What’s the best way to make sure that you stand out from the crowd? It’s by having a stellar profile. But what’s the difference between just a good profile and an amazing profile that can help you grip the attention of the admission committee or an employer? Let’s take a look.

A good profile and an excellent profile have many subtle differences.  Creating a stellar student profile requires going beyond just listing academic achievements and extracurricular activities. Here are some key differences between a good profile and a truly stellar one:

A Good Profile:

- Lists grades, test scores, and courses taken

- Outlines extracurricular activities like clubs, sports, and volunteering

- Provides basic details about accomplishments and roles

A Stellar Profile:

- Highlights a clear passion, talent or area of deep interest through specific examples and anecdotes

- Demonstrates intellectual curiosity, critical thinking and a love of learning

- Shows initiative, leadership and impact made through activities and projects

- Reveals well-rounded personal qualities like creativity, resilience, and empathy

- Paints a vivid picture of the student as a unique individual through powerful storytelling

- Articulates specific goals and how experiences have shaped their aspirations

A good profile simply checks the boxes, while a stellar one uses vivid examples to showcase the student's authentic voice, values, and journey of growth. It doesn't just list what he has done, but why it matters and how he has developed meaningful skills. A stellar profile makes admissions officers say, "I'd love to have this student in our community." It leaves a lasting, multi-dimensional impression.

But you may be wondering, Why is profile building even important?

Profile building is important for several key reasons:

1. College Admissions

A well-crafted profile can make a student's application stand out in the highly competitive college admissions process. It helps admission officers get a holistic understanding of the student beyond just grades and test scores.

2. Scholarship Opportunities

Many scholarships require students to submit profiles or resumes highlighting their accomplishments, activities, and goals. A strong profile increases the chances of earning financial aid.

3. Career Preparation

Creating a compelling profile helps students identify their strengths, interests and experiences - valuable preparation for applying to internships, jobs and further educational opportunities.

4. Personal Branding

In today's digital age, a polished online profile acts as a personal brand that can open doors and create positive impressions with potential mentors, employers, and so on.

5. Self-Reflection

The process of profile building encourages students to thoughtfully evaluate their journeys, discoveries and aspirations - promoting greater self-awareness.

6. Differentiation  

An impressive, unique profile helps students differentiate themselves and showcase what makes them remarkable candidates compared to others with similar academics.

By dedicating time to crafting an impactful profile, students gain a competitive advantage, become proactive about their futures, and learn to articulate their value proposition effectively. It's an important investment in their personal/professional development. 

Lesli’s profile-building services lead to eventually crafting a compelling resume that introduces you to the admission committee or employer. Therefore your stellar profile translated into a brilliant resume brings guaranteed results! Just look at Neeharika’s testimonial. 

“I wanted to share that I had applied for Deloitte USI through college and I got placed there. Thank you so much for helping me with building my resume and guiding me,”  

She bagged a full time job at Deloitte in her final year of college placements with the resume that our mentors at Lesli helped her build! The profile building exercise for her, an undergrad college student involved: 

1. Ensuring that LinkedIn profile highlighted noteworthy qualifications and certifications

2. Training for job search through LinkedIn by use of keywords 

3. Tailoring each application to meet prospective company requirements

4. Preparing for the job interview 

In the next article, we will share our secrets as to how our profile building exercise at Lesli gives a boost to your career! Stay tuned for part 2!

Mental health, already a matter of grave concern for the global society became a critical concern with the Covid 19 pandemic, as that led to sudden spurt in number of people requiring mental health related support. Given the existing acute shortage of skilled mental health professionals, the waiting period to meet a Counsellor reached an unreasonable high of 6-8 months in a country like the US. However, as ‘online mode’ became the default mode for providing every service, clients began seeking help of skilled professionals across the globe. For example, many clients especially belonging to the Indian diaspora in the US reached out to Counsellors in India. 

That to my mind is a big ‘change’ that began globalization of the market for Counselling services – hitherto considered unacceptable. Driven by cutting edge research, universities abroad offer study options in psychology benchmarked to such global standards. While many countries in Europe and elsewhere can boast of having such universities offering excellent educational programs, given their sheer number, the US or the UK naturally becomes the top study destinations for most foreign students. 

The first step of preparation towards applying to study abroad begins with building a suitable student profile. For graduate studies, apart from good academic performance, there should be evidence of individual research activities undertaken, roles played in community service and leadership. These should find a place in your resume. Hence it is recommended that a student begins his/her preparation for studies abroad as early as possible but not later than the second year of the bachelor’s program. While the GRE score may not be insisted upon by most universities, a good GRE score obviously adds significant weightage to your graduate application. 

