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I am just working on the 'Contest' section of my resume. My question is, should i leave it at the form it is, or should i separate it into columns so that it's easier to read and follow.

Here is the form right now:

Math and Science Competitions:

11th Grade:
American Mathematics Competition 12 (AMC 12): Senior international level contest
· Score: 119.5
· Leadership Position: Contest organizer and student coach.
Leonardo Da Vinci Physics Contest: Senior (12th grade) national level contest
· Honor: Da Vinci Scholar of Canada
Chem 13 Contest: Senior national level Chemistry contest
· Top 1% (National).
Euclid Math Contest: Senior national level contest
· Top 2% (National).
University of British Columbia Physics Olympics: Provincial level competition of applied Physics
· 4th place in individual event(Provincial).
Fermat Math Contest: 11th grade National level contest
· Top 1% (National).

9th and 10th Grade:
Cayley Math Contest: 10th grade national level contest
· Top 1% (National).
Canadian Mathematics Society Invitational at Simon Fraser University: Provincial level contest
· 1st place in junior category
Pascal Math Contest: 9th grade national level contest
· Top 1% (National). School team placed 11th nationally.


If i were to make it into columns, it would be
"Name of the contest" "Year" "Description of contest and honor won". The rest of my resume is in columns.

I am from Canada, so i have to explain a lot of the contests.

Thank you.

By Marite (Marite) on Wednesday, August 25, 2004 - 11:44 pm: Edit

You could do it in columns, with the explanations provided above. It would read more easily.

One suggestion: group math together, physics together, etc..

By Midwesterner (Midwesterner) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 10:54 am: Edit

Didn't you answer your own question when you stated, "should I leave it at the form it is, or should I separate it into columns so that it's easier to read..."

Your format is repetitive, and your inclination towards short, staccato phrases makes me think it would be better suited to a table or column format. Also, you said that the rest of your resume is in columns, and consistency is an effective communications tool. You should try different groupings and see which way your achievements read best - separating math and scince is one way, separating national and provincial rankings is another. Remember that the first fivre lines have the most impact.

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 11:49 am: Edit

I come away from the list without ANY idea what any of these contests are or what they mean.

Are these math team type contests where schools compete solving problem sets? Or are these contests centered around standardized tests?

For example, "senior international level competition" tells me absolutely nothing. If these academic competitions are to be a centerpiece of your application, then I think you need to find a way to present the "big picture" more cohesively. To be honest, no adcom really cares about how you finised in each of a dozen different competitions.

To this end, I would make MATH COMPETITIONS one highlighted line on the commmon application lists, with a notation to see attached page for details.

I believe that a much more effective approach would be something like:

Math competitions, then a short prose description giving us an idea of a type of competitions), and then list the individual competitions.

By Mehere (Mehere) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 01:52 pm: Edit

Interesteddad,

all of those contests are just like the AMC 12, which is meant for grade 12 students. but the ones in Canada, we just have a different name for each of the 4 years, namely, pascal, caley, fermet, and euclid contests. How do you think i should phrase these?

The Physics olympics is where we build things and apply physics knowledge to real world situations, so i said 'applied physics'.

By Interesteddad (Interesteddad) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 02:07 pm: Edit

Since I'm just a dumb parent who doesn't know what AMC 12 means, I'm afraid I can't really offer any advice on how to phrase a description!

The term "applied physics" is an accurate description for building boomilevers and catapults, but it is a very sterile and detached term when the goal of a college app is to allow the adcom to see a real live human being engaged in real, live, interesting activities.

A lot depends on whether or not you are emphasizing any of that stuff. For example, my daughter was involved in Science Fair, but was not emphasizing it in her application. So, she used a single space on the common app to write:

Science Fair, 9 - 12, best finishes: 1st in school, 3rd in state, selected to be a judge in 12th.

That's really all that is going to matter to the adcom. The risk with lengthy lists is that the clutter can sometimes obscure the key kernal of information that you want the adcom to take from the activity.

I don't think there is anything wrong with attaching a detailed list. However, as a fun mental excercise, pretend that the school will ONLY accept the common app form with no attached resume. How would you distill the essence of the Math competitions to fit on the common app spaces?

