<p>Is 4 pages considered too lengthy? Do adcoms prefer the resume to be brief instead of more in-depth?</p>
<p>The rule of thumb for resume's is one page max.</p>
<p>Hm I wonder why those examples in those college app guidebooks are ~5 pages long?</p>
<p>Definitely don't submit a 4 page resume. Admissions officers read a lot of applications... and while they do want to know more about you (and thus, resumes can be good to submit), they have neither the time nor (I'm guessing) the desire, to read 4 pages about everything you did in high school. They just need a general idea, an overview of sorts. If you have unique ECs (i.e. ones that aren't self-explanatory), write a brief description. One page is all you need. If you've done a lot, maybe, MAYBE, two. Definitely not four.</p>
<p>"The thicker the file, the thicker the applicant."</p>
<p>When they've got all those apps to read, I don't think they're gonna waste their time reading a four-page resume.</p>
<p>The above posters are right - 1 page, max.</p>
<p>My old joke: I have two degrees, you have none. Your resume should not be longer than mine.</p>
<p>Kids started freaking out, so I don't throw that line out there anymore :). While it's impressive that some students can document every step they've made for four years, it's often more impressive when a student shows sustained, deep commitment to a few things.</p>
<p>Group your activies. Instead of listing out every canned food drive or charity walk, put them in one group. You don't need to give lengthy descriptions unless something is very unique to your area/school. </p>
<p>For example:</p>
<p>Music - violin
-Central High School orchestra, 2nd chair in grades 11 & 12
-All-County Orchestra (grades 10 & 11)
-Pit orchestra for three school musicals (grades 10-12)
-private lessons (grades 2-12)</p>
<p>Community Service Work
-Habitat for Humanity (grades 10-12)
-Tutoring French (grades 11-12)
-Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk-a-thons (grades 9-12)</p>
<p>I totally agree. For a 17 or 18 year old to have a 4-page resume appears pretentious. If a professional with multiple degrees and many years of work experience can condense their accomplishments to one page, so can you.</p>
<p>mine was two... but it also included summer activities, academic things, extracurricular things - no explanations, everything 1 or 2 lines - and i had a LOT of categories. i'm a pretty all over the place kind of applicant.</p>
<p>I am wondering about white space and readability -- my son can cram everything on 2 pages, but the margins are slim and the lack of white space makes it look crammed.</p>
<p>He has grouped things and dropped off insignificant items -- but it seems that high school kids are involved in so many areas. Also -- He was thinking that it would be good to throw in some description of activities if they are not common, but he doesn't have the room -- what is the thought there?</p>
<p>And on the resume -- do you list awards under the group or under the activity? Like, he has numerous awards for community service -- does he list them under community service or under the organization that he participates in that awarded it? (Civil Air Patrol, Order of the Arrow, etc)</p>
<p>My husbands resume is shorter because he drops off work experience that is not relevant -- and his activities are related for the most part and common enough to be understood.</p>
<p>
[quote]
He was thinking that it would be good to throw in some description of activities if they are not common, but he doesn't have the room -- what is the thought there?
[/quote]
That's what I did in my supplement. I wrote a few sentences for each activity, because a couple of my activities were school-specific.</p>
<p>haha mine was four... </p>
<p>and that was with me telling my mom that "no, they do not care that i used to take fencing lessons" etc.</p>
<p>i felt that it was a reasonable length; comprehensive, but all meaningful.</p>
<p>my Ds was four, and at the information session she specfically asked about it and the two schools she has sent it to encourage resumes....she liked that</p>
<p>she wants schools that look at the whole package, that is the kind of environment she wants to be in</p>
<p>and for her's resume, it wasn't fluff, the schools she is applying to encourage internships alot, so they are looking for kids who have done that stuff</p>
<p>We'll read pretty much anything you send us (except term papers...please don't send us term papers!). </p>
<p>Use your judgment when it comes to the resume. If you're certain that someone who interacts with students wouldn't know what an activity is, by all means write a little description. </p>
<p>I see a lot of students these days writing lists with the activity name, their position, and then the years they took part. Some will write little blurbs under the list to tell us what an acronym means (one that's local, not a national one like FIRST or FBLA) or what their Eagle Scout project was.</p>
<p>Mine is four pages long.. ouch.</p>
<p>Dean J,</p>
<p>How much should a transfer student put on a resume versus a freshman applicant? That is, should the transfer applicant leave out most of the high school stuff and focus on college activities only, or do you want to see a bit of both--and if so, how much?</p>
<p>Thanks in advance for any info you can provide in this area.</p>
<p>You shouldn't generalize that every 4 page resume is filled with unnecessary things. My resume was 4 pages long and it was filled with about 15 activities circling music, academics and even general volunteering. However, it contained almost none of my inschool clubs -- which could obviously be found on the transcript. </p>
<p>I suppose mine was long because I had a detailed description on the side -- and that's what college admissions are looking for. Not some long list of activities-- now that makes you look stupid -- but a nice detailed explanation of what you did in your activities.</p>
<p>Then again, perhaps I'm an exception. I strongly believe that my extracurricular activties were outstanding enough so that they made up for my relatively poor GPA.</p>
<p>I'm super-involved in my school and all that jazz, but I actually didn't submit a resume at all. I just boiled my ECs and awards down to the very most important ones, and put them on the common app. I doubted the adcoms cared about the little tiddly awards I won in frosh year for choir, or some EC I did for one year...I just put down the things that were important to me and my high school experience, and it didn't hurt me. If it's not super-important, don't put it on!</p>
<p>Is this a resume for a job?</p>
<p>usually anything after the first page won't get read, put the important stuff first!</p>
<p>If your resume is that long then you have unnecessary things in it. Your resume is not a way to list of your life's accomplishments. For instance, the college admissions officers do not care that you won the regional violin championship at age 4. If you send in a resume that long trust me they will not read it. In fact, you will become annoying (from the mouth of an admissions officer). My suggestion would be to limit your resume to one page or 2 at the max. Here are more suggestions: </p>
<ol>
<li><p>Listing multiple activities is not always a plus. For instance, if in your high school career, you have been in 30 clubs then you seem inconsistent, foolish, and uncommitted. You should not put in any club that you have not been apart of for at least two years.</p></li>
<li><p>If you have some awards then you should put the most prestigious. For instance, listing "Who's Who in American High Schools" is not necessary and can make you look very gullible for scams. </p></li>
<li><p>Also, for clubs, try to list the one's where you have had leadership experience.</p></li>
<li><p>Community Service: As to giving 50 places that you served, list maybe three that you have been most committed to and give a brief statement in italics such as "I am proud to have completed over 150 hours of community service through out my high school career."</p></li>
<li><p>Remember to point out things that are relevant for the "position." For instance, when I have interviews to be a Finance Intern, no one cares that I dance ballet; it's nice but not a great skill for the position.</p></li>
</ol>