When applying to grad school, you’ll probably be asked to submit your resume. As grad school admissions become increasingly competitive, it’s critical that you have a strong resume to help you stand out from other applicants and impress the selection committee.
The perfect grad school resume is short and concise but persuasive enough to convince your dream grad school that you’re the perfect candidate. An academic resume is quite different to an employment resume, so it’s important to know how to write a winning CV for grad school.
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When preparing your grad school application, you’re probably consumed with many tasks like chasing down your academic transcripts and preparing for the entrance exam. Your graduate school resume might be the last thing on your mind, but you’ll almost certainly need to prepare one.
Grad school admission requirements vary depending on the school you’re applying to, but you’ll typically need to submit the following for your grad school application:
You shouldn’t use whatever resume you have on hand from the last time you applied for a job. A grad school resume is quite different from an employment resume, so you’ll need to create one specifically for this purpose. A well-crafted and comprehensive resume helps the admissions team understand your strengths, qualifications, experience, and interests. Ultimately, this will help them determine whether or not they’ll accept you into the program.
Follow these tips to show any selection committee that you’re the perfect candidate for their program!
Grad school selection committees go over hundreds, if not thousands, of resumes to find candidates who meet their standards and who could be excellent ambassadors for the program. Because of sheer volume, they may spend only a few seconds reviewing each resume.
This makes the introduction critical—this part will grab their attention and persuade them to keep reading. So, take your time to write a brief but strong professional profile. In as few words as possible, mention your qualifications, experience, and relevant skills, why you want to join the program, and why you’re the perfect candidate.
Your letter of intent for admission to graduate school gives you a unique way to separate yourself from the rest of the applicants.
Your contact details should go at the top of your resume, right below your name.
Be sure to include the following details:
You don’t need to include extra information about yourself such as your race, age, or citizenship. In fact, by law, institutions are not allowed to discriminate based on these details; so, it’s best to leave them off your resume entirely.
On the other hand, social media links are important, especially LinkedIn. If you don’t have a LinkedIn profile already, consider signing up for one. The selection committee may check your profile to verify your connections, work experience, internships, volunteer work, and educational background.
Good formatting is vital for any resume—a sloppy layout will make you look unprofessional and could damage your chances of getting accepted into a grad program. Keep it short, simple, and precise—make it no more than one page if possible. Don’t include any unnecessary details or information that isn’t relevant to the program.
The exact layout can vary, but your grad school resume should include:
Some grad schools want you to follow a standard format, so be sure to check with the admissions office if they have any grad school resume examples or templates. You can’t expect a call back from the selection committee if you can’t follow a simple format instruction!
For more on formatting, take a look at the sample CVs for graduate school admission later in this article.
Many grad schools require candidates to have a minimum level of education in order to be considered for their program. Even if a school doesn’t have strict grade prerequisites, at a minimum you will need to have completed an undergraduate degree. Your education history is one of the first things the selection committee will check when going over your resume.
Because this information is so important, you should outline your education in a prominent spot near the top of your resume. Mention the schools you’ve attended, your qualifications, GPA, and any other courses or certifications you took before or after your undergraduate studies. It’s also essential to include any teaching experience and major research projects.
Be sure to include these details in the education section:
An academic resume doesn’t need to be limited to your education experience. It’s usually a good idea to also include work experience outside of academia, along with teaching and research experience.
Detailing your diverse work experience may demonstrate additional skills and experience that is relevant to the program. It can also help to build a complete picture of your journey to grad school that will be more compelling to the selection committee. Furthermore, some programs, such as most MBAs, particularly look for professional work experience.
Your achievements set you apart from other candidates so it’s vital to highlight them in your resume. Achievements demonstrate your skills and strengths in a very concrete way, giving the committee a good reason to choose you over other applicants. Achievements could include volunteer awards, leadership positions, prizes won as part of extracurricular activities, academic achievements such as honors, and internships. Be sure to also briefly mention what you learned from your achievements.
Detailing your academic achievements can certainly enhance your resume, but it’s not necessary to include every small award you’ve won over the years. Make this section detailed, but without any fluff. Only include awards that are relevant to the program you are applying for.
The selection committee will be most interested in hearing about your latest experience and achievements. Therefore, it’s important to list everything in reverse chronological order: start with your most recent awards, projects, or positions and work backwards chronologically.
You should follow this approach for all the elements in your academic resume. This includes academic and professional work experience, research projects, publications, awards, and other achievements.
At the end of your resume, you should include a section covering your skills and abilities. Detail both the hard and soft skills picked up from your undergraduate program and professional experience. You can also list your hobbies, but remember to avoid fluff – only include extracurricular activities that are relevant to your application.
This doesn’t mean that all the skills and hobbies you mention must be directly related to the graduate program; however, they should show the school that you are a strong candidate for one reason or another. For example, sporting achievements demonstrate dedication and motivation, even if they aren’t directly related to the program you’re applying for. Anything that adds value to your resume will help make your application stand out.
Wherever possible, back up your statements. Rather than just stating that you possess certain skills, provide examples of academic projects that allowed you to build a specific capability, or awards you won that recognize your proficiency in a certain area.
