How to Create a Terrific Brag Sheet for the Best Recommendations

Last Updated on April 17, 2024 by Jill Schwitzgebel

Some of you may actually be asking, “What in the world is a “Brag Sheet?”  Meanwhile, others of you have students that have already received a blank brag sheet from their guidance counselor or even a teacher.  It may not be called a “brag sheet” – maybe it’s called a “Getting to Know You Survey”  or a “Recommendation Questionnaire.”  Sometimes, counselors even ask parents to complete a brag sheet about their kids.

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What Is a College Brag Sheet?

While a student resumé is about academics, the brag sheet is all about personality.  So, a brag sheet is a questionnaire or survey for college-bound students to complete to give a recommender a better idea of who they are beyond academics.  Public high school guidance counselors generally have a huge number of students on their caseload (500 is not uncommon).  Unfortunately, they may not have the time to really get to know all of their students.  Yet, at college application time, they are usually asked to write letters of recommendations about students they don’t really know. This is where a brag sheet can help them.

The more specific that a student or parent can be when completing a brag sheet, the more helpful it will be for that recommender.  It should ask for adjectives describing the student in various areas, as well as the student’s goals.   A good brag sheet also provides an opportunity to share anecdotes that demonstrate the student’s character traits.   And as the name suggests, the brag sheet is not the time for the student to be humble about their accomplishments!

Is a Brag Sheet Important?

Yes!  What you need to know is that brag sheets really are an opportunity. They are an opportunity for students to help shape the narrative that they would like their college application to convey.  The more specific that a recommender can be, the better their letter recommending that student will be – the more it will complete the narrative.

A transcript and test scores will tell a college the objective facts about a student.  The high school profile will perhaps tell them a bit more about the student in the context of the school.  But, the essay and the recommendations are what will really paint the picture of the student for them. When all other things are equal, colleges say that those two things make a difference.  This is why I recommend being really thoughtful about completing the brag sheet.  Use it to feed information to the recommender that will really enhance the student’s application.  That doesn’t mean to be dishonest!  It means to consider what details about the student can be filled in by that letter of recommendation.

There are certainly times that a brag sheet might not be strictly necessary.  In some high schools, particularly private ones, or small ones, it’s possible that counselors and teachers already know their students well. They may be able to provide personal anecdotes just from their own interactions with the student and so they don’t feel the need to ask for a questionnaire.  But, in those cases, I still strongly suggest that students talk with their recommender about what kinds of things they would like the recommender to cover.

What If a School Doesn’t Request Brag Sheets?

If your teen’s high school doesn’t routinely ask college-bound students to complete brag sheets, ask them if they have questionnaires – some schools don’t provide them to everyone unless asked.  If the answer is that they don’t have one, and their counselors don’t know them well, I really recommend that students make their own.  (Need help with this?  Contact me!) Then, submit it to the person the student is asking for a recommendation.

Sometimes, the reason that students and/or parents are not asked to complete one is simply because school personnel do not have a lot of experience with writing college recommendations.  That can make it all the more important for them to have one as a reference while they are writing!  Letters of recommendation from counselors and teachers are often an important piece of the application packet.  Some colleges, like MIT, even provide guidance about what they like to see in a recommendation.  So, don’t just cross your fingers and leave it to chance.