How to Write a College Resume
As a soon-to-be graduating high school student, you need to learn how to write a college resume. Along with your application form, many colleges require you to write a resume of all your experiences since the ninth grade. They want to know all your commitments, leadership positions, and all notable accomplishments, including awards, honors and recognition.
While it can seem really overwhelming to write a college resume, it is one of the best persuasive tools you can have in your arsenal.
Brainstorm what you want to Say in your College Resume
Before even typing out the resume, you need to first come up with all the raw data that will eventually be molded into a strong college resume. Format does not matter at all; you just need to get everything you want to say down on paper.
Create a list of every single experience you have had so far in high school. Write down all jobs (both paid and unpaid), leadership positions, internships, extracurricular activities, volunteer work, special skills, honors and awards, and so on. Out of this whole list, highlight all the items that will best help you stand out amongst all other students applying to that college. You do not want to list everything because it should not be longer than a page.
Once you choose the best items to put on the resume, write down all the responsibilities you had and what you learned from them. If it is an award, write down what you did to get that award. If it is a special skill, write how you strengthened them.
Start Creating the Sections of your Resume
One of the most important things in learning how to write a college resume is formatting it properly. The information should not be wildly dispersed throughout, but easy to read. While there is no universal format for the sections, there are certain areas that need to be identified.
The top of the college resume should always have all contact information. This is extremely important. It should include your name, address, your telephone number, and an email address.
A qualifications (or objective) summary is optional with a college resume. If you choose to include it, it should be no more than two or three sentences that support your objective, which is getting accepted to that university.
The next important section is your education. Here you list the name and address of your school, date of graduation, and your grade point average. If you have taken any classes in high school that is connected to the major you are seeking, include that. For example, if you are going to be an English major and took creative writing for three years.
If applicable, include all honors and awards you have received. Include the name of the award, the purpose for which it was awarded, the date, and the organization giving the award. Do not include if you have received need-based scholarships.
Experience is a very important section because this is where you can let yourself shine by showing what you have done that qualifies you for the school. If you want, you can break it down further to ‘Leadership Experience,’ ‘Volunteer Experience,’ ‘Extracurricular Activities,’ and so on. Some of these may overlap, for example, if you were editor of your high school newspaper. If this case, you would mention in the leadership category when you were editor but under the extracurricular activities list how long you were working on the paper.
One of the last sections is the skills section. You can specify if you have proficiency in other languages, computer proficiency, or anything else you believe will give you a leg up on the college application front.
Presentation is Everything
As previously mentioned, your college resume should be no longer than a page long. If it is longer than a page, go through it and see if there is anything that is not 100 percent relevant to your objective.
When it comes to layout, keep it uniform when using bolding, italics, and underlining. Use spaces to separate the different sections.
Proofread! This cannot be expressed enough. You do not want to send the college application review board a resume that is rife with grammatical and spelling errors. Ask your guidance counselor to go over it for you. They will be more than happy to help!
A Few Last Minute Don’ts
When understanding how to write a college resume, there are things you should not do. Do not use abbreviations, personal pronouns, or graphics. Do not exaggerate qualifications or put down a cell phone number. Do not write the resume in past tense, always use action verbs.
