An application resume is not a job resume. No need for buzz words — in fact, it’s best to avoid any language that outsiders probably won’t understand. No guarantee that the people in admissions will be familiar with any aspect of your past, including the industries where you’ve interned or worked. In most cases, your readers will spend a brief amount of time scanning your resume, mostly to give context. Who are you? Where did you go to school? Where have you worked? What’s your impact been? What other interests do you have? More on that in a moment, but first, a few general points.

  • Keep it in reverse chronological order.  Maybe the highlight of your life occurred five years ago, and you’re afraid admissions won’t notice it so you want to lead with that accomplishment? Don’t.  During their first pass of your resume, admissions readers are likely to start at the bottom, keeping one eye on the dates in the right column (you do have your dates in the right column, correct?) to get an overview of your life starting in college. If your dates bounce around, you’ve just made your reader’s job that much more complicated and violated cardinal rule #1: Make your reader’s work as easy as possible.
  • All dates should be in the format month/year – month/year. Clients have asked me why they need the months — months seem like extra clutter. But without months, the cynical admissions officer (that was me) will wonder what you’re trying to hide. If Job A ended in 2016 and Job B started in 2016, and you don’t provide months, I’ll guess you might have spent most of 2016 traveling. And that’s fine! Just be upfront about it.  Admissions caveat #1: don’t try to hide anything. It usually doesn’t work, and if your admissions readers tumble to your lack of candor, they won’t trust you. That won’t be good for you or your application.
  • Use an easy-to-read font and reasonable type. Decent margins and white space. Most schools require that your resume fit into one page if you’ve got less than a decade of experience. Reformatting with 7 pt type will not fool anyone. In fact, you might alienate your reader with such a tactic. Edit the thing. It will take you less than an hour and admissions will appreciate it.
  • Avoid fancy layouts. Your resume looks so cool that it could be framed. Nice. Go ahead, and hang it on your wall. But when it’s time to submit it, strip out the artsy touches and keep it simple so that the application software can digest it more easily. Otherwise, your resume may come out mangled on the other end.

Now that you’ve got your format under control, time to address the content.

  • No need for an overview. Delete that section and cut to the chase.
  • Specifics are good. People give me resumes full of adverbs and vague terms, like “helped enormously with lots of different projects.”  What did you do to “help” and what made your help “enormous?” What kinds of different projects?
  • As a corollary to above: quantify your impact. Did your efforts increase sales, or user satisfaction? Did you reach more customers? Did energy consumption improve? How many people attended the conference you organized? Number of views on social media or circulation? Add numbers, percentages, dollar (or other currency) amounts.
  • Extracurriculars and leadership: only include if you have real, meaningful involvement in activities not directly related to work or school. Admissions officers are all too familiar with applicants who join a bunch of groups in a short period of time, hoping to fluff up that part of the resume. Don’t bother. Taking a leadership role in one organization that you care about is going to carry a lot more weight than a half dozen organizations where your title is “member.”
  • Other stuff. No need to list all the apps you use or the languages you know. If the school cares — and for some programs, they do — they’ll ask for that information on the application. Adding a line about your hobbies and interests, if you’ve got space, can help admissions get to know you on a more personal level, but try to avoid cliches. “Traveling, reading, and sports” — that’s not telling me much. If that’s what you want to mention, fine, but be specific. What kind of travel do you prefer? What kind of books do you read?  Do you play sports, or are you a rabid fan? Small details will make your application stand out, and a few gems on your resume will help it sparkle.

Not many people enjoy working on their own resumes. It can feel clinical and downright unpleasant. Crank it out, ask someone to check it for typos, and move on to the main course: your essays and the application itself.