Resumes for College Admissions

When applying to college or grad school, you need to submit wide variety of materials, ranging from letters of recommendation to high school transcripts and standardized test scores. Although not directly stated, many colleges like receiving a student resume or otherwise called brag sheet that provides a clear picture of all your credentials and experience. “Make your resume in such a way that it should include all your extracurricular activities, awards, employment history and community service work,” pointed out Radhey Shyam of Radhey Institute.

A resume gives you an opportunity to showcase your skill level and academic knowledge in a proper way, which is not possible with transcripts or by filling out cases with your extracurricular information. Your resume should be well written, formatted and containing relevant information that provides college admissions staff a clear picture of your differentiation and student traits.

Developing a resume takes a long time and a lot of effort. Here are some tips to complete the process successfully:

• Make sure that it includes your contact details. At the top, list your full name, phone number, e-mail address and home address. Screen your email address – [email protected] won’t do, change your email to something more appropriate such as [email protected].

• Following contact details, write your academic achievements. “When writing your academic achievements, use of sub heading is crucial. List your high school name followed by your expected graduation date,” said Richard Kingscote. Another important thing that you need to do is to include your cumulative grade point average in addition to your class rank.

• If you possess any sort of work experience, make sure that you mention it clearly in your resume. Generally speaking, high school students normally do not have much work experience to talk about but whatever jobs you have done it should be there in your resume. To get the best out of your work experience, list the company name and address followed by dates of employment and your job profile.

• Colleges these days prefer giving admission to students who indulge in extra curricular activities. “Lots of students ignore this part thinking that colleges just want to see their academic record. This is not the case anymore. Make sure that you list all the sports that you have played in the past. If you have won something, it can go a long way in securing your admission,” said Silvia Renea of Mastermind.

• Before submitting your resume to college authority, it is advisable that you proofread it two or three times. Any grammatical and spelling mistakes can create a bad impression on the mind of college authority. If your writing skills are not that good, you can take the services of professional writers in writing your resume.

• Your resume should not be too long. Ideally, it should not be more than two pages. Do not include any unnecessary details as it will ruin the overall standard of your resume.

• Be honest. College authorities do not like to give admission to students who create false impression through their resume. There is no point hiding something from college authorities because they are going to find out your true credentials before offering you admission letter.

• Under each heading, you should include number of bullet points describing what exactly you did. Lots of students are not sure about how to format these. Avoid using long and complicated sentences. Using short phrases that do not explain your full repertoire should also be avoided. If possible, began each bullet point with an action word.

• Write bullet points with information on languages, PC skills and other skills you have acquired through the years. Don’t forget to mention some interests,  however, do not exceed one bullet point and one line in total. If you are winning debate competition for the last three years, you should write it down on your resume, it will create a positive impression on the mind of college authority.

References:

http://www.college-admissions-secrets.com/resume.php

http://www.collegeadmissionspartners.com/college-admissions-counseling/successful-college-application-resume/