Not cm related - portfolios

[bernesewalking]

My 17 year old daughter has an interview for nurse training soon, we are not sure if she will gain enough ucas points from her A levels so we thought we need to make her application stand out so we thought we would organise a portfolio of her work, she has been a voluntary care assistant in a retirement home she is also a Sunday cleaner there so interacts with the elderly often, she is a St. John's ambulance cadet and has won many awards, she is a carer at school for her disabled friend, she has orgainised charity events through school, volunteered through school at nurserys, helped out at centres for adults with learning difficulties and the list goes on, she is also my registered assistant as I am a childminder, she has the most caring personality and will help / talk to anyone even if it's just to put a smile on their faces, now our problem is how do we set up a portfolio? Do we included photos of her receiving awards? We feel we need to make it simple as she only has 10 mins but it needs to stand out, she does get nervous in these situations and we are afraid to will just clam up, if anyone can help we would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance. X

[hectors house]

I would put everything that really sells your daughter's caring and friendly personality at the front of the portfolio just incase they don't have time to read more than a few pages.

I would also practice interview techniques with her and maybe ask family friends if they could conduct some mock interviews with her and hopefully then she will be more relaxed and can convince the interview panel - I remember when I had my interview for Uni as a mature student I practiced my speech over and over again to everyone who would listen and even those who didn't want to ie; the cat! Tell her to hesitate before answering the question to make sure she phrases her answers correctly in her head first and to ask the panel to rephrase a question if she doesn't understand what they want.

Hope everything goes well for her - I remember that I could only eat a marmite sandwich before I went - I needed basic, comfort food and something that would stay down with all the butterflies in my tummy.

[LG2014]

She sounds ideal candidate!

I say if she can get references of her tutors at St John Ambulance, her voluntary work that would really be fantastic!

But she sounds a really caring 17 year old so I sure she will come across absolutely fine! You must be so proud! xx

[bernesewalking]

Thanks for your help and kind words we have just finished it, so fingers crossed for her interview,

[rickysmiths]

My 17 year old daughter has an interview for nurse training soon, we are not sure if she will gain enough ucas points from her A levels so we thought we need to make her application stand out so we thought we would organise a portfolio of her work, she has been a voluntary care assistant in a retirement home she is also a Sunday cleaner there so interacts with the elderly often, she is a St. John's ambulance cadet and has won many awards, she is a carer at school for her disabled friend, she has orgainised charity events through school, volunteered through school at nurserys, helped out at centres for adults with learning difficulties and the list goes on, she is also my registered assistant as I am a childminder, she has the most caring personality and will help / talk to anyone even if it's just to put a smile on their faces, now our problem is how do we set up a portfolio? Do we included photos of her receiving awards? We feel we need to make it simple as she only has 10 mins but it needs to stand out, she does get nervous in these situations and we are afraid to will just clam up, if anyone can help we would really appreciate it. Thanks in advance. X

My daughter is in the process of applying for university as a 21 year old. She did a year in Uni when she left school and didn't like the course so she left and has been working with Design Engineer ever since and this is the degree she is applying for at Brunel University in Uxbridge. She has the right A Levels but not at high enough grades so she has to attend a 10 min interview and present a Portfolio. Her Interview is in 2 weeks.

She has been told her Portfolio should be no more than 6 pages plus the cover page these are A3 size. They don't have time to go through any more. Has she been asked

I would have though if your daughter knows she will have to attend an interview and present a Portfolio she should be given advise and practical help by her school in producing it. The Universities she wants to apply to should advise on what they want to see in terms of size and content. I would contact the admissions departments of the Universities by phone and see if they can advise you.

Has she been asked to take a portfolio with her? if she hasn't then to be honest I wouldn't do one. My daughter's has taken 3 months to do.

To stand out the best thing your daughter can do is prepare very well for her interview, write down what she wants to tell them and practice it. What will she say if they ask her why she wants to do Nursing? If they ask why she thinks she won't get high enough grade A Levels? Will she be able to cope with the work at Uni if she can't get the high grade A Levels? What would she do if she didn't get into Nursing? Have you a friend who could put her through a mock interview so she gets some practice? Do school not do this I know my children's school did and they all had to go in dressed appropriately for an interview. If she thinks she may get stuck then at most may be have a small prompt card with bullet points on. 10 mins is not very long and they will be most impressed I would have thought if she ia well prepared, does not get flustered and can answer her questions well. Preparation, Preparation, Preparation is the key.

Good Luck.

[vickylou]

My daughter had an interview at Salford University last month for photography. She took her portfolio with her, but hers was on a disc with her photographs and videos on. She was very upset when she came out as she said the interviewer just skimmed through them and she felt that she didn't give them a second glance. Her interview was less than 10 minutes so no time for the tutor to look closely. I think unless she has been requested to take a relevant portfolio evidencing any work, they probably won't even look at it. My daughter felt her interview went really badly, also not very good at interviews, she felt that she belittled her and her work. So she was amazed to receive an unconditional offer last week! I think the interviewer deliberately gave a hard interview so she could see how the students react!