CV length- is 3 pages overkill?

[lostbunny]

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Hey dudes,

I'm applying to an Int'l school that gives you the option of sending in a resume with your application. There are no interviews for this school, so I'm banking on what I have down on paper to get me in. The only things they will have to make a decision by are my uni transcripts, reference letters, 500 word PS and a resume.

My resume is 3 full pages, and I've listed every animal/veterinary job/volunteer which takes up most of the space. I've put down 1 or 2 points on what I did for each position. The next long section is my extracurriculars/achievements/awards which takes up about 2/3 of a page and then I have 3 smaller sections (school, "objective", and a summary at the beginning).

Do you think 3 pages is over kill? I know generally when you're applying for a job you want to aim for 1 to 1.5 pages, but this isn't a job- this is a seat in vet school! I do not want to remove any of my animal stuff, and I think the extracurricular things show that I'm well rounded and all that jazz. I had one person look it over and she said it was way too long and "couldn't even finish it" lol-

Did any of you have to submit a CV for vet school and had it quite long? I know with VMCAS you essentially list everything you've ever done- so I'm sure some of you have tons on there....

I don't want to cut myself short by cutting important things out, but I also don't want to sound like I'm listing every event of my entire life (when I was 5, I petted a bunny, when I was 7 I went to a petting zoo and fed animals by hand.... lol...not really but you know!) ..... opinions?

🙂

 

[moosenanny]

I would say to first off really scrutinize your resume as if those weren't a list of your accomplishments and experiences, but someone else's. Look at each item and see if an adcom would think it really makes you a stronger applicant and better potential vet student. It is hard to cut things out because you poured your heart and soul and sweat and tears and time and money (lol) into those experiences, but only list things that directly contribute to you being a well-rounded, qualified, unique applicant.

That being said, maybe you do have three full pages of pure awesomeness. In that case, I'd just quickly call the school and ask them if that would be acceptable, or if they really only read up to one or two pages.

Bottom line is that you do not want to include irrelevant/less integral items on there that will muddy it up and make them notice the stand-out experiences less than they should.

 

[Marsala]

My CV is about 10 pages, but then I'm a PhD student. But I don't think 3 is overkill.

 

[moosenanny]

Also, there is a difference in length allowances between a resume and CV. I think resumes are supposed to be one page, ideally, while CV's are supposed to list every experience you've had, and are thus meant to be substantially longer (?)

 

[lostbunny]

Oohhh okay- I thought CV and resume were interchangeable....

I might re think the snowboarding and snowboard clubs I was a part of- lol but I thought that made me well rounded.

 

[Minnerbelle]

And I've heard these CV's also referred to as annotated resumes by my undergrad's pre-health committee, and was told that these are expanded versions of your traditional resume so 3 pages is totally reasonable.

Can you call the school to verify?

 

[lostbunny]

Can you call the school to verify?

Yeah I can totally do that. I've called them a few times for other things, so based on that I'm sure they will say its fine. They seem to be quite relaxed and chilled about everything- it is Australia after all! lol.

The website says 2 references, but I think I had contacted 3 thinking I needed 3, so I called and asked them if 3 was alright, and they were like "yeeaahh, suuure! 3 is fiiiine!" lol. Sounds like my kinda place! 😉

 

[jmo1012]

if they're laid back about it being a few pages, i'd make sure have fairly detailed descriptions for each experience. like you said, this is the only place you really get to show off what you did to make yourself qualified, make it count! i'd also make sure its pretty easy to scan and that the bullet points aren't too wordy or lengthy.

 

[BlacKAT33]

I'm not sure about the difference between CV and resume.

I was always told you should keep it at 1 page per 5 years. Take out fluff or insignificant jobs if it is more. Id take out the objective too. Have someone edit it who hires people in a similar field. They'll be able to tell you what can be taken out because it isn't as important. I ended up taking out some of my extra curricular activities that weren't as strong. What is the small summary in the beginning? Take it out. Ive never heard of a summary summer in addition to an objective. You don't need either.

Marsala-sorry but 10 pages is waaayyy too long! That is longer than my dads and he has a PhD, multiple Masters, b.s. and crazy amounts of experience.

I was able to get my resume down to 2 pages and it looked great. You could get by with 3 pages, but remember the whole point is to capture the reader right away. If you keep stuff that won't directly impact their decision it will deter them from focusing on experiences specifically related to what you are applying to. If your friend couldn't even finish it, i would definitely remove stuff so it fits on 1-2 pages. Too long of a resume can also show inexperience with writing a resume.

