The Resume Dilemma

Colleges and Universities A-Z Princeton University
1

<p>Right, so, I know there are various threads concerning this issue in other forums, but I thought I'd ask all you intelligent Princetonians (or future Princetonians, if all works out XD) for your opinion.</p>

<p>The Resume / Brag Sheet: yes or no? More importantly, if you got accepted ED, did you send one in? If so, how long was it?</p>

<p>I applied EA to Yale (ED in general scares me, otherwise I would've gone early to Princeton xD), didn't send in a resume, and got deferred, and I'm partially thinking that's because I didn't elaborate on everything I've contributed in my clubs, and that to Yale, they're just names on a list. </p>

<p>So, I wrote up a resume of all my school clubs and community involvement, with a paragraph for each... and that ended up being four pages long. Cut out a few of the less significant clubs (is that a bad thing? Does me leaving out NHS because I didn't have an officer role in it look like I don't care about it?), reworded my paragraphs, and now it's three pages.</p>

<p>Right now, it's in a... very oddly worded document in some places, where I tried to abbrieviate --</p>

<p>(sample entry: Team has gone on to state competition for the past three years; I was the only freshman chosen to be on the 6-member team at States, and have been a part of the state team ever since; placed 2nd in Eastern Massachusetts division for underclassmen in 2005, 3rd in same division for juniors in 2006)</p>

<p>-- and in other places, I used more fully-written sentences because it worked better. Is it bad that I went back and forth between these two formats?</p>

<p>And, finally, should I definitely have this sent in by January 1? I probably will no matter what, but how good are schools in general about taking extra stuff after the original application due date?</p>

<p>Thanks to anyone who helps me out. xD</p>

2

<p>I can answer a couple of your questions:</p>

<p>I got in ED and didn't send a resume because I felt that the Princeton app gave me enough space to elaborate on my ECs and list as many ECs as I wanted to. However, if I had to send the Common App into places, I was going to send a resume, too.</p>

<p>In terms of length, my GC said that it really shouldn't be any more than 2 pages if you actually want them to read it. Around 1 is even better.
I would skip the full sentences and make it a list (with bullets, etc.)--that will be shorter and easier for them to read/skim.</p>

3

<p>Definitely cut your resume down to one page. It looks presumptuous if a high schooler has a longer resume than that. Just by looking at your sample entry I think you could trim down a lot. Also, keep the format uniform throughout. Finally, although I think the admissions office would be pretty lenient, try to get all of the parts of your app in on time. The last thing you would want would be to have them misplace or make a decision on your app without all the information. Good luck!</p>

4

<p>Alright, I think I may work some of this into bullet format, only for three of my entries, I don't see any feasible way of bulleting what I had to say--I wrote descriptions out of specific projects an activity did, and for another one, gave an explanation for why I had to drop it after sophomore year. Do you think it's okay to switch between formats if that's the case?</p>

5

<p>wow, 4 pages!!?!
i think you can cut some of the details. your sample entry seemed very detailed to me. on the princeton app i only slightly elaborated, like "president and founder" or something. i could have written "coordinator of all activities, leader of meetings" etc, but i didn't really think they'd want to read all of that. plus the "elaborate on an ec" essay gives you a chance to list major accomplishments. </p>

<p>just as an example, for your sample entry, i'd get rid of the "only freshman" part. i'd probably change the beginning to: "one of 6 state competitors for team, 2007-2010" (or whatever).</p>

<p>for your format question, i wouldn't worry about it. i doubt the adcom will have time to consider your format. if they ever consider your format, it will be in the essay.</p>

<p>are you using the princeton app? i don't think you should need a resume for the princeton app. i feel like it was designed so that you shouldn't really have to attach a resume. you can add as many boxes for separate ECs as you want, and there is a good amount of space to elaborate on each one. but i guess you're probably going to use the common app... so maybe a resume is useful... but yeah, keep it to a page if you can. remember that the adcom doesn't have time to read pages of stuff, so if you attach 4 pages it does more harm than help because they might disregard some of it AND be a little annoyed.</p>

