The competition for today's high school student increases; the application pool increases as admission rates for top colleges, internships, and programs decrease. Gen Z's battles in the raging admissions war using their: high school GPA's, extracurriculars, and work experience to further themselves in hopes of an acceptance letter. In 2025, all ambitious students want to utilize all their efforts in hopes to be accepted into an elite college or program, and what better way to do this than to create a LinkedIn!

With LinkedIn, you can create a profile that perfectly showcases all your ambitions, accomplishments, and work experience to job recruiters, professonials, and fellow ambitious high school students (like you!). With the high amount of fellow high school students on LinkedIn, having a profile that best showcases you and your accomplishments will significantly help you stand out amongst the crowd, giving you more opportunities to further your career as well as opportunities to meet like minded peers!

In this article, I'll give you the Ultimate guide on how to set up your LinkedIn profile as a high school student.

A Little About Me

Before we get started into the guide, some of you may wonder, "why should we take advice from you?" Well, currently, I'm also a high school student, just like you! Specifically, I'm going to be a rising senior in the fall! Being a LinkedIn user in high school with over 1,000 connections and a recruiter for my organization, I know how you as a high schooler can gain a lot of connections as well as how to make your profile look attractive to recruiters!

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1. Show off your Smile!

On LinkedIn, you have an option to submit a photo for your profile picture. For your profile picture, make sure it's a clear photo of you! In your photo make sure we can see your brilliant smile!

Whenever I scroll through the connect page on LinkedIn, I always connect those who have a smile on their profile picture, as their smile feels welcoming and endearing; I can say the opposite for profiles with a frown or an aloof expression, as the lack of a smile feels uninviting and distant. Furthermore, I highly recommend smiling in your picture!

I know some of you may indifferent about this advice, as you may feel that your smile isn't pretty or that it's completly herrocious, and I can completely relate as I've felt the same way! Throughout my sophmore year, I had a completely aloof expression, as I felt as the expression made me look better than if I smiled.

Although I felt like a model with my emotionless expressions, I gave off a unwelcoming vibe- that I didn't want others to connect with me nor want to talk to any one. A smile does the exact opposite, as it attracts people towards you due to the joy that radiates off your happy expression!

Furthermore, there is no such thing as an ugly smile, as all smiles radiate positivity! So make sure you give a huge smile to welcome in all your new connections!

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2. Show Yourself in your Header

Your header is a mini-description of yourself, as it's the first description of you people see when they scroll past your profile icon on LinkedIn. Your header should be short and sweet, but also descriptive to allow others to know who you are, where you attend, and what you hope to achieve.

If you've played Roblox before, you might be familiar with character descriptions that go above your avatar's heads in role play games such as: Royale High, Adopt Me, and or Brook Haven. On your LinkedIn profile, you want to do something similar, as you want section of your description into short incriments of information.

For example:

Author of Raw Poems from a Teenage Girl | Junior @ Royale High | Aspiring Child Psychologist

What You Do | What School You Attend | What You Hope to Achieve

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3. Ensure that all Information Presented in your Profile is Accurate

"High School Freshman Curated an organization with over 10 BILLION members, donated to 100 MILLION organizations, and cured cancer!"

All over the internet, you may have heard of the term "over embelishing," which is a practice of making your accomplishments sounds significantly more accomplishing than it actually is. Although embellishing your accomplishments may make you look very accomplished and dignified, being dishonest about your own accomplishments to others can actually significantly hurt your reputation.

I've actually reached out to those who've publicly displayed their "organizations" or "awards" to sadly find out that the organization never existed in action nor the awards.

I know some of you may feel that you need to embellish yourself to look more competitive, however, it's completely okay to not have a lot of experience at first, as we're all growing up, navigating our way through the career world! You're not expected to be a CEO of a multi-million dollar company nor have over a million internships and or fellowships. There's no such as thing as achieving less, achievements are subjective, as what really matters is character.

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4. Spread your Character Around

"The world is your Canvas"-Unknown

The world is your Canvas, so paint in pieces of you to brighten up an area! Decorate your LinkedIn with personal touches, from adding photos of your favorite art pieces or moments onto your cover image to posting stories about important life lessons you've learned, show the world who you are by embracing your thoughts and ideas.

At first, you may be intimidated to do so in the fear of being frowned upon, however, you shine the brightest when you can openly express yourself! So don't hold back, show the world who you are and who you want to be.

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5. List all your Experiences, Classes, etc., in their Designated Sections

On your LinkedIn profile, you'll be given a myriad of sections of but not limited to: work experience, classes, awards, publications, and projects in.

While inputting your internships, part-time jobs, or freelance jobs in, make sure you put them in the work experience section of your LinkedIn profile!

While inputting your dual enrollment classes, AP Classes, or IB classes, make sure to put them in the classes section of your LinkedIn profile.

While inputting your recognition in articles, medals, or trophies, make sure to put them in the awards section of your LinkedIn profile.

While inputting your published research paper, book, or piece, make sure to put them in the publications section.

While inputting and personal projects you've created or worked on, make sure to input them in the projects section.

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Using all five steps from this guide can significantly enhance and personalize your Linkedin Profile, increasing traction towards your profile while also embracing your personalities and passions to the world!