 

[lostbunny]

Hey BlacKAT33:

the summary at the beginning was something that my sister always told me to put, she does alot of hiring for her company, but she's more in IT and not vet. Anyways it's basically 3 points that highlight me so for example someone going for a bartender position might put:

- excellent organizational skills having managed 25 staff at busy night club
- knowledgeable with many cocktails and beverages through employment with Bars R Us and 2010 Bar Tending Champion
- outstanding interpersonal ability as waited tables for 45 years

something like that to sort of bring out the main things- I titled it as "Summary of Qualifications". I've put it on quite a few of my past CVs.

For my extra currics, I have maybe 4 things listed, but I went into detail on two of them which takes up some space. I've got travel and equestrian, but in both of them I added a few points under them (volunteer-traveling, and in riding I put down pony club, and some championship stuff... maybe just blur the horse stuff into one/less stuff?)

 

[lostbunny]

Okey Dokey!

I found this helpful little piece:

http://www.vet.ksu.edu/dean/cv.htm

🙂

 

[mas185]

For your experience level it sounds like a 3 page CV is perfect. You just want to make sure you're not including extra information they don't need i.e. stuff thats not relevant 🙂

Generally a resume should be 1 page (mine is two but I usually print it on one piece of paper so I kind of cheat that rule). My CV on the other hand is 8 pages long. Your CV or curriculum vitae is supposed to contain basically everything possibly related to your career so mine has school info, job experience, technical experience, articles I'm authored on, presentations at conferences etc I've been a part of, research projects etc. etc. It does include a few lines of interests but I'll probably drop them once I actually graduate from vet school (I left them on from my undergrad for the vet school app to show I was well rounded as well!)

I re-wrote/updated my bosses CV last year and his is over 100 pages long!! But he's a professor at Tufts Vet and they required him to include every committee he's ever been on, students he's mentored, articles, presentations, workshops, degrees, jobs, research topics, grants he's received and 10 different categories of bibliographical information etc. so after 30 years of working they get pretty damn extensive. But he's been at Tufts for 25 years so his resume is only 1 page long.

So basically 3 pages is great, I'd keep the snow boarding info, and since its Australia they probably don't even care how long it is 😉

M.A.

 

[lostbunny]

For your experience level it sounds like a 3 page CV is perfect. You just want to make sure you're not including extra information they don't need i.e. stuff thats not relevant 🙂

Generally a resume should be 1 page (mine is two but I usually print it on one piece of paper so I kind of cheat that rule). My CV on the other hand is 8 pages long. Your CV or curriculum vitae is supposed to contain basically everything possibly related to your career so mine has school info, job experience, technical experience, articles I'm authored on, presentations at conferences etc I've been a part of, research projects etc. etc. It does include a few lines of interests but I'll probably drop them once I actually graduate from vet school (I left them on from my undergrad for the vet school app to show I was well rounded as well!)

I re-wrote/updated my bosses CV last year and his is over 100 pages long!! But he's a professor at Tufts Vet and they required him to include every committee he's ever been on, students he's mentored, articles, presentations, workshops, degrees, jobs, research topics, grants he's received and 10 different categories of bibliographical information etc. so after 30 years of working they get pretty damn extensive. But he's been at Tufts for 25 years so his resume is only 1 page long.

So basically 3 pages is great, I'd keep the snow boarding info, and since its Australia they probably don't even care how long it is 😉

M.A.

Thanks mas185!!! 🙂 I will put the snowboarding back on! lol.

Thanks for all the info though 😀 and gosh, I have like 25 pages of the Dublin application forms lol... I can just imagine how many you had lol

 

[mas185]

Thanks mas185!!! 🙂 I will put the snowboarding back on! lol.

Thanks for all the info though 😀 and gosh, I have like 25 pages of the Dublin application forms lol... I can just imagine how many you had lol

Haha yeah my UCD app was ridiculously long, but it got me in!! 🙂 Glad I could help ... I just happened to re-write my resume/CVs while looking for jobs for this summer so all the info was fresh in my mind. (Plus I'm weird and love editing resumes for some reason).

Good luck with everything M.A.

 

[lostbunny]

(Plus I'm weird and love editing resumes for some reason).

thought I was the only one lol.

- Just another few technicality questions... I have "current mailing address" and "permanent address" on mine (one is my Aussie address, and the permanent one is my Canada address)- do you think I should keep it like this? Just to be 'clear'? (Since I guess most int'l applicants will be overseas, and most domesitc applicants will be on shore... I'm sort of the weird one out that has to make everything more complicated 😉 )

- I have "June 2011" in the top right hand corner... is that necessary?

- Should I write "Curriculum Vita" near the top/under my name? Should I even have that written anywhere?

- And... I know with resumes you generally put 'references available upon request', but I read that on a CV they should be there. I put them down at the end, (they're my 3 LORs)... would you say this is correct?

