CV questions

[Perrotfish]

Alright, I'm putting together my CV for the match, thought I would ask some questions:

1) First and foremost, how long did you guys make your CV? I've never seen one that was less than two pages, but considering that I have no awards and no publications (crud) I feel like it's silly to let it run on for more than one.

2) How much did you draw from college? Obviously my degrees and major work experience is going on there, but what about clubs? Volunteering? Hobbies?

3) I'm mentioning ongoing research, and research I did for pay in college, but what about volunteer research that never led to a publication and never will? Should I even bother throwing that on? I mean I guess it shoows an interest, but it also sort of shows that my interest never really leads anywhere meaningful.

4) Any other suggestions on filling the space? I've already got a section labeled hobbies, and I've stuck a lot of barely/not relevant crud on there (my junior professional engineering license, for example). Any other ideas?

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[medstudent1113]

I started making my CV when I was a 1st year med student, I'm a 3rd year student now. Obviously it's an ongoing process. What I do is immediately after an experience I feel worthy (e.g. volunteering, certifications, publications, research), I update my CV. That way, I never forget to record things that are CV worthy. I suggest you do the same.

In regard to your questions:
1) My CV is currently 3.5 pages
2) I included all of my undergrad research and publications. I also included leadership positions I held in undergrad. I also included volunteer experiences in undergrad. I also included undergrad shadowing experience. I also included undergrad awards. I also included underg... you know what, just throw your undergrad stuff on there. I just suggest listing things chronologically, with most recent experiences first so the person reading it doesn't get confused.
3) Throw the research experience on there. Just because it didn't lead to a publication doesn't mean that it isn't experience. Make sure you create a 1 sentence thesis describing your work.
4) Depends on how personal you want your CV. I have no hobbies or stuff like that listed on mine. Just make sure its something that could make you stand out. If you have nothing that stands out, go out and do an Iron Man competition, but just make sure you do well, because putting a poor time down on your CV may make you look weak and un-athletic.

If anyone disagrees or would like to add, you should do that.

 

[CWWinning]

Doing Iron Mans and running marathons is so cliche.

 

[DrBowtie]

I started making my CV when I was a 1st year med student, I'm a 3rd year student now. Obviously it's an ongoing process. What I do is immediately after an experience I feel worthy (e.g. volunteering, certifications, publications, research), I update my CV. That way, I never forget to record things that are CV worthy. I suggest you do the same.

In regard to your questions:
1) My CV is currently 3.5 pages
2) I included all of my undergrad research and publications. I also included leadership positions I held in undergrad. I also included volunteer experiences in undergrad. I also included undergrad shadowing experience. I also included undergrad awards. I also included underg... you know what, just throw your undergrad stuff on there. I just suggest listing things chronologically, with most recent experiences first so the person reading it doesn't get confused.
3) Throw the research experience on there. Just because it didn't lead to a publication doesn't mean that it isn't experience. Make sure you create a 1 sentence thesis describing your work.
4) Depends on how personal you want your CV. I have no hobbies or stuff like that listed on mine. Just make sure its something that could make you stand out. If you have nothing that stands out, go out and do an Iron Man competition, but just make sure you do well, because putting a poor time down on your CV may make you look weak and un-athletic.

If anyone disagrees or would like to add, you should do that.

I'd definitely cut the shadowing experience from yours.

 

[235009]

In regard to your questions:
1) My CV is currently 3.5 pages
2) I included all of my undergrad research and publications. I also included leadership positions I held in undergrad. I also included volunteer experiences in undergrad. I also included undergrad shadowing experience. I also included undergrad awards. I also included underg... you know what, just throw your undergrad stuff on there. I just suggest listing things chronologically, with most recent experiences first so the person reading it doesn't get confused.

this is overkill and will simply lead to people overlooking meaningful experiences because of all the meaningless clutter you have in there. A CV is a list of accomplishments that demonstrate that you are qualified to do a certain job. Shadowing a physician doesn't make you more qualified to do any job and becomes especially meaningless once you step onto the wards during your third year of med school. Undergrad clubs and leadership positions are equally worthless and mean nothing to any professional looking at your CV. Undergrad volunteer experiences are pretty useless too unless they were very significant/unique but otherwise i'd say you can list them as 1 or 2 liners if you really want to.

On the other hand education, research experiences (even if they don't lead to publications), publications/presentations/posters, honors/awards, skills, certifications, and professional society affiliations are definitely worth putting on there. In addition you can put in any volunteer work you've done recently or which is medically related.

I'm sure there are other things that belong on there that i forgot to list but you get the idea.

 

[Perrotfish]

Doing Iron Mans and running marathons is so cliche.

I'm in military medicine. Cliche or not, I want to be crystal clear that I'm not going to F- up my physical fitness test.

 

[Perrotfish]

Perrot, have you seen the DoD-required format for the CV you submit? Sections are all mandatory, no real room for adding anything extra or fluffy. If you don't have it, let me know and I'll PM you the link.

I don't have that. Please send the link.

 

[astrocreep96]

The format for my CV is as follows, it was provided to us from our Dean of Student Affairs who also has an MBA and does this stuff all the time with sutdents. It comes to just under two pages, in part because I have 5 pubs/presentations on there with complete references, it would be shorter otherwise. I include things from undergrad like a brief line about research, presidency in various clubs, significant volunteer activities. I have just three lines on hobbies/interests, very short, but something to talk about if the anyone's curious.

