Some scholarship programs ask that you submit a formal resume or curriculum vitae as part of your application materials. The Office of Career Development will be happy to assist you in constructing your resume or c.v.

A few general tips to keep in mind:

• Proof-read, proof-read, proof-read! Whether it is going to a scholarship committee or a prospective employer, resumes must be error-free.

• Organize the main categories on your resume in order of importance to the person who will be reading it. For scholarship applications, structure your resume to mirror the order in which the scholarship program lists its selection criteria. For example, if they publish selection criteria in the order academic merit, community involvement, and leadership potential, organize your resume with Education as the first section, Volunteer Activity second, and Leadership Experience third, with other categories following. Also, consider where you place particular experiences. An internship with a non-profit might be located under Education (if you received credit), under Volunteer Activity (if it was unpaid and for a non-profit), or under Leadership Experience (if you had some managerial duties.) Where you place that internship on your resume should be a strategic choice based on the scholarship’s criteria.

• Design your resume to speak in terms of skills-developed and goals-achieved, rather than just listing roles or duties you’ve been assigned. For example, under your involvement with a living group, instead of simply listing “Community Service Chair, 2006-2007,” try:

Community Service Chair, 2006-2007

• Organized seven service projects, which involved a total of 32 students in community outreach             
• Wrote press releases; secured local media coverage for four events
• Met with United Way representatives to discuss future collaborations
• Created and maintained a service calendar for group members

• Be selective. You do not need to include every experience you’ve ever had on your resume. Highlight those that speak to the criteria on which you’ll be evaluated by the scholarship’s selection committee. In doing so, though, be careful to avoid creating significant gaps in chronology. The summer job you took waiting tables last year should not be listed amid the research assistantships you held before and after it, but it should be noted somewhere (perhaps in a brief “General Work History” section toward the end) so that the committee isn’t left wondering why you seemingly “disappeared” for three months.  

• Generally, only national honors or achievements you earned in high school should appear on your resume.

• Think very carefully about the contact information you put on your resume (and on all scholarship application materials.) If you have a roommate, can that person be trusted to convey messages accurately and immediately? Will you still have a campus phone number or an active Ripon email address by the time you learn the results of a graduate scholarship decision? Do you really want the Rhodes Scholarship representative to email you at your “goofyboy3000” account?