- Oh one more thing... I just go straight down to business and start with my edu, then onto my work exp, etc. Should I include a section with like 3 or 4 points for a summary of highlights? I've found conflicting info on this... what do you recommend?

Thanks mas185!!! 😀

Are you staying in Irishland for the summer?

 

[mas185]

thought I was the only one lol.

- Just another few technicality questions... I have "current mailing address" and "permanent address" on mine (one is my Aussie address, and the permanent one is my Canada address)- do you think I should keep it like this? Just to be 'clear'? (Since I guess most int'l applicants will be overseas, and most domesitc applicants will be on shore... I'm sort of the weird one out that has to make everything more complicated 😉 )

Hmm yeah on mine I had my address in Boston at school as well as my home address in NJ because I knew that after I got into school they'd need my permanent one but whatever mail they were going to send me I wanted at my own apartment since my mom would never send it to me ... the majority of students in school usually have 2 addresses on theirs ... if for some reason you think it looks like too much or if you're going to be heading back to Canada and leaving your Aussie address anytime soon you could just put your permanent one.

- I have "June 2011" in the top right hand corner... is that necessary?

- Should I write "Curriculum Vita" near the top/under my name? Should I even have that written anywhere?

I don't have either on mine ... I just think they're not needed. They know its current because its with your app and its obviously a CV 🙂

- And... I know with resumes you generally put 'references available upon request', but I read that on a CV they should be there. I put them down at the end, (they're my 3 LORs)... would you say this is correct?

I was always told to eliminate the 'references available upon request' and just bring or attach a separate sheet with references on it. I don't have any references on my CV and since they're the same people writing your letters it just might be redundant to put them on there. But you can leave them if they help fill out the CV page.

- Oh one more thing... I just go straight down to business and start with my edu, then onto my work exp, etc. Should I include a section with like 3 or 4 points for a summary of highlights? I've found conflicting info on this... what do you recommend?

my highlights are in bullet form underneath each heading ... If you were applying a job I'd recommend including a cover letter that would have 3 to 4 sentences highlight the most important/relavent aspects of your CV for them, but since this is for a school app, I kind of think its redundant to list things at the top that you just have included later on in the CV. For example mine is Education under which is my school, each degree, major, gpa, areas of interest, thesis topic, and highlights which include dean's list and awards etc. Then under Employment I have job title location, etc. then 3 to 4 bullets describing the important things about the job. Then I have a publications/presentations section thats just bibliography info, then research section that just lists the projects i've worked on. Then i have an experience section with the sub-headings administrative (like protocol writing, lit searches etc.) laboratory (cell culture, etc.), technical (computer stuff) and veterinary (surgery, imaging experience, etc.). The last page or so has leaderships, club memberships, and my interests.

I don't know if that makes any sense (its hard to write out what your CV includes without putting the actual CV up haha). If you want to PM me your email address I can send you my CV if you want 🙂

Are you staying in Irishland for the summer?

Yep my dog and I are wandering the lovely Irish countryside for the summer! Working on farms and hanging out ... My mom and my aunt were just here to visit and some of friends and possibly my brothers are going to come later on. Its amazing, the weather has been so gorgeous this week!

M.A.

 

[lostbunny]

thanks for all the info 😀

Aww so cute- love that picture of the two of them... lol you know which one!

Anyhoo I'm looking at the Dublin applications and it says you can submit an optional resume- did you send one in? I suppose you might have more interesting stuff on it than me, like all your publications stuff. I'd like to send one too, but I'm not sure if I should since it will be fairly redundant to the vet/animal experience forms. Did you follow the true resume form and just submit a 1-pager?

I may take you up on the CV thing, it would be nice to see what a CV should look like in the field I want to pursue... but I may wait a while because I *just* sent in my Murdoch applications last night so if I see that mine is different then yours, I will freak out and go crazy. 🙂

 

[mas185]

thanks for all the info 😀

Aww so cute- love that picture of the two of them... lol you know which one!

Anyhoo I'm looking at the Dublin applications and it says you can submit an optional resume- did you send one in? I suppose you might have more interesting stuff on it than me, like all your publications stuff. I'd like to send one too, but I'm not sure if I should since it will be fairly redundant to the vet/animal experience forms. Did you follow the true resume form and just submit a 1-pager?

I may take you up on the CV thing, it would be nice to see what a CV should look like in the field I want to pursue... but I may wait a while because I *just* sent in my Murdoch applications last night so if I see that mine is different then yours, I will freak out and go crazy. 🙂

Yeah I sent them my whole CV (they didn't have strict page limits so I just went with the whole thing), even though it was kind of redundant, I just thought it was an easy way for them to get a look at my history etc. without having to read through the whole application. Haha I understand about the freaking out thing ... CVs can be in tons of different formats so I'm sure urs is great!

M.A.