Writing your CV

[snowhite]

I wasn't sure where exactly I should post this, so I thought maybe you guys would know best.

When writing your CV, do you include certain things that you qualified for and did not decide to pursue? I guess I'll be a little less vague...I was offerred a couple of fellowships and decided on only one (obviously, can't be at 2 places at once). When I mention this on the CV, would I write only the one that I accepted and participated in or can I write something like "Candidate for blah blah blah fellowship" too?

Also, what about a one-time deal volunteer/community service experience? For instance helping out in a homeless shelter for only a day...would this be silly to include?

Also, do you include scholarships you've received?

Lastly, how far back should activities be listed from? What I mean is do we include all the extracurrics from undergrad or even high school?

Thanks guys!

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[akaz]

I tailor my CV to what I am applying for. I am just a first year, but I went to grad school prior and have pub lications etc. So I am familiar with CV's.

Lastly, how far back should activities be listed from? What I mean is do we include all the extracurrics from undergrad or even high school?

Thanks guys![/QUOTE]

I wasn't sure where exactly I should post this, so I thought maybe you guys would know best.

When writing your CV, do you include certain things that you qualified for and did not decide to pursue? I guess I'll be a little less vague...I was offerred a couple of fellowships and decided on only one (obviously, can't be at 2 places at once). When I mention this on the CV, would I write only the one that I accepted and participated in or can I write something like "Candidate for blah blah blah fellowship" too?

Also, what about a one-time deal volunteer/community service experience? For instance helping out in a homeless shelter for only a day...would this be silly to include?

Also, do you include scholarships you've received? I tailor my CV to what I am applying for. I am just a first year, but I went to grad school prior and have pub lications etc. So I am familiar with CV's.

Lastly, how far back should activities be listed from? What I mean is do we include all the extracurrics from undergrad or even high school?

Thanks guys!

 

[asdf123]

I wasn't sure where exactly I should post this, so I thought maybe you guys would know best.

When writing your CV, do you include certain things that you qualified for and did not decide to pursue? I guess I'll be a little less vague...I was offerred a couple of fellowships and decided on only one (obviously, can't be at 2 places at once). When I mention this on the CV, would I write only the one that I accepted and participated in or can I write something like "Candidate for blah blah blah fellowship" too?

Also, what about a one-time deal volunteer/community service experience? For instance helping out in a homeless shelter for only a day...would this be silly to include?

Also, do you include scholarships you've received?

Lastly, how far back should activities be listed from? What I mean is do we include all the extracurrics from undergrad or even high school?

Thanks guys!

Only include things you have actually done...

as to how long back to go in time, it depends on your level. For a 4th year med student applying for residency, I would not include high school activities...only include them if you won a significant award or athletic accomplishment. You can list these under a section "Awards and Honors" or something of that sort.

Having said this, CVs vary widely in the amount of detail...much of it depends on you and how you want to present yourself. If you're proud of an accomplishment, by all means list it. If there is something about your past that you want to share with others, include it. There are no written rules about what to include and exclude and it's a judgement call on your part. You look at some people's CVs and there is more detail than you care to read...like "School band -- horn and trumpet, 10th grade". Is this really important when you're 30 years old and applying for a residency? You be the judge.

Ultimately, your CV is any information about your past that you want to share with your prospective employer. My philosophy is to only include accomplishments that are meaningful and exclude garbage that just adds bulk. I think a CV that is concise and filled with meaningful accomplishments is more impressive than one filled with a bunch of extraneous crap just to make the CV appear longer. When I look at someone's CV and they have a page of "Meetings attended" or other extraneous mumbo-jumbo, I feel like I need to fish out the meaningful stuff. In the end, you don't want to have a CV that people have to dissect to find what is really important.