Avoid repeating information. If you have only a few achievements to show and you’ve already mentioned them under the education section, you don’t need to create a separate section for achievements and awards. A lengthy resume filled with fluff isn’t going to help you get into your dream school. It’s always better to keep your resume short, concise, and to the point.
Don’t underestimate the importance of proofreading your academic resume for graduate school. Even one or two spelling mistakes, typos, or messy formatting can be a big turn off the selection committees.
Read over your resume to check for errors. Then proofread it again. Just to be sure, ask a friend, family member, or mentor to take a look. Most importantly, make sure your contact details are accurate and up to date!
Here’s a brief step-by-step guide to writing a resume for grad school applicants.
Your academic resume should start with a brief but compelling introduction to catch the selection committee’s attention and encourage them to keep reading.
Your introduction should summarize your most relevant skills and academic history, as well as mentioning your main professional objective. A strong graduate school resume objective is authentic, direct, and compelling.
In the next section, detail your academic qualifications and experience. Include not only your undergraduate degree and any other studies you’ve completed, but also key coursework, major academic projects and research and teaching experience.
The next part of your academic should cover your professional experience. If you’re a recent graduate with limited experience, list your internships, fellowships, teaching positions, or any other relevant experience you have.
Next, describe your most relevant skills that will impress the admissions committee. It’s essential to include as many relevant keywords as possible, as admissions committees are increasingly using Applicant Tracking Systems (ATS) to automatically filter applications.
Key skills and proficiencies you could add to your resume include:
Finally, highlight your most impressive academic achievements. Include details such as your GPAs, academic memberships and associations, and any awards you’ve received.
Below, we’ve included three graduate school resume examples that showcase different ways to format your resume for graduate school. These graduate school resumes include all the critical information, such as academic projects, relevant skills, and professional experience in a clear, concise way.
Your First Name, Last Name
Your phone number
Your email address
LinkedIn profile, other social media profiles
Introduction: 2-3 sentences outlining your qualifications, experience, why you want to join the program, and why you make the perfect candidate.
Education
Completion date – Degree name
Work Experience
Position title Start date – End date
Organization name, address
Skills
Awards and achievements
Your First Name, Last Name
Your phone number
Your email address
LinkedIn profile, other social media profiles
Introduction: 2-3 sentences outlining your qualifications, experience, and main career goals.
Work Experience
Position title Start date – End date
Organization name, address
Education
Completion date – Degree name
Skills
Awards and achievements
Your First Name, Last Name
Your phone number
Your email address
LinkedIn profile, other social media profiles
Introduction: 2-3 sentences outlining your qualifications, experience, why you want to join the program, and why you make the perfect candidate.
Education
Completion date – Degree name
Academic Projects
Project subject, Institution, City, State
Start date – End date
Coursework
Volunteer Experience
Position title Start date – End date
Organization name, address
Skills
Awards and achievements
A grad school or academic resume is totally different from a resume that you might use to apply for a job. Most students have limited work experience, particularly in the professional sector. Furthermore, grad school selection committees generally look for applicants with a strong academic background. Therefore, an academic resume can focus on qualifications, achievements, test scores, and extracurricular activities.
Contact information, educational qualifications, internship programs, awards and achievements, and any extracurricular activities are the basic essentials you should include in your masters degree resume or graduate school resume. You should also have a strong introduction or summary near the top of your resume which tells the selection committee what they need to know at a glance. You can add additional information, such as professional experience and other projects if it’s relevant to the program.
Generally speaking, your grad school resume should be no more than one page. However, if you have a lot of experience and a detailed history of qualifications, you can make your resume 1.5-2 pages. But, we don’t recommend going over two pages! The most important thing is to keep your professional resume for graduate school both relevant and concise.
There are a few different graduate school resume formats, and the best one for you will depend on your chosen field of study, as well as your level of experience. Equally, it’s important to format your resume so that you showcase your strengths and achievements in the best way possible.
If you already have professional experience, it’s usually best to open with your most recent experience, then continue the list in reverse chronological order. If you have little to no work experience, its preferable to follow your opening summary with your most impressive academic achievements and qualifications.
When applying for jobs, you should never use a one-size-fits all resume. Instead, it’s critical to adapt your CV to the job description each and every time. If the job description mentions certain skills, ensure that your resume shows that you have these capabilities. Additionally, be sure to clearly demonstrate the experience and qualifications detailed in the job description.
Likewise, prospective graduate students should tailor their academic resume to the specific program they’re applying to. Many grad schools are highly competitive, so it’s essential that every part of your application, including your resume, helps you to stand out and clearly shows why you’re an excellent fit for the program.
Your graduate school application should be as comprehensive as possible, but you don’t need to go overboard. Therefore, for most graduate programs, it’s best to include your undergraduate qualifications and any other relevant certifications, but you don’t need to mention your high school GPA or SAT scores, for example.
Likewise, you should generally include professional work experience going back around 10 – 15 years, as long as it’s relevant to the program.
Getting into grad school can be tough, especially if you’re applying to one of the Ivy Leagues. These schools receive thousands of applications, so you really need to make sure yours stands out. It’s important to take your time and make the effort to present a strong application, from your academic transcript and GPA to your winning grad school resume.
Are you putting together a grad school application? Check out this guide on how to ace your grad school interview.