<p>One of D's professors is asking her to apply for a position to do work in a lab, and D asked my help in putting together a resume. The only resume format I'm familiar with is the typical work resume, that she used when seeking (un-science-related) summer jobs. </p>
<p>Is there a different format that should be followed for this, and given that she's a college freshman with no research lab experience, how should this best be handled? She did get a 5 in the AP in this subject area, took a summer course in this particular area and was employed in a position that is somewhat related to this area. But she's never worked in a lab (nor would I have expected her to, despite the usual CC expectation that everyone has a research lab at their disposal in high school, which I find somewhat amusing, but that's another thread).</p>
<p>^^If she is a freshman or a sophomore, she can put down some of her major high school awards in math and science (as well as any scholarships she may have won (NMF, etc) if she did those. GPA and major GPA (or GPA in the area that she wants to get a lab position in) should be included. A list of summer classes are fine to include as well, as well as a list of the relevant APs she got a 5 on. Also, relevant employment experience (not working in sales at a dept. store or something) would be good to include.</p>
<p>In my experience, early college resume’s are a hybrid of notable high school accomplishments with college GPA added. Other than roughly following a standard resume’ format, be sure to not go over one page. Other than that, just be logical about including stuff that you think show aptitude for the position.</p>
<p>My bad, I thought I had mentioned in my OP (but apparently I didn’t) that she is a first-year – she doesn’t have any GPA and major GPA at this point. Would high school GPA be silly at this point? (She’s at a top-ranked LAC so by definition everyone who is there did well in hs.) To what extent can this be what she’s interested in versus what she’s already accomplished? (because this is sort of the self-fulfilling prophecy here - she has to get some experience to rack up any accomplishments)</p>
<p>I wouldn’t overthink this. The prof is looking for a one pager which has your D’s contact information, enough context to answer the question, “why are we hiring this woman to work in a lab”, and can be quickly emailed to anyone else involved in the hiring decision.</p>
<p>So name, contact info at the top.</p>
<p>HS, relevant classes taken (any lab sciences, all math classes), names of any relevant classes she’s taking now. HS GPA and standardized test scores.</p>
<p>Any work experience next.</p>
<p>Any relevant extra curricular activities. If none, don’t bother. Any computer skills.</p>
<p>period. Should take all of three minutes to bang it out…</p>
<p>Well, if she’s been employed in a related area, that is already more than most candidates have. It’s up to her if she wants to include high school GPA. Like you said, people assume you must have done well if you are at a prestigious LAC. I’m not sure what people normally do; my high school didn’t calculate GPA, so it wasn’t an issue for me. Personally, I might include it if she had a 4.0/4.0 (not that it would make a big difference, but if she was looking for stuff to add). A near-perfect GPA is going to be assumed from the fact she is at that LAC.</p>
<p>If she is applying to a lab at her own college, honestly they aren’t expecting a lot. The primary purpose of those labs are to train students. Also, if she feels like it, I don’t think waiting until the winter break to apply is too late. In that case, she would have a college GPA.</p>