<p>Hi parents! I will be visiting colleges this summer and have arranged for interviews at several. I'd like to get a resume together and have researched how to write one. I'm confused about one part and figured I'd ask the cc experts.</p>
<p>Should I include "summer activities" on the resume? Also, how much detail should I go into about the significant activities I've participated in? Right now my resume is two pages long. </p>
<p>As always, thank you so much for your help.</p>
<p>I think you should include significant summer activities, but two pages is waaay too long; I don't think it would get a thorough read. You'd be better off keeping it to one page, including your most important activities and achievements.</p>
<p>Your resume should be something that interviewers can take a quick glance at and get an overview of what you've done. When you're interviewing, you don't want them to be reading your resume. Instead, list the significant things you've done over the past few years and write a short description of them. That way, if the admissions officers is skimming it and finds something interesting, they can ask you to elaborate on it. Also, after your interview, the resume should allow the AdCom to refresh their memory about what you said when they are filling out their evaluations.</p>
<p>I disagree with the previous posters concerning the idea that a resume must be 1 page. Both my kids got into their first choice Ivy schools, and both had resumes that were longer. Both had many activities, colleges courses, summer programs and many awards. Even with trimming things down and being selective and concise, and not including anything that would be on their transcripts, they had more than 1 page. No interviewer ever commented about the resume being too long.</p>
<p>Ditto to what Donemom said. I admit, my resume was a bit long (5 pages), but I got into Yale early and no one ever mentioned there was a problem. I wrote a few sentences describing each activity I was involved with and each award/honor I received. Also, even though Yale discouraged extra recommendations, I sent two extra ones and I feel that they greatly enhanced my application. If what you have to present is really important, don't worry about the length. I made sure that my resume was clear and organized, and I truly don't regret its volume. I justified it to myself this way: I would feel more guilty if I were rejected and had sent an abbreviated resume that I knew sold me short than if I were rejected and had sent a resume that was long but conveyed who I really was. Same for the recommendations. I just said what I wanted to and hoped an admissions officer would appreciate the effort rather than scorn it. And in the end, it paid off.</p>
<p>FYI, here's another recent resume thread, albeit its not interview oriented:</p>
<p>...similar debate on length.</p>
<p>Less is better. It makes you choose what is really important in your life. It makes you edit, edit, edit! If it goes over a page, you know you have done your best to pare it down. Font size etc. can make a difference.</p>
<p>When I first compiled all my information into a resume, it turned out to be about 3 pages. This is the version I sent in with my college applications. It lists and explains each activity. However, when I went for interviews, I took a much more concise version that gave much shorter description. My reasoning (and what I had heard here on CC) was that if the interviewer found something interesting, they would ask me to elaborate, rather than simply reading what I had written down). My interviewers ended up taking notes on my resume and (presumably) used these to write their evaluations.</p>
<p>Another important resume tip: follow the common app instruction of listing activities "in order of their importance TO YOU". This really gives the admissions people the sense of who you are and what your passions are. Also, give hours per week and weeks per year spent, and do not inflate these,--adcoms are very familiar with what the demands of different activities are, and anything that sounds fake to them can greatly compromise your application.</p>
<p>thankyouthankyouthankyou, everyone!</p>
<p>I am going to ditto Donemom. Both my kids submitted three page resumes with their applications and also brought these to interviews and I would say that both my kids had successful admissions outcomes at very selective college programs. These were well organized resumes and a person could choose to skim the boldface entries or peruse the annotations. Their activities and awards were many and were enhanced by being descriptive and specific. The titles alone would not have done the job of showing what they had done. </p>
<p>To the original question...yes, have a category of summer experiences because this is indeed asked about on many applications and at interviews. I am an interviewer for a selective college and I always ask about this. I would put a lot of energy into working and reworking this "resume" as I see it as a synopsis of who the person is and how they spend their time and what is important to them. As well, on your applications, you want to get across certain attributes about yourself to tle them know you you are. You can plug these into the resume and into the essays. By the time the reader is finished with the application, they should be able to describe you. So use the resume as one opportunity to get that across and of course, the essays are another. The interview is another chance. My kids always brought their resume to the interviews. As an interviewer myself, I have only had one or two kids over the years bring one and it really really helped and I am amazed that no other kids thought to do this. It helps to have this stuff all outlined for me so I don't have to take down those notes. I can ask questions off the resume even. I noticed for one of my kids that the adcom asked her questions that she derived from perusing the resume. Like she saw the kid had gone to Italy and Greece and asked her about the trip. </p>
<p>Susan</p>
