The first thing that goes on your resume is your educational history. This is the most important thing a college needs to know about you so it must go first. Include the most recent high school you attended and your GPA. You also need to include the street address and phone number of the high school in case the college wants to contact your high school to verify records.
| County Senior High School | 123 Main St. Anytown, AK 12345 |
| GPA: 3.5 | (111) 867 – 5309 |
This section of your resume includes all of the AP and IB classes you have taken and are still taking in high school. The goal of a resume is to paint a picture of yourself, so listing your advanced courses on your resume shows colleges where you excel.
| Grade 9 | Grade 10 | Grade 11 | Grade 12 |
| n/a | AP World History | AP US History | AP Calculus |
| AP Chemistry |
This section contains the leadership positions you have held throughout high school. It’s important to experience directing other people and leading projects, as this will give you a big head start in college for class groups, student organizations, jobs, and the rest of your career. It also shows that you’re mature, motivated, and that you can work with others.
| Position name | Time commitment | Grade(s) |
|---|---|---|
Varsity Soccer Team Captain
| 20 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yr | Grade 12 |
ASB Class Representative
| 10-30 hrs/wk; 50 wks/yr | Grade 11 |
Here is where you can list specific awards and honors you have earned throughout high school. These can be any type of awards – the goal is to show the admissions office that you have been recognized by others for your achievements.
| Award name | Received |
|---|---|
Eagle Scout
| August 2011 |
Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do
| March 2009 |
This is the place to put the sports you participated in during high school, including school sports teams and club/select teams. What colleges are looking for here is continuity. Having 4 years of one sport is much more impressive than 1 year of 4 different sports – it shows your dedication, that you can stick with something for 4 years (much like your high school diploma).
| Sport and/or team | Time commitment | Grade(s) |
|---|---|---|
Cross Country
| 20 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yr | Grade 9, 10, 11, 12 |
Red Devils – Club Soccer Team
| 32 hrs/wk; 12 wks/yr | Grade 9, 10 |
Another way to show how motivated you are and how much you care is to do community service. You can participate in a program organized by your school, your religious community, an independent organization, or you can even create a self-run project. Although there can be overlap between items in the community service section and the clubs/hobbies section, just choose one area to put these items in. The organization of your resume is up to you!
| Activity | Time commitment | Grade(s) |
|---|---|---|
Eagle Scout Service Project
| 10 hrs/wk; 12 wks/yr | Grade 12 |
Neighborhood Food Bank – Volunteer
| 2 hrs/wk; 50 wks/yr | Grade 10, 11 |
In this section of your resume you can share extra-curricular clubs and organizations you were a member of. You can share the club’s accomplishments during your involvement and your activity and leadership experiences in it. You may already have your club activities sorted in other categories, like community service. In this case, don’t feel obligated to include the Clubs section on your resume. 1) Having duplicate content on your resume looks bad. 2) To save space and look more complete, it’s better to have 1 category with 2 entries than 2 categories with 1 entry each.
| Club name | Time commitment | Grade(s) |
|---|---|---|
Key Club
| 10 hrs/wk; 26 wks/yr | Grade 9, 10 |
Gay-Straight Alliance
| 15 hrs/wk; 30 wks/yr | Grade 10, 11, 12 |
While the Awards section of a Resume lists where others have recognized your abilities and contributions, Personal Accomplishments is where you can share the things you’ve done for which you didn’t receive any public recognition. Be careful what you list here – only share things that will be impressive and relevant to each college’s admissions office.
| Achievement | Accomplished |
|---|---|
Replaced engine in my car
| June-Aug 2011 |
Designed and built personal website for artwork portfolio
| Feb 2012 |
Again, this is a category where you need to be careful what entries you include. Be sure that you only list hobbies that are relevant to each college (and major or area of study) to which you apply. Or you can include hobbies that you have been very dedicated to and have taught you valuable skills.
| Activity | Involvement |
|---|---|
Sailing
| 2008-2012 |
All colleges require a certain amount of foreign language knowledge for admission. This provides the admissions office a quick glance of the languages you know (besides English) and how well you know them or how much you studied them.
| Language | Years of speaking |
|---|---|
| Polish | 17 years |
Spanish
| 2 years |
When applying for a job, it’s important to put a personal objective at the very top. The person who reads your resume might only spend 15 seconds looking at it, so having a clear objective at the very top will make it easy to understand what you’re pursuing. It also helps you stand out!
Customer service management where my experience can be utilized to improve customer satisfaction. |
Show potential employers what you have accomplished in the past! You must prove that you meet the requirements of the job, so explain what you accomplished in previous jobs to show you’re ready for the next one.
| Position name | Time commitment | Grade(s) |
|---|---|---|
Franklin’s Lawn & Garden Services, Sammamish WA 2012 to Present
| 15 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yr | Grade 12 |
Chuck’s Sodas & Pizza, Sammamish WA Summer 2011
| 20 hrs/wk; 3 mon/yr | Grade 11 |
Sometimes when you apply to a job, you might have acquired skills useful for that job outside of a regular work environment. In this section, include skills relevant to the job you’re applying for and what you’ve accomplished with those skills.
| Skill | Accomplished |
|---|---|
Event Management
| 2011-2012 |
When applying to an art school, it’s important to show off your projects and accomplishments. In this section, include projects you did for class, personal projects, and work projects if you have them.
| Project | Date |
|---|---|
Community center art gallery exposition – Edmonds, WA
| July 2011 |
Designed and built personal website for artwork portfolio
| Feb 2012 |
