College Applications Resume Builder

Build My Resume!

Start here to learn how to build your perfect resume! If you have more specific questions, please head over to the forum to ask your question.

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.

 

Education Example


County Senior High School123 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.

 

Advanced Coursework Example


Grade 9Grade 10Grade 11Grade 12
n/aAP World HistoryAP US HistoryAP 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.

 

Leadership Example


Position nameTime commitmentGrade(s)

Varsity Soccer Team Captain

  • Made strategic decisions on the field
  • Managed team morale on and off the field
20 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yrGrade 12

ASB Class Representative

  • Represented 400 11th graders at student forums
  • Led 11th grade in homecoming activities
10-30 hrs/wk; 50 wks/yrGrade 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.

 

Awards Example


Award nameReceived

Eagle Scout

  • Managed a service project building a stairway
  • Led Boy Scout Troop of 20 boys for 1 year
August 2011

Black Belt in Tae Kwon Do

  • Completed rigorous set of physical tests
  • Showed leadership in training school
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).

 

Athletics Example


Sport and/or teamTime commitmentGrade(s)

Cross Country

  • Voted Most Improved by teammates – Grade 10
  • Varsity – Grade 11, 12
20 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yrGrade 9, 10, 11, 12

Red Devils – Club Soccer Team

  • #1 Washington State Champions – Grade 10
32 hrs/wk; 12 wks/yrGrade 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!

 

Community Service Example


ActivityTime commitmentGrade(s)

Eagle Scout Service Project

  • Installed pathway and shrubbery at local church
  • Managed 120 man-hours of work
10 hrs/wk; 12 wks/yrGrade 12

Neighborhood Food Bank – Volunteer

  • Sorted donations
  • Handed out food
2 hrs/wk; 50 wks/yrGrade 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.

 

Clubs Example


Club nameTime commitmentGrade(s)

Key Club

  • Participated in monthly service projects
  • Raised $1,000 annually for inner-city reading program
10 hrs/wk; 26 wks/yrGrade 9, 10

Gay-Straight Alliance

  • Started GSA at my high school
  • Featured in local newspaper
15 hrs/wk; 30 wks/yrGrade 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.

 

Personal Accomplishments Example


AchievementAccomplished

Replaced engine in my car

  • 2002 Volkswagen Golf
  • Volunteered at local auto body shop
June-Aug 2011

Designed and built personal website for artwork portfolio

  • Learned HTML, CSS, Javascript programming languages
  • Resulted in first commissioned artwork
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.

 

Hobbies Example


ActivityInvolvement

Sailing

  • Took a sailing course at local marina
  • Passed test to acquire boating license
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.

 

Languages Example


LanguageYears of speaking
Polish17 years

Spanish

  • Summer volunteer program in Venezuela – June 2011
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!

 

Objective Example


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.

 

Work Experience Example


Position nameTime commitmentGrade(s)

Franklin’s Lawn & Garden Services, Sammamish WA 2012 to Present

  • Assist family business to provide lawn and yard care services for 25 neighborhood homes bi-weekly.
  • Create and distribute 200 flyers about lawn services using Print-to-Pretty software in the neighborhood monthly.
  • Help to stuff envelopes with invoices for monthly billing and enter payments into Quick spreadsheet software.
15 hrs/wk; 16 wks/yrGrade 12

Chuck’s Sodas & Pizza, Sammamish WA Summer 2011

  • Restocked condiments, napkins and maintained a clean counter.
  • Provided great customer service for about 25 walk-in customers on each shift.
  • Operated cash register, POS, and frequent guest card system.
20 hrs/wk; 3 mon/yrGrade 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.

 

Related Skills Example


SkillAccomplished

Event Management

  • Organized monthly social events for my church, ~100 attendees
  • Helped plan and run band concerts, ~250 attendees
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.

 

Projects Example


ProjectDate

Community center art gallery exposition – Edmonds, WA

  • Displayed portait photography at Community Art Weekend
  • Designed personal gallery space
July 2011

Designed and built personal website for artwork portfolio

  • Learned HTML, CSS, Javascript programming languages
  • Resulted in first commissioned artwork
Feb 2012

Build My Resume!