Generally, high school resumes are multi-paged, long lists of all the things you have done. Though this may be helpful with your college application, your college freshman resume should be a little different.
Being a college freshman, probably most of the relevant experience you have comes from your academic education and research situations, and from your extracurricular activities.
This makes it more difficult to produce a resume that’s a true representation of what you are actually capable of.
You may use your resume to apply for a scholarship or a job so your resume needs to be well-developed and highlight your qualities and why you are actually the ideal candidate.
In this post, we will explain what your college freshman resume is all about, how to write it, and what should be included.
Your time in college is an important transitional period between your adolescence years and adulthood. This is the period in which you’ll be developing and getting ready for your career path.
In your freshman year in college, you’re just starting out to learn about the skills, knowledge, and experiences required to enter the workforce, to gain employability in so many fields, or what it takes to become an academic researcher that understands how to write a good research paper, for example.
What is a resume?
Your resume is your chance to stand out from the other candidates. Your resume needs to be concise, accomplishment-focused, and well-organized. It’s like writing an essay.
A resume, and also your personal college freshman resume, is your personal marketing tool. You write your resume to land an interview so you will get the chance to explain what makes you the best candidate, how you may contribute to some organization.
You need a well-rounded resume if you’re looking for a number of opportunities to succeed in college such as scholarships, internships, work-study opportunities, on-campus or off-campus part-time jobs, or participate in student organizations.
If you want to write a professional-looking resume, most of your extracurricular activities and experiences in high school should be not listed. As a college freshman, however, it is fine to feature just a few of your high school accomplishments.
Do you need a freshman resume?
Yes, you absolutely do! Both on and off-campus, quite a few people may want to learn about you and ask for your resume. So it is important to have your resume ready when you’re creating your study plan. You’ll want it to be ready by the time you need it.
When you’re looking to participate in an undergraduate research project, the faculty supervisor will likely ask for your resume and if you’re applying for a scholarship, a grant, or a fellowship, you’ll probably have to submit your resume with your application. Also, when you want to apply for an internship or a summer job, you’ll need your resume!
After all, you’re just started to transition into college life, right? Just make sure, as you advance in your college education, to replace that high school information.
How to write your college resume
You should start out by compiling a list of skills and experiences that you think could be relevant for and included in your resume. Think about your academic background, education, jobs, volunteer work, internships, extracurricular activities, research projects, special skills, and awards.
By the time you have completed your list, start organizing all of the information into appropriate categories. Keep in mind who you will be writing your resume for, so tailor all those bits of information to your target group. For some interesting Texas scholarships, check here.
What should be included in your resume?
Well, this depends. Everyone is unique and everyone has different experiences. So probably, your resume will be unlike the ones your peers wrote, but that’s okay. Keep in mind that your resume has to be well-structured and outlining first is key.
If you can write a good thesis statement you probably can write a good resume as well. Keep on exercising and soon, you’ll see you manage this very well!
Let’s take a look at what should be included but keep in mind that some sections may be overlapping so our advice is not to include each and every individual section, but to be selective. In general, your resume should include these items:
- Your educational background
- Your key skills and competencies
- All relevant coursework
- Relevant research projects and experience
- Relevant professional and work experience
- Internships and leadership experience
- Activities and community involvement
- Certifications
- Awards and honors
- Your contact information
Working with bullet points
Working with bullet points in your resume is key. They highlight important information and serve as a vehicle to draw attention to skills and
experiences that organizations or employers are looking for. Make sure, though, to get a lock for your laptop. Also in college, thieves are always looking for easy targets and laptop computers are rather simple to steal for them.
Keep in mind, though, that crafting the right bullet points will take some time and effort. You want to be sure you highlight your skills and experiences that are relevant for what you are applying to.
The bullet points in your resume must be tailored to the scholarship, internship, or job description and help you gain the best position to get invited for an interview, right?
Many students will be applying for a scholarship to cover the cost of their college education that comes at a cost, though there are some pretty affordable colleges in Texas! Be sure to include not too many bullet points as that may be distracting the attention from the points that should be highlighted.
Make sure you’re not repeating yourself and avoid similar experiences. Focus on different skills, activities, and experiences that will optimally display how you are meeting all of the requirements and why you are the best candidate.
Format your resume
Generally, it is okay to use some creativity when crafting your resume, but don’t overdo this. You may use things like structure and colors, though this certainly doesn’t apply to all professions and industries.
To use it in your Freshman College Resume, however, is usually fine as long as you keep it reasonable.
Check out the following guidelines that you really should adhere to:
- Restrict your resume to 1 page
- Make sure the formatting is consistent
- Use text styles such as italics, underlining, and bold only sparingly
- Use an easy to read sans-serif font
- Keep your resume’s margins at least 0.5″
- For bullet points, use at least 10pt font
- For your contact details, use at least 12pt font
- For your name, use at least 16pt font
- Use the PDF format when sending your resume