<p>What kind of things do college freshmen and sophomores put on their resumes when they apply to internships, research programs, etc.? Is it always tacky to mention high school awards/accomplishments such as National Merit Finalist, or are some okay to list? </p>
<p>For example, I assume it would be okay to mention that I worked at McDonald’s in high school because that’s not exclusively a high school activity. </p>
<p>What should go on the resume is what demonstrates that the applicant has the skills the potential employer needs. So maybe NMF or captain of the tennis team or president of the French club–not so much; things like co-ordinator of a school-wide charity drive, or winning a national writing competition, yes. Or something that demonstrates prowess with certain software suites, etc.</p>
<p>While on campus, freshmen and sophomores should be doing what they can to gain skills that can translate into opportunities. For example, a student should not just join a random club; rather, the student should get involved in the club and get involved in planning programs, etc. Don’t just join a sorority or fraternity–join and run rush, or the household charity events, or the house budget, etc. A student should volunteer for any opportunities offered by professors or TAs. If a student needs to make money during the school year, s/he should try to find a job that translates into life skills rather than just check student IDs at the gym. For example, one of my sons kept up his soccer referee certification–and reffed soccer games in a number of local leagues, for all age groups/levels of competition. He made a lot of money. He also showcased an ability to deal with a lot of people in a lot of heated or tense situations. He got a lot of interviews, had some primo internships in college, good job out of college–and remarked about how his reffing always seemed to come up at interviews.</p>
<p>Students should not have “a resume” --but rather, resumes, plural.</p>
<p>The resume should be tweaked for every position the student is applying for, to showcase what the student would bring to the position.</p>
<p>There’s nothing wrong with checking IDs at the gym. Sometimes people do what they can to make money.</p>
<p>Since you’ll be a freshman, it’s often ok to have a last section that briefly summarizes the prior experience. Eg, the hs job does show you can meet adult expectations. if you did a research project related to the new internship/research goal, I’d say sure, think about including it. But agree these points should have some reason to be there, some relevance. </p>
<p>Not all freshmen can get a campus job that will serve on a future resume. But boysx3 gives good advice to consider the choices, as time passes. In college, my kids did 4 years of focused community service (a program that paid.) That seemed to generate a lot of interest. </p>
<p>beachlover, you’re right, there is nothing wrong with checking IDs at the gym to make money. However, especially
after freshman year, it’s important to make strategic choices to maximize your opportunities come graduation time. You don’t want to approach the end of your college career, and find you don’t have anything worthy to put on your resume. Four years of ID checking, or the equivalent, will not impress potential employers.</p>
<p>So it’s important to forge relationships with professors, who might be able to present you with developmental opportunities.</p>
<p>It’s important to get involved on campus, in clubs or organizations or fraternities/sororities, and to take on positions that give real-world skills. …being president of a fraternity is not like being the president of a high school club–there is a real budget to manage, a house that needs to be maintained, a membership that needs to be catered to and motivated, alumni to keep involved; the same goes for just about any organization on campus–finding speakers, working with budgets/contracts, planning events, etc. Just belonging to a laundry list of clubs or organizations will not impress potential employers.</p>
<p>The same goes for job experiences. Try to find jobs that will add to your skill set. it doesn’t have to be “concrete” like an aspiring accountant has to have experience in accounting–but, have you had experience working as part of a team? Have you been able to work on a project from beginning to end? etc</p>
<p>I gradually eliminated most of my high school stuff from my resume when I was in college. Part of it was because I got quite a few very prestigious awards in college that far eclipsed what I had done in high school (REUs, thesis award, very prestigious grad school fellowship, A science award that gave me a full ride to Penn for my senior year there) and part of it was because I felt that things I did in science olympiad and the like were no longer relevant.</p>