The Student Resume

Student Resume Overview

• Brain Dump

• Getting Organized

• What do Admissions

Committees Want?

Brain Dump

• Create a resume of all of your

student activities

• Reflect on all activities you have

participated in since grade 9 and

list them

Brain Dump, con’t

• Pay no attention to the length of

the list

• Be sure to get all activities listed

• Why?o Personal Statement

o Letters of Recommendation

Brain Dump, con’t

• Ways to approach the brain

dump activity:o List activities of most interest to

you

o Go through activities

chronologically• This may be a better method if your

fear you may leave out some important activities

ActivityGrade

(9, 10, 11, 12)Hours per

week or yearPositions, Honors, Awards

Brain Dump Worksheet

Getting Organized

• Organize the activities by

theme and flesh them out

• These detailed activity

sheets will help you fill out

applications

Getting Organized, con’t

• Reorganize the activities into 6

categories:o School sponsored activities (clubs,

political positions, newspaper, the arts)

o Employment (paid jobs or internships)

o Community service (volunteer

positions)

o Sports (differentiate between

community and school sports clubs)

o Travel (any domestic or international

travel experience)

o Special interests / talents (hobbies,

pursuits, special circumstances)

Getting Organized, con’t

• You may not have all 6

categories; this is not a problem

– more is not better

• Include 3 – 5 sentences in your

descriptions

• Highlight leadership and awards

details

• Later, descriptions will be

shortened due to application

requirements, but for now, more

detailed descriptions are needed

What do Admission Committees Want?

• Looking for genuine interest

• Better to show a passion in a

handful of areas

• “Narrow and deep rather

than wide and shallow”

• Why do they want this

information?o To get a sense of who you are

o To learn what qualities you can

bring to their college

What do Admission Committees Want?, con’t

• Level of commitment

• How you have progressed

over timeo Leadership

• They want to know why you

have pursued the passions

that you have – they can tell

if you’re faking it

School sponsored activities Years/Hours Position Description

Employment Years/Hours Position Description

Community service Years/Hours Position Description

Sports Years/Hours Position Description

Travel Years/Hours Position Description

Special interests / talents Years/Hours Position Description

Detailed Activity Worksheet