How to write a better:
ESSAY
RESUME

FAQs

1. AP Biology
2. AP Calculus BC
3. AP Economics
4. Chamber chorus
5. World Literature
6. Spanish III

Date of Birth:
9/25/82

OTHER ACTIVITIES AND CLUBS:

SCIENCE:

• 1^st place, Galson High School Science Fair, Temperature/Pressure Gauge
• Most Creative, InventioNation (local invention contest)

• ^1st place, Galson High School Science Fair, Ecosystem Display
• 1^st place, State Science Fair, Ecosystem Display
• Science Department¡¯s Sophomore Student of the Year

• 1^st place, Galson High School Science Fair, Advanced Ecosystem Display
• 2^nd place, North Carolina Young Scientists¡¯ Exposition Publication in Science magazine: "Our Delicate Earth"

• North Carolina¡¯s Young Scientist of the Year
• 1^st place, Galson High School Science Fair, Chemical Conditioning System for Polluted Rivers
• Galson High School¡¯s Science Student of the Year

OTHER:

• Most Improved, Advanced Mixed Chorus
• Principal¡¯s Honor Roll

• All-State Chorus
• Principal¡¯s Honor Roll

• All-State Chorus
• Principal¡¯s Honor Roll

• Principal¡¯s Honor Roll

I worked at our local hospital¡¯s pharmacy every spring semester of high school. Additionally, I baby-sit once a week for my neighbor¡¯s children for four hours.

STANDARDIZED TEST SCORES

1999   PSAT: 146 (Verbal 68, Math 78)
1999   SAT-I: 1510 (Verbal 710, Math 800)
1999   SAT-II: Writing 670
                       Biology 790
                         Chemistry 780

As you can see, Lisa is also a strong applicant. Her strength is clearly in the sciences, so she opted to separate her activities and awards that way to accentuate her abilities in that area. However, she is also involved in community service (National Honor Society, besides Ecology Club) and Chamber chorus, as well as student government. If you are particularly strong in an area, you might want to work with Lisa¡¯s resume format. You needn¡¯t use these exact subheadings, however; you can add other subheadings under awards, for instance, such as "ACADEMIC" or "MUSICAL."

Some things we¡¯d like to point out:

• Don¡¯t worry if you don¡¯t know what you want to major in yet, or if your school doesn¡¯t have class ranks; you can leave those things out.
• Colleges like to see dedication; that¡¯s where the Grade Level column comes in. That way they can quickly gauge your dedication to activities by looking at the level of continuation through the years. List your important activities first, and in general, try not to pick up a ton of new projects every year and drop them immediately. It might make a bad impression.
• Don¡¯t be afraid to clarify a few things that might be confusing, like Lisa did when she thought the admissions board might not understand what Ecology Club did at her school, or might not have heard of the Future Scientists¡¯ Summer Program. Likewise, if you¡¯ve won an honor that you think they might not have heard of, it¡¯s fine to include a one- or two-line description within your resume.
• This isn¡¯t the same type of resume you¡¯d turn in for a job, obviously. You should make up a new resume for your college applications rather than adding on to one you already have for job applications. The effort will be worth it!
• Although some of the information we recommend including in the resume may appear in your high school transcript (like your GPA and SAT score) it doesn¡¯t hurt to consolidate information onto a couple of neat, condensed pages and repeat it on your resume. However, if you think your GPA or SAT score is too weak to be an asset, you can leave it off. Don¡¯t include your grades on your resume, since those will be in your transcript.

These are very flexible formats. Like we said earlier, you should manipulate the templates we¡¯ve given you as much as you need to in order to best suit your own activities and accomplishments. (And don¡¯t worry if your resume doesn¡¯t look like Walter¡¯s or Lisa¡¯s?they¡¯re completely fake, and few high school students will have credentials like theirs.) Good luck!