By Mehere (Mehere) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 02:22 pm: Edit

I definitely want to emphasize the contests i was involved in. I had always thought too much description is not a good thing for the officers might not even have time to read everything thoroughly?
How long should an explanation be before it is considered too verbose?

By Mehere (Mehere) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 02:26 pm: Edit

amc 12 is american mathematics competition, where the students who do well are selected for a second round of competition, the AIME, then the USAMO, USA math olympiad team.

By Aparent4 (Aparent4) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 03:36 pm: Edit

Mehere, I would use the Canadian names for the competitions. You are not the first applicant from Canada these adcoms will have seen, and they are likely to send your credentials to the math department, whose professors surely are familiar with those competitions. Using the names also sounds a lot less vague and more impressive. If you like, you can put them on a bulleted list, describing them briefly to put them in context and show what you did in them: "Third runner-up in Miss American Pageant, chosen from 50 finalists in national poise, service, and swimsuit competition."

By Marite (Marite) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 04:07 pm: Edit

Try this format. If you can do it in column form, it would be even clearer. I don't believe that you need to explain what the Euclid Math Contest is. Mentioning that you ranked in the top 1% nationally implies that the contest was at the national level.

Math:
--AMC 12: Score: 119.5 (11th grade)
--Euclid Math Contest: Top 2% nationally (11th grade)
--Fermat Math Contest: Top 1% nationally (11th grade)
--Cayley Math Contest: Top 1% nationally (10th grade)
--Canadian Mathematics Society Invitational, Simon Fraser University: (Provincial level): 1st place in junior category (1oth grade)
--Pascal Math Contest: Top 1% nationally (9th gade).

Sciences:
--Leonardo Da Vinci Physics Contest: (12th grade): Da Vinci Scholar of Canada
--University of British Columbia Physics Olympics: Provincial level applied Physics competition. 4th place in individual event.
--Chem 13 Contest: Top 1% nationally 11th grade)

By Mehere (Mehere) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 05:27 pm: Edit

Hey! thanks a lot for the suggestion.

Aparent4,
I will definitely use the Canadian name for all the competitions.

Marite,
A lot of contets i took this year are for senior students, so i want to stress that i took them as a junior student. So i thought it might be a good idea to label the year i did them and the grade level of the contest.


I have finished my resume. Does anyone mind taking a quick look at it?

I see that most of you have your emails hidden. If you dont mind, my email is stronginwill@hotmail.com, and i can send over my resume.

Thank you.

By Marite (Marite) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 05:47 pm: Edit

>>A lot of contets i took this year are for senior students, so i want to stress that i took them as a junior student. So i thought it might be a good idea to label the year i did them and the grade level of the contest. >>

Not sure it matters much. My S took AMC12 as a 10th grader, but I'm sure that's not going to be particularly impressive to adcoms. Plenty of other students do, too. If you had been a 9th grader taking 12th grade contests, that would have been worth mentioning. The important thing is to keep your resume as uncluttered as possible so that adcoms actually read it!

By Simba (Simba) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 09:05 pm: Edit

I like Marite's way of formatting.
We did it the same way, buched similar things. I would ofer one suggestion though - drop (11 or 12 th grade) from each line. Instead just say:

--Pascal Math Contest: Top 1% nationally (9)

I read it some where that lots of white in a resume looks better.

By Marite (Marite) on Thursday, August 26, 2004 - 09:51 pm: Edit

I agree with Simba's formatting. It is in fact what my S will be using.

By Simba (Simba) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 08:38 am: Edit

Reflecting back, I would still compress similar contests:

- Pascal (9), Cayley (10) Fermat (11), Euclid (11) national Math Contests. Ranked top 1% in Canada.

In my opinion, if you can fit all your accomplishements in ONE page (with lots of white) better it is. The general rule I follow is that if your sentences have 30% or more of the same words - combine them. In your case except the name and grade every thing else is the same.If you wish you can always use extra pages to go in detail to support your accomplishements. Remember you are trying to grab ad com's attention and create an image of you in 30, 60 or 90 seconds.

By Gidget (Gidget) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 08:44 am: Edit

Yeah for another Canadian! I wondered when I read Euclid and Pascal, I think using the origional names will be fine and I like how your resume is set up ( in the final version)

Good Job

By Marite (Marite) on Friday, August 27, 2004 - 09:11 am: Edit

Yes, Simba's added emendations make eminent sense.