<p>Just don't crowd the resume with meaningless filler clubs or every activity you ever tried for one year. It is assumed that any top kids are in NHS, for example, so this is nothing to crow about. Chess club one year = meaningless. You don't want them to overlook the meaningful things because of all the filler.</p>
<p>If you can simplify by catagorizing some of the ECs thematically, that would be helpful. It will make the resume more clear and it will show that your interests cluster in identifiable ways. (For example, Musical instrument, A Cappella, musical theatre, and playing in an ensemble all would be part of a 'Music' cluster.)</p>
<p>The main problem with a massive resume is that it can imply "breadth with no depth." You want to avoid looking like someone who did a cursory stab at 500 different things but didn't get excited by anything.</p>
<p>I would definitely limit it to one page of your major accomplishments. Those are the things you will want to talk about during the interview. Cluttering in up with endless clubs and common activities will divert attention away from the important stuff. And an interviewer was not want to be flipping through 2 or 3 pages of fluff like National Honor Society, LAX co-captain or Marching Band section leader.</p>
<p>You can always send the longer version along w/ your apps.</p>
<p>Thank you, parents. I went out and bought a resume book today (my parents are very supportive but also very busy), and I figure this is MY job...</p>
<p>one last question...is there any sequence of entries which is better? ...should I have separate categories for "Extracurricular" and "Community Service?" (I have over 2500hrs community service and a few significant extracurriculars) </p>
<p>Thanks so much again. </p>
<p>This board is the best thing since peanut butter.</p>
<p>mine is about 2-3 pages long and i am wondering for a section such as "Honors and Awards" should i include awards given to me by the school like department awards for certain subjects or just "big" awards? and what is a "big" award, only ones that are nationally recognized?</p>
<p>also for highschool students like me, do courses, grades, and ap/sat scores need to be included on the resume?</p>
<p>what if i am sending a transcript along with the resume would that get rid of the need to include those things?</p>
<p>Originaloog, I don't know about your school, but at mine, something like Marchig Band Section Leader is a major activity that requires hours and hours of time. I really believe that not listing it in an attempt to not bore your reader would be a mistake and underestimate the student.</p>
<p>I guess I take the dissenting view from a majority of the thread's posters, as I am all for including the activities that most of you see as "filler" or "fluff." I think that something like one year of chess club or even National Honor Society is significant enough to warrant space on a resume. Although clearly I think that "awards" like Who's Who and all that should be omitted, I think that admissions officers would react better to a student that oversold rather than undersold himself.</p>
<p>To give you a real-life example, I listed the most significant activities on my resume first: things like math team, newspaper, literary club, marching band, and varsity sports teams. However, I am also dedicated to other activities that take less time but are still important as well--such as Key Club, National Honor Society, Tri-M Music Honor Society, etc. I think that admissions officers do not ASSUME anything. If you do not specifically say that you belong to the NHS, there is no reason for them to believe that you are and are just condensing your list. They look at what you HAVE done, and don't think things like, "Oh, she has over a 90 GPA, so she must be a member of NHS and just didn't put it down." Remember, not everyone is as overachieving as those on CC! If NHS is not on the list, an adcom probably won't consider the fact that the student made a conscious effort to cut that list down.</p>
<p>Also, the point about bringing up these extra activities in the interview rather than on the resume may be a detriment to the student. During my interview, my interviewer just asked me direct questions about the clubs I was involved in and copied down my answers. There was not much discussion, just a restatement of my resume. I would not depend on a busy interviewer to add facts to your application that you could have easily included yourself. I don't think an interview is the appropriate place for new information, just enhancing what's already in your applicaton. And isn't it rumored that the interview carries far less weight, than say, the application, anyway?</p>
<p>I guess you can take my opinion with as much a grain as salt as anyone's. I believe that I put together a successful application, and I'm just sharing what I think got me in. Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Justcruzen, as for categories, I pretty much used those from "Rock Hard Apps" by Katherine Cohen as a guide. I believe they were something like Extracurriculars, Community Service, Employment, Honors/Awards, Interests. </p>
<p>CAchild3, I would list departmental awards on the resume. Very few people actually have just national awards. On mine, I listed all school, local, statewide, and national awards. Grades and test scores are not on the resume. You fill out a separate section of the application for all test scores, and grades are on your transcript.</p>
<p>luckystar, </p>
<p>I understand you don't want to undersell, but why do you think the common app has only about 8 lines for ECs, listed in order of importance, and why do most common app schools discourage resumes?</p>
<p>I go from the point of view of the bleary-eyed admission officer who has read 17 other apps already that day and is trying to find something to get excited about. That's my rationale in skipping "filler." </p>
<p>Pennies are legal tender, too-- but if you can only carry so many coins in one pocket you may want to focus on quarters & dimes...</p>