How to Write a Resume for College

You are applying for college, not a job, so you might not think you need to know how to write a resume. Ok so you might not need to, but it can be a big help in this process. Often sending a resume to teachers or counselors will give you a better recommendation letter. Having a resume can help you with the activities section. And TBH it’s a good thing to have on file in general. 

Knowing how to write a resume will be a skill that you can use again and again throughout your life and it’s easier than you think. Use our steps and you will have a resume just like that!

What goes on a resume?

You might be thinking, “wait, I have never had a job…. I’m in high school?” That’s fine. In a couple of years, your resume will probably be all jobs, but until then a lot of things can go on your resume. 

Are you the captain of the volleyball team? Do you volunteer at the animal shelter? Are you in an art club? Any activity that you are devoting your time and energy to (outside of school) could have a place on your resume. Resumes should be one page, so if you do a lot, prioritize the things that mean the most to you. In general, you don’t want to add a lot of fluff. So focus on activities that you do often. Volunteered once? Maybe leave that off.  

Think of a list of all the things you do and then pick the ones that you will use. Once you have an idea of what you want to put on, it’s time to describe them.  

How to write about your activities on your resume

If you have read our blog on how to fill out the activities section, you might pull an Olivia Rodrigo and get deja vu (we’ll see ourselves out for that one). Your activities section should read like a resume and thus your resume will be similar to your activities section.  

For each activity, you should think of 1-3 bullet points to describe what you have done. Remember that you shouldn’t be just describing what the activity is, rather you should focus on what you accomplished there. If you were in the tech crew for the school play, you don’t need to say, “Crew is when you are behind the scenes.” The easiest way to center yourself is by using action words. For example, try to use words like managed, assisted, organized, constructed, etc to start your bullet points. 

These words are important because they denote larger skills that will not only apply to this specific activity but at any job. Using active words and details like numbers and accomplishments will make your activity impressive and eye-catching. You should have something like: 

Tech Crew

  • Managed the production of 25 separate costumes for 15 actors

  • Organized the weekly rehearsal schedule

  • Assisted in selling and tracking over 250 tickets for 3 sold-out shows

Each bullet point starts with an action word that points to a skill, using numbers gives details to the reader, and it’s obvious what your specific functions were. Hitting these three goals will guarantee a strong description. Once you have a list of activities and descriptions for each, it’s time to talk about formatting. 

How do you format a resume?

Formatting resumes trip up adults all the time. It seems like the hardest step for many. The whole point of resume formatting is making sure all the info is there and easy to read. There are a lot of ways to format a resume, but we like to use a specific one for students. 

The top of the resume should have a way to contact you centered on the page. It should look something like this:

Julian Brown

                              Jbrown@gmail.com | (510)-555-1013 | 123 MLK Blvd. 

Bolding or making your name bigger is customary, but the rest of your resume should be in a standard font and size. Think Arial, 12-point, not Comic Sans 16.

Under your contact info, you can add an education section. This section should have a little information about your school, including the name, dates you went or are going there, and your GPA. If you are in an honors program or in a specialized program you can also add that. It might look something like this: 

EDUCATION

Berkeley High School                                                                         September 2018 - Present

International Baccalaureate Program – GPA: 3.87/4.00

Or something like this:

EDUCATION

Berkeley High School  - Berkeley, CA                                            September 2018 - June 2022

GPA: 3.87/4.00                                                                                           

Calculus 101, Calculus 201: 3.8/4.00                        

If you are taking courses outside of your school you can also add that in your education section. 

After that, it’s time to list activities. You can simply list them in chronological order starting with the most recent/present activities. However, we like to break it up for most students. If you have a mix of work and activities, we like to break those out into categories. Some we see a lot include, Work experience, volunteer experiences, clubs, leadership, etc. Each of your sections should, ideally, have at least two activities in them. If you find yourself with only one activity in that section, try to combine similar sections, for example, “paid work experiences” and “internships” can be combined under “work experience.” 

Each activity should have a name, the years you did it, and your bullet points. You can also include your title or role. You should have something that looks like this: 

WORK EXPERIENCE             

Contemporary Jewish Museum                                                                   May 2021 - Present

Summer Intern                                                                                                                                                                    

  • Plans events for teens in the museum

  • Leads school gallery tours

  • Works with 12 other teens to create an art curriculum for local camps

Albany Pool                                                                                       September 2018- May 2021

Life Gaurd                                                                                                                                                        

  • Taught CPR and swimming classes twice a week to up to 25 students

  • Patrolled during daytime swim hours to ensure pool safety

ACTIVITIES

Berkeley High Theater Club                                                                        May 2018 - Present

Costumes Manager/Tech Assistant Manager                                                                            

  • Manages the production of 25 separate costumes for 15 actors

  • Organizes the weekly rehearsal schedule

  • Assisted in selling and tracking over 250 tickets for 3 sold-out shows

 

Varsity Swim Team                                                                   November 2018- November 2020

Co-Captain                                                                                                                                                                       

  • Competed in both the breast and backstroke categories

  • Organized weekend practices and weekly carpools to meets

If you are looking at your resume and you want to add some other skills and interests, but don’t think the activity should get an entire section you can also add a skills and interests section (if you have enough space, remember, this should be only a page!) 

These will often look like this: 

SKILLS & INTERESTS

Skills: Writing HTML Code, Public Speaking, Crochet, Pattern making and sewing, speaks fluent Italian

Interests: Poetry, Reading, Politics, Art

Be truthful here and don’t go overboard with these.

We know this can seem like a lot. The first resume is always the hardest to write, after that, you can edit it as you add more jobs and activities. While formatting can be tricky, especially if you aren’t used to it, you should get the hang of it after listing out an activity or two. Having a resume on hand can save you headaches down the road. 

Still have questions? Reach out here!