My son is interested in going into engineering, and it seems that many schools are asking for an engineering/maker’s portfolio now.
What are the best projects for him to complete? any recommendations on how to create a portfolio online?
My son is interested in going into engineering, and it seems that many schools are asking for an engineering/maker’s portfolio now.
What are the best projects for him to complete? any recommendations on how to create a portfolio online?
What schools?
I ask because I unaware of any school where this is a piece of their admission process, let alone a critical one.
The easiest thing is to make a simple website in Wix. My son did that for his undergraduate/masters portfolio. Certainly not for high school though. Other than math and physics, he had no engineering experience. Very few students entering engineering do.
My S23 had some unique and technical engineering-related ECs. He created a maker portfolio that involved a slide deck with some photos and a video. He was able to submit those as additional application materials to most of the private schools to which he applied (he first emailed the admissions officers to ask). The UCs and other public flagships did not accept additional application materials. Tufts includes a maker portfolio as part of the application materials for engineering (I think MIT does as well) - it is optional for Tufts (check the Tufts engineering admissions page for examples). Most of the schools accepting his maker portfolio sent my son a portal link to upload it.
Seconding the information @SailAway123 presents here.
My kid applied to schools last year - the majority for engineering, a few others as well. Some private schools had options to upload portfolios. MIT had options for research, music/theater arts, visual arts and makers - through SlideRoom.
My kid made things by hand and the efforts suited both visual arts and maker portfolios. IMHO anything that a kid is working on can be fair game.
I don’t know what year your kid is in, but portfolios should include anything impressive, with the latest possible work. Focus on projects that your kid had a large hand in or did themselves. Also include anything in group work that is impressive or won prizes - with information on what role your kid had in that project. If there is a limited number of slides you can present, it is okay to focus on a fewer number of projects, with close-ups of important details in the work presented.
The best projects are ones that your kid is interested in. Authentic interest builds true passion. And enthusiasm is a great foundation to a career that makes a true impact.
In the end, my kid was fortunate enough to have some very strong acceptances and ended up at a great school with merit. In this case, it is possible that submitting work showed how well-rounded an academically-serious candidate was.
Adding here: not all the projects my kid submitted won international competitions or anything like that (my kid was a high-level athlete, though).
The projects did demonstrate technical mastery in art and craft, from years of practice.
The key is showing true interest, problem-solving skills, a unique point of view. It should be a personal look into the creative thought process of the applicant.
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