It is important for high school students to prepare their resumes before starting their college admissions. There are many universities that give options to the students to upload their resumes in their applications.
The requirement of a resume may not be mandatory but you must not miss the chance of sharing your profile with the colleges in any condition. But at the same time, you should also ensure that you are not repeating the same information again and again in different forms.
NOW LET’S UNDERSTAND WHAT A RESUME IS AND WHAT ROLE IT PLAYS IN YOUR COLLEGE APPLICATION
A resume showcases your educational and academic backgrounds in research, school projects, presentations, awards, honors, activities and other details besides work. It is a short and easy way for people to get a perspective of who you are.
Preparing a well-crafted resume can put you ahead of other applicants and draw the reader’s attention to your achievements, awards, unique talents and your other extracurricular activities — especially during the interview.
Universities like Cornell, University of Michigan ask for resumes as a mandatory requirement for their few specific programs and on other hand, MIT encourages students to submit their resumes on their own application portal as an optional requirement. Unlike a common application, the MIT activity section allows you to list down 4 activities so it would be a good idea to include your resume if you have more activities to showcase.
You may also be asked to submit your resume while applying for the private scholarships or while applying for the honors college in a few of the universities.
Your resume will be read by the admission committee, interviewers, scholarship committee and perhaps your future employer.
SO PREPARE ONE !!
WHAT ALL YOU SHOULD INCLUDE YOUR RESUME?
Here we go !!
| MUST BE THERE | OPTIONAL |
|---|---|
| Identify Yourself | Objective |
| Education | Special Qualities |
| Internship/Work | Clubs and Associations |
| Volunteer Experience | Continuing Education |
| Activities | Computer Skills |
| Awards and Recognition | Hobbies |
YOU SHOULD: PLUG IN YOUR PHOTO- IT GIVES IT SOMETHING SPECIAL- SMILE!
Include the activities that define your leadership capabilities and communication You may include: competitions, community service, and school functions and can also include: blogs, special talents, fine arts like singing, dancing and/or painting.
Don’t list every club you joined – don’t make it overwhelming
Although not everyone has work experience at this age, you may have done some internships.
If you do put it… It always looks good!
WHAT SHOULD BE THE FORMAT?
- Heading – Name, address, contact number & email address
- Education – Senior Year classes, AP exam scores, class rank and GPA, SAT/ACT/TOEFL scores
- Employment/Internship – Reverse Chronological
- Activities – List clubs and grades participated. Be specific, don’t use initials or acronyms. List accomplishments or awards
- Honors/Awards – List accomplishments or awards
- Community Service – List activities including your role
- Sports – List teams, positions, awards and grade.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A GOOD RESUME
- Focuses on skills.
- Easy to read and understand.
- Visually powerful.
- Define your achievements and responsibilities with action words
- Fonts Style – Choose Arial, Times New Roman or Calibri
- Stick with 11 font size
TYPOS AND GRAMMAR SLIPS- WATCH OUT FOR THEM!
YOU SHOULD:
- “Pay attention to detail.”
- “Have the desire to be a perfectionist and not to forget details.”
- “Include year of graduation and name of the school.”
- Check whether margins at the sides and bottom are off.
- Don’t use a strange layout or make ineffective use of space
FEW BASICS
- Must always be 100% truthful.
- Produced using a word processor
- Watch bullet points.
- Keep the design simple.
- Avoid Resume builders that are incompatible with other systems.
- Contains no inappropriate personal information like Funny email id or religious affiliations
