Brag Sheet
A brag sheet for the teacher or counselor writing your college recommendation: activities, awards, a story worth telling, plans and deadlines.
Details
brag sheetRed highlights mark what is still blank. Everything stays on this device.
| Name | [your name] |
| School | [school] |
| Class of | [year] |
| For | [who is writing your letter] |
Activities
| Activity | Role | Grades | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| [one activity per line — activity | role | grades | time] |
Three words that describe me
[three words]
A moment you could mention
[one specific story, with what happened as a result]
What I want to study, and why
[subjects and why they matter to you]
Where the letter goes
| College | Deadline | How it is sent |
|---|---|---|
| [one college per line — college | deadline | how it is sent] |
Thank you for writing on my behalf.
What is a Brag Sheet?
A brag sheet is a short document you give the teacher or counselor writing your college recommendation. It lists what they cannot see from class: your activities and roles, awards, jobs and service, what you want to study, a story worth telling and your deadlines. It turns a generic letter into a specific one. Without it, even a teacher who likes you ends up writing about your grades and good attitude, because that is all they have.
High school juniors and seniors in the US prepare one for their counselor and for the teachers writing their recommendations, often because the counseling office asks for it. Some schools call it a student questionnaire, an activity sheet or a resume for recommenders. Students applying for scholarships, honor societies, internships and summer programs use the same material, and some schools ask parents for a parent brag sheet too. Putting it together also helps you: it is a rehearsal for the activities section and essays on your applications.
Each school runs recommendations its own way. Many counseling offices issue their own brag sheet or questionnaire with an internal deadline and send letters through the Common App or another platform; if yours has a form, use it and attach extra detail. On the Common App you choose whether to waive your FERPA right to see your recommendation letters, and many counselors and colleges prefer the waiver, so ask your counselor before you decide. Outside the US, systems differ: in the UK your school writes one reference for your UCAS application, and many Canadian and Australian programs admit mainly on grades without letters.
A brag sheet is not your application, and it is not the resume you send to colleges, though you can adapt one into the other. It does not write the letter or tell the recommender what to say; they decide what to include and may leave things out. Nor is it the place to exaggerate: teachers can check, and a letter that repeats an inflated claim hurts you. Give facts and one good story, and let the writer do the praising.
What to put in a Brag Sheet
These are the details this template asks for. Anything left blank is marked in red on the preview so you can see what is still missing.
| Field | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| Your name | For example: Ava Martinez |
| School | For example: Lincoln High School |
| Class of | For example: 2027 |
| Written for | Your counselor or the teacher writing your letter |
| GPA and test scores optional | For example: GPA 3.8 (unweighted) |
| Activities | One per line: Activity | Role | Grades | Time |
| Honours and awards optional | One per line |
| Jobs and service optional | One per line |
| Three words that describe you | For example: curious, steady, funny |
| A moment the writer could mention | For example: In my junior year I rebuilt the debate team’s practice schedule after our coach left… |
| What you want to study and why | For example: Journalism or political science — I want to report on local government, because most of… |
| Where the letter goes | One per line: College | Deadline | How it is sent |
How to write a Brag Sheet
Start with who it is for
Put your name, school, graduation year and the name of the person it is written for at the top, with your GPA and any test scores you are sending. Tailor a copy for each writer: your chemistry teacher needs different stories from your English teacher, and your counselor needs the whole picture. Keep the tone plain; you are handing over facts, not selling yourself.
List activities with roles and time
For each activity, give your role, how long you have done it and roughly how many hours it takes a week, then what you actually did. ‘Robotics team, programming lead: rewrote the drive code and trained the new members’ tells a writer far more than ‘Robotics team member’. List honors and awards with the level — school, state or national — and the year you received them.
Include jobs, service and home responsibilities
Paid work, volunteering and responsibilities at home all count, and recommenders often do not know about them. Caring for younger siblings after school, working weekends at a grocery store or translating for your parents at appointments says something a club list cannot. Give the time involved and, in a sentence, what the work taught you or what changed because of it.
Give the writer one real story
Pick three words that describe you, then back one of them with a moment the writer saw or would believe: the afternoon you stayed to rebuild a failed experiment and found the error, or the group project you held together when a teammate dropped out. Say what happened and what the result was. One true story with a result gives the writer more to use than a page of adjectives.
State your plans and every deadline
Say what you want to study and why, in a few sentences, even if it may change. Then list each college, how the letter is submitted — through the Common App or another portal — and each deadline, earliest first. Hand it over several weeks before your first deadline with a thank-you, and ask your counselor about the FERPA waiver before you invite recommenders.
Common mistakes
- Handing over the brag sheet days before the deadline leaves the writer no time to do it well, and a rushed letter tends to be short and generic.
- Listing activities by title only — ‘Service club, member’ — gives the writer nothing they can turn into a sentence about you.
- Filling the sheet with adjectives like hardworking and passionate, with no story behind them, produces a letter that sounds like every other one the college reads.
- Leaving out the college list, how letters are submitted and the deadlines means a letter can arrive late or go to the wrong place, holding up your application.
- Exaggerating a role or award the teacher can check damages their trust, and a recommender who doubts one claim may soften the whole letter.
Frequently asked questions
What is a brag sheet?
A brag sheet is a summary you give the teacher or counselor writing your college recommendation. It lists what they cannot see from class — activities and roles, awards, work and service, your qualities, a specific story, what you want to study and your application deadlines — so their letter can be specific. Some schools call it a student questionnaire or a resume for recommenders, and many counseling offices have their own form.
What should I put on a brag sheet?
Your name, school, graduation year, GPA and any test scores you are sending; activities with your role and time commitment; honors and awards; jobs, volunteering and family responsibilities; three words that describe you; one specific moment the writer could mention; what you want to study and why; and the colleges, how letters are submitted and each deadline. Keep every entry factual and specific.
How long should a brag sheet be?
Long enough to cover the facts and short enough to read in one sitting; if your school gives you a form, the form sets the length. Recommenders often write many letters in the same few weeks, so put the most useful material first: your story, your main activities and the deadlines. Cut anything the writer cannot use, such as middle school awards, unless it connects to something you still do.
When should I give my teacher a brag sheet?
Several weeks before your first deadline, when you ask for the letter or soon after. Include the list of colleges, how letters are submitted (for example through the Common App) and each deadline. Teachers often write for many students at once, and those who ask early give them the most time. If your counseling office sets its own deadline, meet that one, and send a polite reminder closer to the date.
Is a brag sheet the same as a resume?
No, though they overlap. A resume is a formal summary for readers who do not know you, such as admissions offices or employers. A brag sheet is written for your recommender and adds what a resume leaves out: a story they could tell, the qualities you hope they will speak to, what you plan to study and your deadlines. You can attach an activity resume to your brag sheet.
This page explains general practice and is not legal advice. Requirements differ between countries and, in some cases, between states — check what applies where the document will be used.