How to go about a resume?

<p>I understand Columbia isn't too hot on resumes/activity lists.
BUT! I've done some pretty fly things in my extracurriculars. Only listing "President" for a couple of ECs seems somewhat anticlimactic after 4 years of hard work and dedication. Would the pros of including a short, 1 page resume, which had bullets explaining my accomplishments underneath my activities outweigh the cons of uploading one at all?
Thanks!</p>

<ul>
<li>Led Key Club gummy bear sales drive, resulting in $30.67 profits </li>
</ul>

<p>Stuff like that isn't fly.</p>

<p>lol @ ^. That was great Columbia2002.</p>

<p>If it defines you, and you really feel that it is difficult to paint a proper picture of yourself with that. If you feel that significant part of your application is missing without it, it might help. Otherwise if it's discouraged, don't.</p>

<p>ohmancollege!: Not too keen is an understatement. They hate activity lists. Unless you have done anything especially notable(read: winning a national competition, doing something VERY VERY VERY notable), do not submit an activity list. They do not want a laundary list of everything you have succeeded in. They want a list of what you are passionate about, what you care most about. There's no way you can have more than 7 activities which you are truely passionate about and aren't doing to add to your resume.</p>

<p>The activity list should give you enough space to explain what you have done. If you won a national competition, just say <club name="">: Won <name of="" prestigious="" competition=""> on your activities list.</name></club></p>

<p>You can submit a resume if you want, but I advise against it.</p>

<p>haha, man i wish my credentials were as prestigious as organizing the gummi bear drive. =]</p>

<p>it just seems to me that simply saying "President of ACLU Chapter" seems to lack the oomph of a few bullet points stating that it is the largest chapter in the nation, that i've organized presentations for national conferences, that i've developed fundraisers generating thousands of dollars, etc. etc. </p>

<p>i only have 6 worthwhile extracurricular activities... what I dont want them to see is the mere laundry-list of cabinet titles and whatnot. i want them to know about what i've accomplished.</p>

<p>any more suggestions?</p>

<p>i say that you go ahead and do it</p>

<p>first of all, i can't imagine that they hate seeing resumes as long as they're within a reasonable length</p>

<p>all the people from my school are actually required to send them, two got into columbia last year.... sooo yeah</p>

<p>"it just seems to me that simply saying "President of ACLU Chapter" seems to lack the oomph of a few bullet points stating that it is the largest chapter in the nation"</p>

<p>if this is case, and the like is true for other activities put it up, but the oomph needs to be there, and if it is, it can help.</p>

<p>it does sound like you did a lot for the ACLU. Maybe instead of a "resume," just elaborate a bit more in the additional information section.</p>

<p>I think situations like the OP's are the exception to the rule. Unless there's a lot to explain that can't be gleaned from the activity name (eg staring up your own charity or leading an unusually large and complex group, etc etc), don't bother with a resume. I had a "lot" of ECs, but I only listed the 6 or so most important, and then only listed the most important awards/titles for each one. If you're a good debater, don't send them a list of every single award you've won. They don't really care. Just list a few, or the most important ones!! </p>

<p>Also, this is one thing I keep hearing: if you DO send a resume, keep it short. In other words, one page or LESS. Most adults don't have resumes longer than 1.5-2 pages unless they are successful businesspeople or widely-published professors. So there's no realistic reason a high school student's resume should come anywhere close :-)</p>

<p>
[quote]
Most adults don't have resumes longer than 1.5-2 pages unless they are successful businesspeople or widely-published professors. So there's no realistic reason a high school student's resume should come anywhere close :-)

[/quote]
</p>

<p>A resume never needs to be more than one page. If you're in academics, you use a CV (listing every publication you authored and every conference you farted at) rather than a resume. If you're a successful / accomplished businessman, you don't need a resume because people know who you are.</p>

<p>Executive resumes are often several pages, listing the companies they've worked at and the various transformational things they've done there. My dad's is squeezed onto 2 pages.</p>

<hr>

<p>Anyway, my disagreement with the advice of mikesown has been noted on several other threads asking this exact thing. I attached a 2-page "summary of activities and accomplishments" that was a categorized bulleted list, and I got in. If you really do have a long and varied list that the application just can't track, submit something, but keep it as brief and to-the-point as possible and filter for interesting things.</p>