A well-written resume will help your college application stand out and give the reader a concise overview of who you are and what you’re about. Taking the time to craft your resume has other benefits as well:

• Once you’ve created your resume, you’ll have much of the information you’ll need to fill out college applications handy.

• Reviewing your past accomplishments may bring to mind experiences you’ve had that can form the basis of your application essay.

• Providing a copy of your resume to those writing your recommendation letters can help them reacquaint themselves with you and your achievements.

Here are some tips for creating a resume:

• Use active, action-oriented phrases to describe yourself: for example, "organized weekend softball game;" "volunteered at senior center"; "edited club newsletter." Include accomplishments, skills, or experiences that illustrate qualities such as leadership, teamwork, or community spirit.

• Don’t be shy about your accomplishments. Brainstorm with friends and family and other folks who know you to see if you can discover experiences or achievements that you may have overlooked. You may take for granted activities that others would be interested to know about you and that will help you stand out.

• Include your high school course list and any academic achievements, such as awards or honors. Include any academic or other competitions you’ve entered. Even if you didn’t win a prize, it shows you have initiative.

• List personal interests in a way that illustrates your accomplishments. "Played in school orchestra" is better than "enjoy playing music." Describe what you’ve achieved with your hobbies and interests, rather than just the interests themselves.

• Accentuate the positive but don’t exaggerate. Activities that may seem routine to you might be appropriate on your resume. Activities like housesitting, caring for animals, or cooking meals show that you’re responsible and hardworking.

• Try to keep your resume to a single page. Your resume is a snapshot of you.

• Organize your resume in a simple, easy-to-read format. Detail your experiences under broad categories, such as education, work experience, volunteer activities, awards, hobbies, and so on. Use standard fonts and simple formatting. Write straightforward, declarative sentences.

• Check out popular job search Web sites for more resume writing tips, but keep in mind that your resume will be much less focused on work experience and specific workplace skills than a job-hunter’s resume would be.

(The College Board through their email/newsletter service provided this information in their Junior Newsletter, May 2002)

Categories you might consider using on your resume could include:

Name

Address

Phone Number

High School Data (GPA, class rank)

College Courses

Test Scores

Research

Honors and Awards

Leadership Positions

School Activities (sports, music, theater, pep club, etc.)

Extra Curricular or Community Activities (SHARE, church, volunteer, sports)

Special Interests

Work Experience