Create an Academic Resume

This article first appeared in GoLocalPDX.com on March 4, 2015.

You probably think of a resume as something you need when you apply for a job. If you are a high school student, you may or may not need that sort of resume, but it is a good idea to start an academic resume as early as 9th grade. You will use your academic resume for all the following purposes:

• to keep track of your academic achievements and awards
• to keep track of all of your activities throughout high school
• as an info source when you fill out the common application and other college admission applications
• to send with scholarship applications
• as a resource for all your recommenders
• as a handout to admissions officers and alumni interviewers

An academic resume is different from a job-seeking resume in many ways. First, it starts with academic information such as where you go to school, your graduation year, your GPA, standardized test scores (once you have some), and extraordinary academic achievements.

Next, it shares your extracurricular activities, both those that are part of your school and those that happen outside of a school setting. This can reflect anything that you choose to spend time on—clubs, sports, religious activities, community service, work, internships, or hobbies. Some applications ask you to report hours spent per activity. Since that is hard to keep track of on your academic resume, I suggest you keep a separate spreadsheet where you record your hours, and use that as a reference to report your hours when requested.

Academic resume guidelines:

• One page excluding pictures
• Font size between 12-10 pt
• broken into logical categories with some white space for readability
• use of acronyms discouraged (for example, spell out National Honor Society instead of putty NHS)
• use present tense and active verbs
• create headers/categories that make sense for your individual list
• if you have a portfolio or blog, link to it in the resume
• a back-side photo page is optional

Here are a few samples resumes to get you started:

• Lori Leader
• Ed Engineer

Please note, if you are especially accomplished at a sport, performing or visual art, speech and debate, or any other focus area for which you might be recruited, you will probably want a separate resume dedicated to your area of focus. Some resources for creating those are located here.