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How did you guys come up with your resume? Did you use a book? If so, which book seems to be the best?

By Abz1986 (Abz1986) on Tuesday, September 16, 2003 - 10:51 pm: Edit

I used my mom and dad's old resumé format.

By Tennizpro06 (Tennizpro06) on Wednesday, September 17, 2003 - 05:35 pm: Edit

What sorts of things does one put on a resume?? Should we include test scores, or just ec's?? How are we suppose to separate the ec's?? Ohh, I'm having such a hard time with this.

By Tennizpro06 (Tennizpro06) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 07:58 pm: Edit

bump

By Chen (Chen) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 08:56 pm: Edit

Maybe you should look it up online. It's sort of like a list.

Name, address, etc.
Activities, awards, extracurriculars, community service, and brief listing of interests.

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 10:22 pm: Edit

Let me try to help. I would not go by your parents' resume format, which is geared to jobs and work experience.

The resume for college applications is mostly for activities and awards, not for grades, test scores, or stuff like that. That will be on the app.

Here is basically what you should include:
On the top put your name, school name and social security number. Your resume should not exceed three pages. At the top of each page after the first page, make sure your name and SS # appears. Organize the resume into sections. One section is Extracurricular activities. My daughter actually broke this section down into categories cause her ECs do fit different categories. Her categories are Athletics, Performing Arts, School Leadership, and Community Service. She has several activities under each one so these truly were sub-category headings. For each activity, give the name of the activity (do not use initials, write the name out fully), what years you participated (list the years as 9, 10, 11, 12), how many hours per week you did it, and how many weeks per year. If you did the activity for many years, I think it is ok to add how many years you did it. For instance, MANY of my kid's activities were way more than the four years she listed as 9, 10, 11, 12...she has done most of them for anywhere between 7 -12 years so I think it was good to add that on there to show the committment was significant over time and not just done for college admissions. Then for each activity, list any achievement, award, leadership role, level of participation. Do this for each activity. As well, add an annotation about the activity to show what you did and what it meant to you, etc. Brag about yourself. So, do this for each EC and for Community service as well.

Then list Summer experiences. For each activity, tell which year you did it (just include the summers beginning with the one prior to ninth grade til present.) Name the activity, which yrs, how many weeks. Describe what you did in that activity.

Another category would be work experience and/or internships. Again, list the job, which years you did it, hours per week, weeks per year, and what your responsibilities, acomplishments were at that job, etc.

Another category is Awards. My daughter named this category: Academic Awards, cause other awards such as athletic awards or music awards, she had put with the actual activity to show recognition within that activity. The academic awards were all listed here, and which grade she got them in written next to each award. If an explanation was due, she added it. For instance, next to Wellesley Book Award, she wrote "11 (meaning given in 11th gr.) - given to junior girl ranked first in class".

Lastly, she added a category I think was called Additional Interests. Here she just listed some other things she enjoys that are not organized activities. For example: travel, chess, seeing Broadway shows.

I hope this helps.
Susan

By Kushm (Kushm) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 11:12 pm: Edit

Here's my format:


Education
this is where i state my high school, gpa, etc, and any college classes i took with the addresses
Activities
this speaks for itself
Awards
ditto
Work experiences
(obvious)
Skills
interests/future plans

By Chen (Chen) on Thursday, September 18, 2003 - 11:44 pm: Edit

Hm, I have one question. In the "Objective" part, why do people include periods if the sentences are not complete? For example,
"Objective: To attend college." Or is it implied? Hm.

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 12:12 am: Edit

I have not seen anyone use an objective on a resume for college application purposes. As I said above, a resume for applying to college is not the same as a work resume where you would have an objective. A resume that can be included with a college application really is in lieu of the section of the app that asks for EC activities, awards, work, summer experiences, community service, and that is it. It is not a place to replicate your transcripts and scores.
Susan

By Bnp182 (Bnp182) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 12:22 am: Edit

If you do include a resume in the manner Soozviet recommended, should you also fill in the part of the applicatoin that asks for the ECs, work experiences, awards, and so on. It seems kind of repetitive, so would you just write see attatched sheet or something. Or would that seem like you cant follow the university's specific instructions

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 08:47 am: Edit

My daughter so far has just worked on one application. That application said that you could attach a resume if you wanted but to please follow the format they were asking for. So, she is attaching her resume but on the app form, will write in: "see attached". You do not have to repeat the info. there. But make sure to read each application's instructions carefully in case the instructions say firmly not to attach a resume or something like that.

