Here’s What We’re Looking For: Royal Cup Portfolio Breakdown
Royal Cup is now just over two months away, and if you’re planning on attending or even considering attending, it’s time to get serious about your portfolio submission. In order to be qualified to submit a portfolio, you must have achieved ONE of the following criteria: 3.5 GPA, 1130 SAT, 23 ACT, or top 15% of your class.
Upon meeting a qualification and registering, you must apply and be accepted to Warner University. In order to be accepted, you must submit a high school transcript. Upon registering, applying, and being accepted, you will need to submit a resume, two letters of recommendation (not from a family member), and an essay about yourself in ONE of the following ways: a PowerPoint presentation (or Keynote or Google Slides) of at least 25 slides, a written essay of at least 1,000 words, or a creative 2-4-minute video.
The above is the hard part. Next, comes the fun part! On the day of Royal Cup, you will be formally interviewed with the other participants in small groups, and you will write another essay with a prompt that we give you on the spot. That’s it! Once you finish that interview and turn in that essay, it is out of your hands and into the hands of our judges. So, what do these judges look for? What should you consider when submitting your portfolio? Here are some thoughts:
Disclaimer: the author of this article and the admissions staff are NOT the judges for Royal Cup. These are merely our suggestions, not tips from a judge.
- Submit the portfolio correctly. In other words, don’t leave anything out. Yes, we have to say this because yes, it can be and has been done before. We know it’s a lot of items to collect with some specific detail, but your attention to detail is your first impression with our judges, and they want to see you submit your portfolio correctly. A four-year, full-tuition scholarship shouldn’t go to someone lacking attention to detail, don’t you agree? If you are unsure of the requirements, read them, then re-read them, then reach out with questions.
- Every part of your portfolio will be considered. Choose who writes your letters wisely. Please do some research on how to write a resume. You might think you know, but you probably don’t (hint from the author: your resume should not exceed a page and should not be a story with paragraphs). Please have some trusted eyes proofread everything.
- Be yourself. Be professional, please, but don’t be a robot drone. You’re not applying for a loan, you’re an incoming college student competing for a scholarship against other incoming college students. We love college students. Heck, our love for college students is why we’re doing this. We talk about and look forward to this event all year. It’s so fun for us. It should be fun for you, too! And by the way, our judges are also people who love college students.
- If you do the video form of the personal essay, we would not recommend setting the camera up and talking to it as if you are on facetime. We like creativity. Try different shots at different angles. Maybe try meshing clips from different contexts together. Show us your family, your friends, your hobbies, your church, etc. Tell a story. Don’t just lecture the listener.
We’re so excited for this event and we’re praying for you already. Happy New Year and we’ll see you in just two short months!
