I'll be applying to the undergraduate programs of several US universities this upcoming fall. A chief component of the college application is the extracurricular activities portfolio, of which inventing occupies a large part of for me.
To date, I have 4 inventions in varying stages of development, none of which I have disclosed publicly. I intend to research and develop my projects through college and with enough funding, I hope to eventually take them into the world once I get a little older. For now though, I would like to make them (currently all are prototypes) a part of my college applications. However, I do not want to compromise the security of my inventions. I do not have provisional patent applications submitted for any of the inventions.
Do I risk my chances of ever patenting these products by disclosing them in my college application? Would this qualify as prior art? I'm not worried about an admissions officer taking the ideas, I just fear the risks I am not aware of.
A popular thing for STEM applicants now is to include a portfolio of projects for admissions officers to review. I could do so on a private website or file that only the admissions officers with the link could see. Is this advisable or would this also be prior art? To clarify, a portfolio is an external component that I can attach to the application, but is not the official application itself.
I guess my question boils down to, are there any consequences of listing (and maybe briefly detailing in a sentence) my unpatented inventions in a college application?