admission committee. This is where your unique attributes will add more value to your profile, thereby increasing your chances of admission.

Publish your Research Work

Published research work undoubtedly adds value to your student profile in terms of research skills and also speaks volumes about your academic interests. A good publishing record is always a prominent indicator that you will be an asset to the research community at that university.

So, if you have written any research paper at your graduate school, you should mention it in your student profile to highlight your research skills. This will help you gain an edge over other applicants applying to the same university program.

Opt for Online Courses to Strengthen Your Profile

Online courses in a similar domain as your area of interest will help you gain insight into the field you wish to pursue. This would also add credibility to your claim for having an interest in that study area. If you want to stand out amongst the thousands of applications for one particular program, an online course in the same area of interest will boost your profile significantly.

Pro Tip - Sites like coursera.org or udemy.com are some of the most reliable websites for an online course from a university of your choice. An online system will strengthen your profile and help you gain a competitive edge over others in your domain.

Following the above-written points will always help you create a solid and unique profile that the university admission committee will review positively. Building a strong and unique profile requires hard work, time and commitment.

Suppose you want to secure admission at your chosen university. In that case, you must immediately plan meticulously and start working towards your student profile in advance to create a good shape and maximize your chances of securing admission.