The high school and college years are some of the busiest and often most uncertain times of a young adult’s life. The days are so jam-packed with studying, working, and planning for the future that you’ve probably found yourself delegating some of the most important tasks and assignments on your plate.
Fortunately, in our technology-driven world, delegating work is much easier than it used to be. You can even find online sites to buy thesis as per your particular area of study; if you’re buying a thesis paper, essay, or analysis notes, you’re likely feeling overwhelmed by all the responsibilities and expectations you’re carrying on your shoulders.
The best way to free yourself of such burdens is to build a strong foundation for your future. Making a college portfolio is one of the first steps you can take in the right direction.
What is a College Portfolio?
With much of the world opting to take a remote approach to work and learning these days, there’s tons of competition out there for jobs and college admissions. Whether you’re trying to get into an ivy league school or land a remote job as a copywriter, the people in charge of vetting you are likely to dissect every detail of your portfolio and body of work. They’ll check your background, check your references, check plagiarism, and check every other minute detail they can to ensure that you’re authentic and driven. A college portfolio can help you make an excellent first impression.
A college portfolio is a collection of written work and other documentation that exhibits a student’s accomplishments, interests, talents, values, and goals. It can include items such as a resume, well-written research papers, school projects, awards, certifications, and other achievements.
High school and college students can create a college portfolio to showcase their skills, education, experience, qualifications, and other essential details that will help them prove they’re ideal candidates for the school or job they’re applying to. An online portfolio allows students to keep their academic and other achievements organized and easily accessible in one shareable location.
What to Include in Your Portfolio
Deciding what to include in your portfolio can take time and effort. Focus on showcasing examples that will help you stand out from your competition and are relevant to the program or position you’re applying for. Here’s a general list of essential items to include:
- Resume
- Short photo or video essay covering clubs, activities, and personal interests
- Goals/purpose statement
- Published essays, articles, research papers, or opinion pieces
- Explanation of leadership roles or community service
- Creative work, such as poetry, stories, paintings, and musical performances
- Copies of scholarships, awards, and honors
- Statistics about athletic achievements
- References/letters of recommendation
- Insights and experience gained through jobs, internships, extracurricular activities, or family life
Always include a statement of originality somewhere in your portfolio. This is a simple paragraph stating that the work you’re presenting is your original work and is confidential. This statement can also indicate whether any parts may be copied. Many students also include examples of their involvement in sustainable activities on campus, showcasing their efforts to promote environmental awareness and eco-friendly practices.
Why Use WordPress to Create an Online Portfolio?
WordPress is a content management system (CMS) with a user-friendly design that allows anyone to create a website with no coding experience or technical ability required. For seven years in a row, it received the title of “most popular CMS”. And according to recent statistics, over 455 million websites have been made using WordPress, and over 500 new ones were created daily using WordPress in 2021.
As with any service, there are pros and cons of using WordPress, but here we’re going to focus on the top eight reasons why so many people choose to use WordPress to create their websites and online portfolios:
- Adaptable design that allows you to make different types of websites
- Free, open-source software
- Supports several media types
- Easy to learn and use
- A huge support community
- Gives users complete control of their sites
- Best blogging and SEO in the industry
- Easy to scale up and expand with themes and plugins
If you’re ready to create your college portfolio and want to try WordPress, read on to learn how to use it.
How to Make a College Portfolio Using WordPress
Fortunately, building an online portfolio with WordPress is easy. Here’s how to get started.
- First, create a WordPress account for free and choose whether you’d like to upgrade later.
- Next, activate the portfolio feature. Some of the predesigned themes will already have this feature activated. If the theme you want to use doesn’t have it, you can activate portfolio projects in the writing setting.
- Once you activate the portfolio feature, set the number of portfolio projects you want to display per page. Make sure you include at least part of it on the home page.
- Now, find the function under the portfolio to ‘Add New.’ You’ll see a blank page where you can type out all the information relevant to that particular portfolio project. There are easy places to include descriptions, tags, and images. You can add as many portfolio projects as you’d like to display.
- Next, head to Portfolio > Add New. This will bring up a blank page where you can enter all the information for your portfolio project, including images, tags, and descriptions.
- You can also add a portfolio gallery block to a page by typing in the gallery name, selecting it, and replacing the images with whatever ones you want to use.
- Once you’re done creating your project pages, you can add a dedicated one to your website. Simply go to Pages > Add New > Choose a page from the Portfolio category.
- Finally, you can customize it to display your content in any way you’d like. You can even set one of your portfolio project pages as your website’s homepage by navigating to Pages > All Pages > click on the three dots next to the title of the page you want to use > select ‘Set as Homepage.’
Additional Tips
Once your portfolio has been created, remember that it’s not meant to be static. You should revisit it often to add updates and enhance the information on display. Aim to update it at least every three months to ensure your latest achievements are highlighted, and the appropriate audience for your goals is targeted.
Use the information in this guide as general information, keeping in mind that everyone’s portfolio is and should be totally unique. If there’s something in your life that you feel is critical to highlight but doesn’t fit into the items mentioned above, follow your instincts, be creative, and add it. The most important thing is to ensure that the information you present delivers the best representation of you.
Here are a few final tips to keep in mind:
- Keep it short and simple, remembering that no one will read every little detail. Ensure that it’s created in a manner that can be perused quickly.
- Focus on organization, as a well-organized portfolio is easy to scan, navigate, and absorb.
- Keep tabs on all your reports, achievements, goals, and other information that could be relevant to your portfolio so that it’s easy to update when necessary.
Building a college portfolio with WordPress can be easy and fun if you stay focused on what you want to express and showcase. Be creative, be unique, and use WordPress to build a portfolio that screams “you.”
