Resumes of Activities
Now is the time for rising seniors to really polish that student resume! If you need a template, contact us for a free one. If you are a junior, now is the time to begin the resume as you will need to look at sparse areas and perhaps plan for activities this summer to fill in some gaps.
Student Resumes are great tools to use to complete an interview, send to a college along with a personal reference letter, and also to use when completing your applications. Naviance™ system, which many secondary schools use has a resume of activities….this is not what I am speaking of now.
A good resume is polished and lists not just your activities, but also a somewhat professional and detailed description of duties and roles. Also it provides more information about activities in terms of hours and time commitment. The resume is a tool to embellish your application and to inform the reader of just what you spend your time on and how. It identifies in detail your position, your leadership experiences, and your contribution specifically.
Your applications simply provide pull down screens for activities, without any details as to what you did. The resume allows for anyone to see how committed you are to whatever you are doing both in and outside of school. This tool completes the picture so that any counselor or reviewer can see that you are pretty busy and considering how much time you are dedicated to: sports, academics, music, drama, etc., you are to be commended for having such good grades and tough courses. Or considering how much time you have dedicated and risen to a leadership role in your community service, it is amazing you even have time for a part-time job. These are the kinds of thoughts a reviewer will form given the additional support of your profile with a resume!
Resume formats are a personal thing, but what is on the resumes should be relatively consistent. There are several different types of resumes, and yes, you can submit more than one. But please, limit the resume to one or two pages MAX!!! I know there are many of you who are deeply committed to many, many activities…and if so, great, but still you will have to prioritize and limit your descriptions and content to two pages maximum.
You can have an athletic resume, a work resume, an extracurricular resume or you can have one resume which provides a detailed snap shot of all. This depends on who is receiving the resume. If you are being recruited, then perhaps you have an athletic resume for coaches and a regular resume for admissions and interviews with alumni. If you actually are a working actor, then you will have your acting resume for drama departments and auditions, and a regular resume for admissions.
Now is the time to start getting that resume completed. You want your resume to be done before the applications are loaded for the fall for the class of 2020. Your resume makes filling out the applications so much easier. If you are a rising junior, now is the time to road map how to fill in your resume as the year progresses. Perhaps your activities are broad with no leadership, and now is the time to winnow some activities in favor of pursuing a more responsible role in one or two. Challenge and leadership are always impressive to colleges!
Questions on how to do the resume, contact us! Schedule a session or two. It is seriously valuable tool to help you present your best picture to an admissions committee.