By Momofsenior (Momofsenior) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 11:04 am: Edit

The paper version of the application my daughter is working on specifically states to fill in activities on the form even if you are attaching a separate resume. Make sure you read the directions for each school.

By Sac (Sac) on Friday, September 19, 2003 - 12:59 pm: Edit

The application my son is working on specifically says not to attach a resume or any additional sheet. Again, make sure you read the directions for each school.

By Tennizpro06 (Tennizpro06) on Saturday, September 20, 2003 - 12:59 pm: Edit

k, i think what i mean is an activity sheet, not resume. Does anyone know what order activities are supposed to go in? Like your most passioante activities/years you did them or something??

By Tennizpro06 (Tennizpro06) on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 05:13 pm: Edit

bump1

By Chen (Chen) on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 07:04 pm: Edit

My school instructed me to do order it by grade and to include the grades I participated in them.

By Mdo (Mdo) on Sunday, September 21, 2003 - 10:18 pm: Edit

Is is okay for a resume to exceed one page?

By Cmaher (Cmaher) on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 04:03 am: Edit

I have heard colleges frown upon resumes..

The adcoms are reading thousands of applications a day, they are only going to give a few minutes to your application, they dont want to read something you designed. You may feel like you need more room to describe things, but I would recommend trying to fit it into the application.. I guess some people feels like it shows "creativity" or professionalism, but think if you were the adcom.

By Soozievt (Soozievt) on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 09:51 am: Edit

Chen...not sure I get your post. You say your school said to order it by grade but then also said to say in which grade you did each activity. I do not think your resume ought to be ordered by grade. Rather, if you see my post above, it should be organized by categories. I gave the type of categories I meant in my post. Within each category, order the activities (or awards or summer things, or jobs, whichever the case may be) in order of the most significant one to the least. If you organized your list by grade, you would be (hopefully) repeating each activity over and over again. By hopefully, I mean I hope you have been devoted to a majority of these pursuits over time. I know if my kid organized her resume by grade, it would not be the three pages it currently is (by category) but would be more like six, as she would have to bring up the same activities year after year.

Mdo, yes, it is ok for the resume to exceed one page. The max ought to be three pages.

Cmaher....each college is different. If the app says absolutely no resume, then do not send one. But many apps allow you to attach a resume in lieu of the space given to list activities and awards. You need to brag about yourself and your accomplishments on your application. If you do not, who will? You need to set yourself apart from others and let adcoms know what makes you tick and what have you accomplished and how you spend your time. The list needs to be annotated by brief explanations that really SHOW about you. If you feel the colleges do not want this, do not do it. Many successful applicants have been admitted who have gone this route. You may want to read up on some books that deal with applying to elite colleges cause they all recommend to do a resume.

Susan

By Tennizpro06 (Tennizpro06) on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 04:54 pm: Edit

ok, i WON'T be sending a resume. I WILL be sending in an activity list. so it looks likea couple categories (ex: community service, school-related activities, etc, etc.), and after each listed category, i'll have the activity participated, hours/week, wks/year, uh.. description, grade level i participated it in.. stuff like that. I want to know though how to order activities of the same category. should i list the first one as the most recent one, or as the acitvity i'm most poassionate about?

By Ahlawahed (Ahlawahed) on Monday, September 22, 2003 - 07:11 pm: Edit

Can You send a resume with any application or what colleges specically ask for one or can one send without it being thrown away?

By Neobez (Neobez) on Friday, June 11, 2004 - 11:45 am: Edit

So, sorry to bump an old topic, but if the college doesn't say that they DONT want resumes, should I attach a resume/activity sheet?

Also, if I'm submitting the application online, do I just attach the activitysheet/resume with the teacher recs and stuff?

Thanks.