<p>hmm this was a lot of rambling... sorry! and of course it is just my opinion. btw, i was accepted ED and didn't have a resume.</p>

6

<p>My best friend sent in an extra resume and got into Princeton ED this year. His was around 2 pages, I think, but certainly not longer than that. I would warn against sending a 3 or 4 page document.</p>

<p>If you don't like the bullet format, there is another way you could do it. My friend did his in a chart format, with specific boxes for each piece of information. The chart looked something like this:</p>

<p>Activity Hours of Involvement Description/Awards/Whatever else
Lacrosse 10 hr./30 wks. (9) MVP Freshman Team (9)
12 hr./32 wks. (10) MVP Defensive Player (10) </p>

<p>That allows you to keep everything organized. I don't think you need to tell Princeton why you had to drop an activity sophomore year unless it was one of your biggest and most time-consuming activities in 9th and 10th grade. I'm sure that admissions officers understand that sometimes people quit things. Unless you quit a lot of things or quit something that you have previously had a HUGE level of involvement in, it won't make you look bad at all. </p>

<p>I would TRY to stay in the same format. Most schools request (somewhere on their website, although it's hard to find) that IF you send in an extra resume you send it in a similar format to the Common App one. For the description of the project, I'm sure you can just take out words here and there to make it an incomplete sentence (and when are you ever allowed to legally do that!) and just put it as a single bullet-point.</p>

7

<p>I applied ED to princeton and got accepted, and I actually sent a 4-page resume.
I used the common app and there was definitely not enough space to elaborate on anything.
But now that I think about it, it think the resume shouldn't have been that long. I kinda got carried away I guess.
I also listed the prizes and wrote short descriptions about them because the adcoms wouldn't have a clue what the prizes I received were about.</p>

<p>So basically I would say- two pages would be good.</p>

8

<p>Yeah, I'm using common app, and there's pretty much zero space to even begin to say what I've done in all my activities.</p>

<p>I think I will bullet, but as a general format question, do you think--</p>

<p>Activity / Years of Involvement / hr/w, w/yr
-> bulleted details</p>

<p>--works?</p>

<p>And as far as the activity I dropped goes, it's not so much that I'm afraid it'll look bad that I dropped it as it is that I think it'd look good if they see that I really did have a strong interest in that despite me dropping it. Basically, I used to be really involved in my school's drama program (the technical aspects of it--Stage Managing, set crew) in middle school, and it was something I loved doing, but I could only participate in a small way in Freshman/Soph year because of sports, and when I got to the varsity level of spots senior year, couldn't participate at all.?</p>

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<p>wait.. I know I'm going to sound stupid, but how do you exactly send in another resume online? Is there any place to upload it?
Or, are you guys talking about real mail?</p>

10

<p>I think that if you want to send in an extra resume you have to send it in via snail mail. I wish there were a place to upload it, but I don't think there is.</p>

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<p>Unless you want to put it in the additional information section (which I think is a bad idea--ruins all the formatting), it has to be snail mail.</p>

12

<p>additional information ruins formatting???
what if u manually format it, like press enter, and use addtional information?</p>

13

<p>spahiristic, that looks like a good, clear format.</p>

14

<p>wellz I tried that SO hard when I was applying Princeton ED
and it was very very excruicating pain for me cuz it wounldn't really let me format as I would normally on the word document.
They have this real wieerrred formatting system or I just don't get it.</p>

<p>So, I guess I have to mail it then...? I hope they do not throw them away, they won't right? :0</p>

15

<p>No, I think that if it's marked with your full name, birthdate, and SSN, they can easily find your file (where it belongs) and stick it in there.</p>

16

<p>i did send in a resume with my ED agreement. I sent it in by nov 1st and it was around 2 pages i think? i had a short para for my really meaningful ones and just awards/honors for the less meaningful ones. sending in a resume can't hurt you. good luck!</p>