How To Write A Good Resume For University Application

Electronic Version Of Cv

When sending electronic versions, attach a file or cut and paste the CV into the text of the email message. State your objectives and career interests in the first few lines since they may be the only items seen on a screen. Other tips:

• Use language and acronyms recognized in your field.
• Avoid using bold, italics, underlining, lines, or graphics. Use all caps for emphasis.
• Put your name at the top followed by address and each phone number on a separate line.

Many employers use websites for applicants to apply for positions. Although each form may be different, some elements may be similar. Save parts of your CV in a format that can be cut and pasted for each individual web-based form, such as saving a bulleted list of work experience.

When Should You Submit A Resume To Colleges

Some colleges and scholarship committees request or recommend that you include a high school resume with your application materials. Bring your resume to college interviews and give copies to your college counselor and teachers so that they can write you the strongest possible recommendation letter.

Academic Cv For Masters Application Should Have Following Sections:

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College Application Resume Formatting Tips

Before we dive into the nits and grits of CV making, lets talk about formatting. Here are our top tips on how to format your college application resume:

Choose The Right Resume Format

Potential employers will spend a short amount of time looking at your resumeusually only several seconds. The easier your resume is to scan, the better you can hold their attention. Most recruiters and hiring managers will focus their attention on the following resume sections:

• Name and contact information

• Relevant skills and experiences

The best resume formats are well organized with only the most relevant information and should make efficient use of blank space to avoid clutter.

Image description

To ensure your qualities and accomplishments are easily visible, choose a simple layout that allows you to showcase the qualifications that are most relevant to the job posting. To eliminate blank spaces, consider including additional sections that could be helpful for employers like relevant skills, awards and achievements or professional interests.

Pro Tip: For college students or recent graduates, the chronological resume format is recommended for presenting your credentials to employers. This format allows you to present your most important information first.

For more information on selecting a resume format, check out our guides on using the most popular resumes:Combination Resume Tips and Examples – For candidates whose skills are more important than work experience

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Why Use Our Resume Builder

Its fast, its easy, and it can make a professional, full-page resume for anyone. Regardless of how much work experience you have, how long you went to school, or what skills you possess, our software was designed by certified resume writers to generate a complete resume for every kind of job seeker.

Personalize Your Graduate School Resume Objective

Admissions counselors know your SAT/ACT scores, GPA, and class rank.

Seems enough, right?

Heres the thingeveryone is a number in their system. You need a way to tell your story behind the numbers.

The way to do so is with a resume profile section, and more specifically, a resume objective. If youve studied or worked in a field different from the one youre applying to, a resume objective helps frame your application to the person reviewing it.

Take a look at what works and what doesnt in these resume objective for graduate school examples:

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Identify What You Achieved Or Learned From The Role

Head Counselor for 130 campers and 36 counselors for 12 weeks.

• Facilitated every aspect of camp life and program planning
• Developed and led weekly staff meetings for nine weeks
• Monitored daily swim lake camper check-in process for 130 campers
• Edited 100+ weekly drafts of reports to parents and families of campers from senior in charge counselors for nine weeks
• Evaluated counselors on a bi-weekly basis on their strengths/weaknesses for cabin management/ activity involvement over nine weeks

Research And Teaching Experience

For candidates applying to MA programs, this section may not be as applicable. Its mostly for those who are going into Ph.D. programs and worked part-time as a teaching assistant for one of their professors.

Also,if you took part in any research projects as a team member, include it in this section.

Look at the examples below:

Grad School ResumeExamples of Research & Teaching Experience

2016-2018

• Conducted surveys and analyzed results for senior professors grant project.

The ability to work as a team member on such a project would be essential experience as an academicand is bound to boost your profile.

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List Activities On Your College Resume

Resumes for college admissions are more than just your academic records and extracurricular activities.

Your resume shouldnt be just a list of information it needs to describe who you are as an applicant. So make sure to tell your story instead of only summarizing your grades and extracurricular activities.

Whats your passion? What do you like to do? If youre interested in politics and ran for student government, mention that you competed as a political candidate in your school.

If you love to write and you volunteered to write for your school newspaper, state that you served on your school newspaper.

Application Letters And Rsums

• Fair-Use Policy

Your application letter and résumé may be the most important documents you write during your time at universityand being able to write good applications will keep on being important during your working life. Heres some advice on starting out well.

Employers say they want to hire people who can communicate clearly, handle personal interactions, and analyse complex situations. Use your application package to demonstrate these qualities.

• Keep the readers interests in mind. Your message is you need me, not just I want a job. Know enough about the organization or company to recognize what readers will be looking for. Then the focus of your documents will be where you fit and what you can contribute. This principle will also determine your choice of emphasis and even your wording .
• Balance facts and claims. Your documents will be boring and meaningless if theyre just bare lists of facts. They will be empty and unbelievable if they are just grand claims about yourself. Use each of the two or three paragraphs in the body of your letter to make a few key interpretive statements . Back up each one with some examples . Mention that the résumé gives further specifications and make sure that it does.
• Write concisely. Theres no space available for word-spinning. Prune your style by following any good writing guide or the U of T file on Wordiness.

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Include An Objective Or Professional Summary

This statement, also called a “career objective,””resume summary” or “objective statement,” goes below your contact information and is usually composed of one to two sentences that sum up your short-term professional goals and why youre seeking employment. Your objective statement should be brief and focus specifically on your current career-related experience as well as your developed skills. Keep this section under 50 words or two to three lines in length.

