What is a Brag Sheet?

A brag sheet is as literal as it can get, it is a sheet where you ‘brag’ about all your achievements - academic, and extracurricular. It can be semantic with a resume, holding accounts of your academic and extracurricular accomplishments, stand-out skills, community service, and more. In layman language, a brag sheet is the quintessential dias to ‘gloat’ on your life achievements. 

Even though a letter of recommendation only holds 10% of the court, it is a depending criterion for admission. Your letter of recommendation is your additional armor against college admission. It is integral for your attributes ( the striking ones) to find a place in your recommender’s letter. Since you have little to no control over your recommendation letter, it is wise to submit a list of your ‘brag-worthy’ accolades(in all fields) to your recommender. 

Dive in to learn all about a brag sheet, and how to flaunt your attributes. 

Brag sheet: A bird’s eye view

While penning your recommendation letter, your recommender must incorporate all your distinctive accomplishments as a student, and otherwise. It is essential for this letter to be loaded with details of your laurels in order for it to stand out in the ocean of recommendation letters (received as a part of college applications). For this very reason, the concept of the brag sheet was conceived. Serving as a referring aid to both the recommender and the ‘recommendee’, the brag sheet entails the academic and extracurricular achievements of a student, his/her striking intrapersonal and intrapersonal skills, involvement in community, clubs, or any other volunteer activities. 

Brag sheet: The purpose 

Admittance in your dream school is highly governed by a plethora of factors. Out of these, your worth scales as high-priority for the admission panel. But when you receive ginormous paperwork for evaluating college applications, you seek the most noticeable, unique, and ‘worthy’ applicant. 

A letter of recommendation for scholarship or college application is your refuge. Though elusive, and entirely factored on your recommender, you may serve your part by helping him/her not render helpless while writing on you. This is extremely beneficial when it comes to school advisors or counselors. With a large number of recommendation letter requests by students, they may find it a tasking affair to research, and write on every student. This may hinder their chances of a champion letter of recommendation. 

Enter brag sheets, the crusader of all ‘problems’ recommendation letter. Recommenders have to no longer invest monumental effort to get hold of the student’s achievements, the letter does not hold thin content, and the student has to worry less about what is present in the letter of recommendation. 

What should a good brag sheet consist of?

Though popularly coined as a ‘student resume’, a brag sheet is seldom synonymous with a typical curriculum vitae. However, you can draw an analogy between the aforementioned entities. They are similar in some ways and different in many. Apart from being extremely comprehensive, it may help to align the content in chronological order, to demonstrate the timeline. Some prefer to formulate a descending list, with the most illustrious triumph on the top. The latter predominantly assists while proof-reading, however, chronological order of events may suffice for a good brag sheet as well. A second recommendation on your brag sheet is to be detailed (without being too wordy, because time is money), yet to the point. Refrain from talking in riddles or beating around the bush. 

You may include the following as a part of your brag shit, 

• Personal, and school details 

• It is important to mention your name, contact number, year of graduation, and related information in your brag sheet.

• Academic achievement 

• This should include your grade points starting from your freshman year in high school. Test scores for SAT, ACT, and PSA/NMSQT must be consolidated in the sheet. Additional academic accomplishments (industrial training, summer camps, competitive exams) may illuminate your worth. 

• Extracurricular achievement 

• Achievements in the field of sports, fine art, music, dance, cheerleading, the theater must be mentioned in the brag sheet. 

• Community service 

• Engagement in clubs, and societies 

• Volunteer work 

• Stand out skills (interpersonal, and intrapersonal)

• Academic goals 

• Dream/applied schools 

• Supplementary insights 

Is there a standard format for a brag sheet?

There is no standard format for a brag sheet. It is an open-ended yet professional venture. There are typical templates on the internet that you may wish to utilize. However, it is highly recommended to improvise and bring forth your personal template. 

When should I prepare the brag sheet? 

Time and tide wait for none. Your preparation for your brag sheet should commence as early as possible. You may develop a journal to keep a track of old activities, and the launch of new ones. All your high school transcripts, scorecards, test results need to be preserved and marked down on your journal or binder. 

The requests for recommendation letters flow from the early months of the junior year. A spring request can be quite beneficial so as to beat the traffic in the incoming months. Your brag sheet must be ready to be at your disposal well before your letter of recommendation request. Early submission of your brag sheet is directly proportional to an early letter of recommendation, primarily because your recommender needs to invest little effort in deciding what to include in his letter. It is a win-win situation for both parties. 

Your brag sheet holds more importance than you think. You ought to not compromise on the content or standard of your sheet. Not only does it constitute supporting evidence of your worth, but it also demonstrates your exemplary work ethic in the eyes of the recommender. Bonus points on your way!

Top tips to write a champion brag sheet 

For a champion recommendation letter, you need a champion brag sheet. The key to a good brag sheet is to definitely ‘brag’ about your accomplishments but in a professional fashion. 

A strong letter of recommendation requires concrete evidence on the worth of the student. We can agree that the chosen recommender would be a correct judge of the character, and pen down an outstanding letter. However, on the grounds of intelligible projection of the student’s credibilities, a supplementary material (prepared by the student) describing all aspects of achievements is to be put forward for reference. This saves time and energy, and the recommender has additional time to focus on his creative methodologies for a stand-out letter. Below are the top tips for writing a promising bag sheet - 

• The sheet must contain only the stand out achievements of the student.

• You must not be too exhaustive on the word count. A maximum of 200 words (or less) is sufficient content for the brag sheet

• The brag sheet must be neat and tidy, and invoke professionalism. 

• A comprehensive brag sheet is favored

• It is advisable to include the achievements in chronological order, with an accurate indication of the timeline

• You may adhere to dividing your achievements into categories (academics, extracurricular, community work, and more)

• The usage of headers, and bullet points aid increase the readability of the material

• Make hay while the sun shines. Refrain from preparing or submitting your brag sheet near to the or on the deadline 

Conclusion

You may wish to leverage a template brag sheet for your recommender. However, nothing beats a self-instituted sheet, primarily because it is personal. No one really can comprehend what works for you. What might sail my boat, might sink yours. A strong brag sheet births a strong letter of recommendation. Timely submission of your sheet largely factors in the quality of your recommendation letter. We are hopeful that our word of advice will help you write an exceptional brag sheet, submit it in time, and procure a stellar letter of recommendation.  

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