29 Questions to Ask Yourself for Creating a Strong Student Profile

'Know Yourself' is the key to success and is applicable in all walks of your life. In order to present yourself before the admissions committee of your dream college, being aware of who you are as a person plays one of the most important roles. We have listed below 29 great questions to ask yourself for creating a strong student profile. Check them out, be honest with yourself, and figure out who you really are.

Just like you shortlist colleges and universities based on their ranking, study programs, and fees, universities also shortlist students based on their academic profile, achievements, and overall eligibility. They ask students to submit Statement of purpose, to understand their profile. This is another blog of our "How to Apply to Universities Abroad" series. In case, you missed it, do check out other blogs.

To write an impressive SOP, you need to understand a lot of about yourself. It is easy to say that I know myself the best, but chances are there are some aspects of your personality you may not realize. Here are some questions to help you understand unseen or unrealized sides of your personality. Your answers will help you figure out your application process.

Important Questions to Ask Yourself During Student Profiling

These questions are all about you. The answers will give you an insight into who you are, and there are no right or wrong answers. Ask yourself these questions to learn about yourself, and then consider what your answers tell others about you. The first half of the question set (Questions 1-17) are about your academic self. The second part (Questions 18-29) is about your out-of-class self. Answer these questions in as much detail as you can.

You will see that many of the questions ask "why", "describe" or "tell." The reason is to prod you to dig deeper. The deeper you make your answers, the deeper the understanding of who you are will be. Please note, this quiz will take some time to complete. So be sure to give yourself enough time to complete the quiz when you start.

1. What is your favourite thing about school/college? Why? (Classes, teachers, friends, homework, activities, learning, etc.)
2. What is your least favourite thing about school/college? Why? (Classes, teachers, friends, homework, activities, learning, etc.)
3. Name the subjects in which you earned the highest scores. Why did you do so well on these subjects? What do these subjects have in common?
4. Name the subjects in which you earned the lowest scores. Why did you do poorly on these subjects? What do these subjects have in common?
5. Pick one score (high or low) you are most proud of and explain why.
6. What do your responses to question 7 say about you as a student?
7. What kind of student would your teachers describe you as?
8. In class, do you prefer to work as part of a group or alone? Why?
9. When you work in a group, what duties do you usually perform?
10. Describe in detail how you learn (How quickly you learn, how much you study, what makes something stick in your mind etc.)
11. When you come across a difficult topic, what do you do to learn it?
12. Describe the environment in which you like to study (When, where, and how do you study)
13. What are your academic strengths? How did you discover them and how do you use them?
14. What are your academic weaknesses? Were you able to overcome them and how?
15. Describe your biggest academic achievement.
16. Describe your biggest academic failure.
17. Think about your typical day, beginning from when you finish classes to your weekend. What do you do in this time?
18. Name something you are passionate about. How do you pursue this passion?
19. Apart from studies, what do you do the best? Name some of your non-academic talents? How did you discover them? How do you use these talents?
20. Which groups or teams have you have been a part of outside of school/college? (Sports, activities, volunteering etc.)? What was your role in the team? Did you like or dislike being part of the team?
21. How would your best friends describe you? What do your friends rely on you for?
22. How would your family members describe you? What does your family rely on you for?
23. Think about when you are happy. What makes you happy? Describe one such recent experience.
24. Think about when you are unhappy. What makes you sad? What do you do when you have had a bad day?
25. What is one non-academic goal you have set for yourself? How did you reach this goal? If you have not reached this goal, how are you pursuing it?
26. What are your personal strengths? How did you discover them? How do you use them?
27. What are your personal weaknesses? How did you discover them? How have you addressed them?
28. What are the most important things in life, and why?
29. Select two most important motivating factors about studies -

• Getting good scores
• Love of learning
• Competing with classmates
• In-depth discussions about academic topics
• Impressing teachers
• Making parents happy
• Exploring new ideas
• I don’t need motivation, studies are easy