Writing a Killer Resume for Grad School

A killer resume consists of up to seven main sections to appropriately organize your experience and value. Here, we get to go into depth about each section and talk about what you may want to include in each of them.

Education

This section of your resume is pretty straightforward and will begin your document with important information college admissions staff will need. This information will include the college you are attending, your degree of study, and your intended major/minor. Of course, if you have studied abroad through your college then this is a great place to also include when and where you studied abroad.

Skills

This section is all about listing your most valuable skills. These skills all depend on what program you are applying to. If you are applying to a computer science school, your skills listed will include your skills in computer languages such as Python and experience using different computer programs such as Excel.

In this section, I also included the language I speak or have some proficiency in because, in my opinion, the languages you are familiar with and can communicate in are as important as any other skills you have.

Experience

Here is the space in which to list the most applicable professional experience you have had. List any internships or jobs you have held that fall into the same field as the program to which you are applying. If you have none, then think outside the box and include experience that you can spin to have taught you some of the skills that you will also bring to the program. It doesn’t have to be as direct an experience as you may think.

Projects

This is where you get to include projects that you have worked on either through educational means or in your own free time. If you have had anything published, conducted research, created an art piece, or any other sort of project, take this opportunity to share it and talk about it.

If you have a Youtube Channel or blog, this is the perfect section in which to include those.

Additional Experience

The additional experience section is the place for those experiences that may not have anything to do with the focus of the program to which you are applying. They may be along the lines of clubs or organizations you have shown leadership in. This section is really just a place for the overflow of the experience section. Achievements that you think are important for the admissions staff to read about, but that are not the vital experience that you need to highlight at the beginning of the document.

Activities

This is an extra section near the end where you can add hobbies that you enjoy doing. I included sports that I played and musical groups I was a part of while earning my undergraduate degree.

Awards & Training

If you have been awarded any titles or scholarships, this is the place to include those! Any training that you have completed or licenses that you have earned can also go in this section.

Though I listed seven total sections for a killer resume, there is really no set limit or minimum to the number of sections you need to include in yours. As long as you use your resume to introduce the reader to vital information about you and your highest qualifications for the program, you will have a killer resume!