Brag Sheet Template

What is a brag sheet?

A brag sheet is a one- or two-page summary of what you have done in high school, written by you, for the person writing your recommendation letter. Teachers and counselors write dozens of letters each autumn. Most of them know you from one class or a few meetings. The brag sheet gives them the rest: your activities, your results, and a few stories they can retell.

It is not a resume. A resume lists what you did. A brag sheet also explains why it mattered to you and gives the writer details they could not know, such as the job you worked on weekends or the reason you chose your major.

How to use this template

1. Check whether your school has its own form. Many schools collect brag sheets through Naviance, a Google Form or a handout from the counseling office. If yours does, use that one. This template is for when no form is given, or when a teacher asks you to "send me something about yourself".
2. Fill in the facts first. Name, school, GPA, activities, awards. These take ten minutes.
3. Spend most of your time on the last step. The questions under "In your own words" are what the letter will be built from.
4. Print it or save it as a PDF. Press "Print or save as PDF" and choose "Save as PDF" as the printer if you want to email it.

Not sure what a finished one looks like? Open the filled-in example. If you would sooner write by hand, "Blank copy" gives you the same sheet with empty lines.

What to include

• Who it is for and the deadline. Put the recommender's name and the date you need the letter at the top, so the sheet cannot be mixed up with another student's.
• Academics. GPA, class rank if your school reports one, test scores you plan to submit, and the subjects you like most.
• Activities. For each one, give your role, the grades you took part in, and one line on what you did. "Treasurer, grades 11–12: ran the budget for a 40-member club" tells the writer more than "Treasurer".
• Awards and honors. Include the year. Leave out anything from before ninth grade.
• Work, volunteering and family responsibilities. A part-time job or looking after younger siblings counts. Letter writers often do not know about these unless you tell them.
• Your plans. The major or career you are aiming for, and where you are applying.
• Stories. Two or three short, specific moments. This is the part that changes the letter.

How to write the answers

A recommendation letter is convincing when it contains things only that writer could say about you. Your job is to remind them of those things.

• Be specific. "I am hardworking" gives the writer nothing to use. "I rewrote my history paper three times after your comments and went from a C+ to an A-" gives them a sentence for the letter.
• Mention their class. If the sheet is for a teacher, include a project, discussion or problem from that teacher's class. A counselor needs the wider picture, so the same sheet works with a different "moment" answer.
• Use numbers where you have them. Hours a week, money raised, people led, places moved up.
• Keep it to two pages. If it runs longer, cut the weakest activities, not the stories.
• Be accurate. The writer may repeat your claims under their own name.

When to hand it over

Ask for the letter at least three to four weeks before it is due, and give the brag sheet at the same time. Teachers asked in the last week of October for a 1 November deadline have little time to write well. Hand over a printed copy or email the PDF, whichever the writer prefers, and say thank you afterwards.

Questions

More free templates

• Travel Itinerary Template Plan a trip day by day, then print it, save it as a PDF or open it in Google Sheets or Excel.
• Paper Squishy Templates Six ready-to-print designs in colour or outline to colour in, plus a maker for your own colours and face.
• 2027 Calendar Printable The whole year on one page or month by month, with US holidays and the week start you prefer.
• Camping Checklist Printable A packing list built for your trip: tent, RV or backpacking, how many nights and how many people.