<p>OK, tonight I want to make a resume/activity list to give to teachers who will be writing recs for me so they can get a sense of my extracurricular involvement and eventually send this to colleges as well, since the CommonApp is rather broad. I have a vague idea about how to go about this but I'm really a perfectionist when it comes to organization, hence I figure that you expereinced parents who have applied to colleges and interviewed for jobs will have some experience in making resumes/activity lists. Do you folks have any advice as how I should divide it, like in different subcategories like "Awards and Honors", and how I should format my involvement/time spent/accomplishments/positions in the clubs and organizations I'm involved in most effectively??? ALL ADVICE AND POINTERS WILL BE GREATLY APPRECIATED!!!:)</p>
<p>I second the request.</p>
<p>I believe there was an extensive thread on this in the parent's cafe a couple of months ago...lots of people posted excellent information...could you do a search in the cafe for that thread?</p>
<p>This need not be a difficult task so I will try to post a few of suggestions. First, a single format would not fit everyone. You need to decide on a few headings which will encompass all or most of your entries. Some suggestions would be: Awards, Community Service, Work Experience, Clubs, Athletics, Music. It is ok to have only one or two entries under a heading. Avoid padding and adding minor entries which are only likely to detract from your major experiences and accomplishments. Keep the entries very short with the name of the activity and time periods. You need not be overly detailed in specifying the total number of hours involved with each activity. If some of the entries are vague or you really want to highlight them, add a short phrase or up to a couple of sentences of description. Your entries should be listed in reverse chronological order; i.e., last to first. If you received an award for your activity, it is certainly ok to have two entires under different headings but again, avoid the appearance of padding. The resume/activities list should be concise and easy to read and all of the entries should follow the same format. Don't be overly concerned about the length. One page is fine. If you have lots of significant entries, two or three pages may be necessary. Always start with the most important headings. Usually something like Awards would be first. The least important headings and entries should be at the end since they are less likely to be noticed. There is always some debate about the length. Some people believe you should prune and lump entries in order to keep everything on one page. It is my belief that you should be complete and list everything of significance. If the resume is well organized, it should be easy to scan and the reader can choose to read any details that interest them.</p>
<p>emurse.com?</p>
<p>In addition to edad's suggestions, I'll just add this: Several schools we've talked to also wanted to very brief descriptions of what you actually did for your most important activities, awards, jobs. </p>
<p>And, thinking about it, you can see why. </p>
<p>Imagine looking at hundreds of the sort of EC lists you see kids post on here. They all look the same! </p>
<p>So, think about trying to add a real face to your resume.</p>
<p>I would agree. You don't want to write essays, but I would error on the side of adding too much information. Just try to keep it organized and easy to read with very clear headings. You probably want larger, bold type for the headings and maybe also bold the names for the entries.</p>
<p>My S and I were looking at one of the his apps last night and I wish I could remember which school. When it got to the section on ECs it had 6 lines to list ECs and right under the line it said, Tell us in two sentences what your three favorite extra curricular activities were and why? I'm guessing that's how the school distills these apps down from meaningless lists. I personally liked this particular colleges app.</p>
<p>I believe you are describing the common app and not an app developed by a specific college.</p>