Read more: Guide To Writing Objectives for a College Resume

Heres an example objective statement:

Recent graduate of a well-ranked literature program with extensive high-level coursework and experience in editing and proofreading for academic and business writing. Skilled at applying multiple style guides and seeking a position that involves regular use of these skills.

This example is under 50 words, provides only essential details about the applicant and showcases the candidates relevant skills and potential value to the company.

Pro Tip: Tailor your summary to the employer. Mention specific skills listed in the job posting and that you are seeking a position with their company. This signals to the employer that you have studied the job description, know the qualifications needed for their role and are highlighting that information immediately.

For more information, read our guides on writing a resume summary, profile or objective statement:

Specific Points About The Application Letter

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Shine The Light On Your Education

How do you give support to all these three-letter acronyms?

With a pumped-up resume education section.

It is by far the most important section on your resume. And not all educations are equalhaving a 3.2 GPA from University of Chicago is better than a 4.0 at Chicago State University.

This part of your grad school resume or CV shows what level of education you received in comparison to others and where you are on the scale of high-quality degrees. Add as much relevant detail as possible to boost your profile.

When listing your educational background, start with the basics:

• Degree type
• Degree major

2015-2018

3.2 GPA

The first education section example gives more detail and shows more of a specialization than the second.

If you have a lower GPA, dont list it here and extend your education section to include other accomplishments, classes, or projects you took part in. Add a study abroad program in youve done it as well, provided its relevant. Theres nothing admission committees hate more than irrelevant info.

Expert Hint: Between 20162017, the number of graduate applicants decreased by 2%, according to Council of Graduate Schools. By adding more details to your education section, you can further use this decrease to your benefit by standing out from the competition.

Elements Of A Resume For A College Application

Your resume should give undergraduate admissions committees a brief rundown of your grades, past jobs, awards, leadership activities and presentation skills, and creative capabilities like music, art, writing, or interpersonal skills.

The purpose of the resume is to demonstrate that you have what it takes to succeed academically and socially at the college. To that end, the resume should usually include the following items to paint a complete picture of you:

You don’t have to include all the above items in your resume, but include any that would make you the most attractive candidate for the program.

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How To Make A Resume For College Stand Out

Whittle your list down to your most impressive accomplishments. You don’t need to include your GPA and scores, since colleges will see them in your application.

• Include your highest achievements and honors.
• Describe major leadership roles and initiatives you have undertaken.
• Include unusual but impressive activities, experiences, and special skills that don’t fit neatly into the activity sections of college applications.
• If you have spent significant time working outside of school, include your work experience.
• Mention special circumstances, such as a part-time job, that kept you from participating in outside activities as much as you wanted to.

Determine If You Missed Any Competencies From Your Initial List

College admission offices and employers pay attention to how students have built skills in the following competencies: problem solving, oral/written communication, teamwork/collaboration, digital technology, leadership, professionalism/work ethic, career management, and global/intercultural fluency.

Heres what it looks like if I review my experiences through the lens of these competencies.

Competency: Critical Thinking/Problem Solving

• What it means: Exercise sound reasoning to analyze issues, make decisions, and overcome problems. The individual is able to obtain, interpret, and use knowledge, facts, and data in this process, and may demonstrate originality and inventiveness.

Competency: Professionalism/Work Ethic

• What it means: Demonstrate personal accountability and effective work habits, e.g., punctuality, working productively with others, time and workload management, and understand the impact of non-verbal communication on professional work image. The individual demonstrates integrity and ethical behavior, acts responsibly with the interests of the larger community in mind, and is able to learn from his/her mistakes.

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Recent College Graduate Job Application Tips

Now that you know what to include on your resume, its time to learn how to write it effectively.

Here are three expert tips for assembling the perfect job application as a recent college graduate:

1. Highlight your experience as a student

As a new graduate, your college education is your biggest asset in entering the job market.

Employers understand that earning a degree requires a variety of marketable skills. However, its your responsibility to demonstrate what those skills are and why theyre valuable.

To do this, include a detailed education section. Mention your GPA on your resume , honors or awards, and your major/s and minor/s. Also, include any study abroad programs you completed as a separate entry in your education section

Additionally, you should highlight extracurriculars or relevant coursework on your resume as entries in your experience section. These experiences help fill in the gaps on your resume if you lack formal work experience, and demonstrate the valuable professional skills youve picked up through your academic career.

2. Emphasize your soft skills

Soft skills, such as communication, team management, or interpersonal skills, are always in high demand from employers. For many entry-level positions, hiring managers consider them to be even more valuable than hard skills, because soft skills are notoriously difficult to teach.

3. Write a convincing cover letter

Add Relevant Work Experience

You may not have a laundry list of jobs to put on your resume, but youve probably worked summer jobs or part-time gigs when you were in high school. Put any jobs youve held in your resumes work experience section, as long as theyre relevant to your target job.

For instance, if youre applying to an entry-level sales position, mention your upselling success rate when you were a waiter. If youre going into graphic design, write about the time you designed posters that grew your babysitting business by 80%.

Your work experience section is also where you can list your internships or volunteer experience. Heres an example of a strong work experience section for an undergraduate:

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