As an applicant for a masters’ program, it is expected that the student is aware of his/her specialization of choice – such as Counselling, Clinical, Developmental Psychology and future career plans. While some of the programs offers a lot of flexibility in deciding the area of specialization even after joining the program, many others do not offer such features. Having decided the area of specialization, one will finally choose the specific program and university that best suits the candidate’s profile and aspiration. 

While it is not feasible to curate a specific university list that meets everyone’s requirement, a demonstrative list of some top universities in the UK would include UCL, Manchester and Kings College and those in the US would be Rochester, NYU and Columbia.  

As a critical part of the application process, students should pay adequate attention in preparing the two important documents, the Letters of Recommendation and Statement of Purpose. The applications are evaluated over 2-3 rounds spanning 2-3 months. While the first round for US universities commences in October of the year prior, that for  UK universities commences around November. However, as a rule, students should apply as early as possible. That improves their chances of not only admission to the university of choice but also scholarships and other forms of financial aid. 

Having completed the master’s degree, starting the professional journey requires you to be licensed by the regulatory authority of the specific country. While different for each country, the requirement typically will include minimum hours of supervised practice and passing a qualifying examination.

Santanu Choudhury, Founder Director of Lesli India Education (P) Ltd., and an alum of IIT Kharagpur and IIM Ahmedabad.

This article featured in “Uncommon Sense 2023-24” annual magazine of St. Xaviers College, Mumbai, Department of Psychology.

I have often been called technologically challenged by my technologically competent kids but I love being one. Hear me out……

In times when Netflix gives me suggestions on what I should be seeing, Apple Music plays its own playlist, assuming very conveniently that I am in a mood to listen to some hip-hop or jazz without even knowing that I no longer fall in that category of music lovers, I really want to be technologically challenged.

I no longer need to remember numbers or even names. I am told that ChatGPT can even write Essays for me, make presentations and so on. 

My love for reading has been stolen by Kindle, do not misunderstand me. Yes, it saves space and so much content is available in my palm but I love the smell of pages,the sound of turning pages, writing my name on the first and last page so that no one takes my book away. Ah! the simple joy of holding a book!!

Bear with me a little more….

Uber and YouTube have made us parents unnecessary. The panic call for pick up when a taxi is not available or a teary call to mom to know “Why my curry does not taste like yours” are all conversations of an era bygone. YouTube does all that and better, no judgements, no criticism, no scolding. It’s just them and some random person on a screen.

I was still getting over the idea of some person who knows nothing about me advising me on where to go, what to wear, how to talk, and here comes another challenge. This one has no face, no place, and not even Real; it is Artifical Intelligence. The name itself brings contradiction to my simple layman mind- Artifical yet Intelligent and here I am Human yet challenged….

The irony in which we live!!

Before anyone comes to any unfounded conclusions, I struggle, I learn each day but I do try to keep pace with the rapidly changing world even though I feel that I should be able  to write what comes to my mind, not what someone else is suggesting, not what ChatGPT says. I may just be in the mood to listen to some slow numbers or some instrumental music with a cup of hot coffee today, particularly because my mood is not the same as yesterday and will not be the same tomorrow.

It’s all supposed to make our lives simpler, easier but is it? We eat supplements to compensate for what is available free outside, we travel by cars and run on treadmills, our calendar reminds us of birthdays and meetings and we say that more people are suffering from dementia. The simple joy of baking a cake which got burnt, or too much salt in a dish, the joy of totally ruining it and then trying and trying till we get there. 

I wonder, are we becoming technologically- abled or challenged?

Do we have free time or are we becoming enslaved in an AI generated world?

Are we the liberated ones or are we being fed information by what has already been fed  by someone?

My art may not be perfect, but it is mine, not some AI generated masterpiece.

My creation is what will give me satisfaction, a feeling of achievement.

If all art pieces or writing have been done by AI, how do you decide a Best Seller or a Masterpiece?

What makes us Human is our uniqueness, our differences, our originality; we have not been made in a lab. Our differences are what set us apart or else we will soon be a crowd with no direction.

Imperfection is good. It will make you strive for something better and unusual.

I do not want to be perfect; I want to fail and learn again, get lost to be found again. I do not want to live someone else’s suggested life. I want to continue to be technologically challenged because…

I AM ME and YOU ARE YOU!!!