Writing a resume often comes as an afterthought for students applying to the Ivy League in the United States. The resume is — most of the time — optional. It’s sort of hidden away in the Common Application, and it’s by far the least talked about piece of the college application puzzle. So many students we work with tell us that they hadn’t even planned on submitting a resume. They ask, “Why spend time on something that’s optional and often redundant?”
Our answer is two-fold, especially for students applying to the Ivy League and other top-tier schools.
First, optional isn’t optional. Just because the application says “optional” doesn’t mean you can simply skip over it. When it comes to the Ivy League, nearly every applicant has great grades. Nearly every applicant has leadership roles and awards and big dreams. Nearly every applicant is at the top of their class. When everyone is exceptional, how do you stand out? One way is to go beyond what’s simply required, and that includes doing what’s optional.
Secondly, your resume shouldn’t simply be redundant with the rest of your application. Yes, there are parts of it that will have appeared elsewhere, but your resume is a vital ‘cheat sheet’ to your application that gives readers an easy-to-reference resource that further illuminates the pieces of you that are most relevant to them as they consider you for admission.
THE RULES
Before we get into the sections of your resume, we have some rules that you need to follow if you’re applying to the Ivy League.
Be Succinct
Resumes are one of the few places where perfectly formed sentences come secondary to brevity. As you write your resume, it’s ok to use clipped language and incomplete sentences as long as you don’t sacrifice clarity.
The One-Page Rule
This is the one rule to rule them all. You must keep your resume to one side of one single-spaced page with a font above size 11 and standard or narrow margins. You cannot use a tiny font. You cannot do away with margins altogether. And you absolutely cannot submit a resume over one page.
If this sounds arbitrary, it sort of is. And no, they don’t tell you this anywhere. But the reality is — to be blunt — that you are a teenager with limited work experiences. You have not earned a multi-page resume. Multi-page resumes are for experienced professionals with years if not decades of experience. If you don’t think you can get your resume down to one page, refer back to the previous rule.
Now that the rules are clear, we’ll lay out the four core sections of most resumes. If you don’t think this resume format will work for you, send us an email. We help exceptional students tell their stories.
SECTION I: OBJECTIVE
At the top of your resume — below your name and contact information — you need to put a 1-4 sentence ‘objective’ statement. This statement should summarize what you are aiming to do with this resume. For example, a student who is applying to colleges to study engineering such that they can pursue a career in bridge design may say:
Seeking admission to a top-tier engineering program with the intent to pursue a degree in civil engineering with a particular interest in bridge design.
The whole point of this is to really succinctly state what you want to study and where you see it taking you. As you write it, be careful to make sure that every school that will be receiving this resume offers what you are looking to study. This should be a no-brainer, but it’s worth double-checking.
SECTION II: EDUCATION
Below the Objective comes the Education section. This section needs to include the name and location of your high school, the name and location of any college or community college you have taken classes at, your current GPA, and any academic awards of particular note. You could format it like this:
Mill Valley High School
Eureka, Oregon
GPA: 3.9 (unweighted)
Awards and Honors: Regional Science Fair Champion 2021
SECTION III: RELEVANT EXPERIENCE
The Relevant Experience section of your Ivy League resume is the meat of resume. In this section, you need to list between 3 and 5 experiences that are relevant to what you want to study in college. Each of these entries need to include a title that includes your role, a short description, and the start and end years for the experience (ex. 2020-current). This is really where the ‘succinct’ rule shines. You need to get as much across as possible in as few words as you can, without sacrificing clarity. For example, you could write something like:
Intern, Mill Valley Lumber Yard — Summer 2021
Part-time seasonal intern training in project management and materials ordering. Worked alongside lead engineer assisting in the design and implementation of small to medium-scale projects. Learned about team management and how manage client expectations in a time of resource scarcity.
SECTION IV: OTHER INTERESTS
Your Relevant Experience section of your resume will take up 80% of the page, but if you have a few lines left at the bottom of the page, you can include an “Other Interests” section. This section should be 4 lines at most, consisting of a heading and three bullets that are short, clipped, and direct. This is a place to highlight something that may be mentioned in a supplement or in your essay, but that hasn’t necessarily been put into context. If you’re an avid Scrabble player, an experienced drummer, or have a bonsai hobby, this is a good spot to slip that in. It may look something like this:
Other Interests
Competitive Scrabble
The Drums
Bonsai
FINAL THOUGHTS
Before you start your resume, consider asking your parents, an older sibling, or even your college counselor to see theirs. Using a well-formatted professional resume as a model is the best way to make sure that yours stands out.
If you’re worried about how you’ll present your best self to your dream school, send us an email. We help students like you get into the most prestigious colleges and universities in the United States.