Depending on the age of the student applying, a college admissions resume is a resume that is included as part of a college application and includes information such as educational experience, awards won, volunteer work, or work completed. A resume may or may not be required as part of a college application for undergraduate work, but it is required for nearly all graduate and post-graduate programs. The college admissions resume should be tailored to the specific program, just as it should be tailored when applying for a specific job.
A college admissions resume, like any other application, should be neat and free of grammatical errors; it’s best to keep it under two pages to highlight the most important information. Consider the most important aspects of your background that may increase your chances of being accepted into your preferred program. Volunteer experience, for example, can look fantastic on a college admissions resume for students or people just starting out in a field who don’t have a lot of work experience. This is especially true for undergraduate applications, as it demonstrates the applicant’s community involvement and ability to manage responsibilities.
Graduate and doctoral applicants will need to devote more time to their college admissions resumes. This is due to the fact that most of these programs require some prior experience in the field of study before pursuing graduate work. This could be substituted for an undergraduate degree in the same field, but real-world experience is preferred in most cases. Once again, this could be volunteer work or paid work in the field. Additional courses in the chosen field above and beyond the requirements may be beneficial, as well as something to include on the resume.
Recognitions or awards received as part of work or education should also be included on any college admissions resume. These can indicate the ability to excel in a particular field and to go above and beyond what is expected of coworkers. Short descriptions of each item on the resume should also be included. It’s a good idea to have someone else look over your resume before submitting it to ensure that it’s as complete as possible and that there are no grammatical or spelling errors. In addition, the resume should be printed on nice paper or saved as a PDF if sent via email, as most institutions prefer.