________________________________________________________________
Name (24 pt. font, I think)
Address & Contact info (12 pt. font, plain)

Education (14 pt. font, bolded)
College (12pt. font, bolded)
Degree and date (12 pt. font, plain)

Honors & Awards (14 pt. font, bolded)
Preclinical Honors (12 pt. font, bolded)
Actual classes/honors (12 pt. font, plain)
Clinical Honors (12 pt. font, bolded)
Actual classes/honors (12 pt. font, plain)

Licensures & Certificates (14 pt. font, bold)
Step 1 Score (12 pt. font, plain)

Research Experiences (14 pt. font, bold)
Publications/Presentations grouped by type, then reverse date (12 pt. font, plain)

Work Experience (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual Experiences (12 pt. font, plain)

Leadership Experience (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual Experiences (12 pt. font, plain)

Service Activities (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual Experiences (12 pt. font, plain)

Hobbies & Interests (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual stuff (12 pt. font, plain)

_______________________________________________________________

 

[235009]

________________________________________________________________
Name (24 pt. font, I think)
Address & Contact info (12 pt. font, plain)

Education (14 pt. font, bolded)
College (12pt. font, bolded)
Degree and date (12 pt. font, plain)

Honors & Awards (14 pt. font, bolded)
Preclinical Honors (12 pt. font, bolded)
Actual classes/honors (12 pt. font, plain)
Clinical Honors (12 pt. font, bolded)
Actual classes/honors (12 pt. font, plain)

Licensures & Certificates (14 pt. font, bold)
Step 1 Score (12 pt. font, plain)

Research Experiences (14 pt. font, bold)
Publications/Presentations grouped by type, then reverse date (12 pt. font, plain)

Work Experience (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual Experiences (12 pt. font, plain)

Leadership Experience (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual Experiences (12 pt. font, plain)

Service Activities (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual Experiences (12 pt. font, plain)

Hobbies & Interests (14 pt. font, bold)
Actual stuff (12 pt. font, plain)

_______________________________________________________________

what's the format of putting your step 1 score on there?

 

[astrocreep96]

what's the format of putting your step 1 score on there?

I just put...

Licensures and Certificates
USMLE Step 1, XXX/XX
USMLE Step 2 CK, XXX/XX (I haven't actually taken it yet, but that is where it will go)
etc.

...this is my dean's subtle way of working the Step 1 score into the CV. I guess others may not want to place it there but I'm not sure where it would go. Obviously I don't have any other real licenses since I'm a student.

 

[DrBowtie]

I just put...

Licensures and Certificates
USMLE Step 1, XXX/XX
USMLE Step 2 CK, XXX/XX (I haven't actually taken it yet, but that is where it will go)
etc.

...this is my dean's subtle way of working the Step 1 score into the CV. I guess others may not want to place it there but I'm not sure where it would go. Obviously I don't have any other real licenses since I'm a student.

Interesting. We were told not to put our step scores in our CV.

I think the real answer here is that there's no agreed upon format except I guess mil med.

 

[Lbgem]

So I have looked over resumes/CV's before and been in a hiring capacity (for pharma, not the med side). After having looked through quite a few resumes/CVs, just want to mention a couple things. Please please PLEASE do not add unnecessary fluff to make your resume/CV appear longer. Hiring managers/etc see right through this, and it's annoying to have to read through more than I want to to get to the good stuff. The resumes that we did pick from the pile to interview were concise and to the point, having the relevant experience right where we could see it.

I know everyone says this, but you wouldn't believe how many people still don't follow this advice - SPELLCHECK, and proofread your CV/resume. Make sure the formatting is consistent. If you use periods at the end of bullet points, then make sure all of them have it and not some. At least half of all the resumes that passed through first screening still had spelling errors (including a resume that said they were "excellent" at written and verbal communication).

Do NOT put things on your resume that you can't back up/didn't do. One candidate said she spoke a language so I tested her, because lo and behold she was lucky enough to find that I majored in the somewhat obscure language in college. She replied that she was only beginner's level, to which point I translated the phrase for her (it was how are you).

DO put relevant experience. CV's do tend to be longer than resumes, but that is also because they include more information that resumes don't. CV's tend to have long lists of publications (one I saw had patents as well), research experience, school education, etc. I would also recommend that you put sections that are more important in the front - this is the first part someone sees and you want to catch their attn. I.e. hobbies (which I wouldn't make that long anyways) should be at the back.

Volunteering if it's relevant is fine. Research is research; I'd list it. People understand that research is luck. As the head of my department put it - right place right time. Some people that had 0 idea what they're doing will be lucky enough to be working in a lab that happened to publish a few papers, so they'll have their name attached to a few papers. Other brilliant people will be in a lab that didn't happen to have any publications go out at that time. It's what you learned from the experience that's important. We pick people based on how they can talk about their research experience - i.e. did they know what they did, can they explain the science behind their project?

To me, it's all about relevance on your CV/resume. There was one person that had a culinary degree apping for a science position. That was fine, didn't help/hurt, as they only put one line on it. If they had started listing all the chefs they worked under that would have worked against them. If it's relevant put it down. If you're hesitating because you fill it's fluff/filler, I wouldn't use it.

Oh and as for gpa (which I suppose you could argue is the same do i put it/do i not put it question as Step 1 score), I think it was fine to put it if the person did well - that did impress. I wouldn't have recommended that the girl that had a two point something out of 4.0 put down her gpa however, as that was a minus. So if you did well, I would put it up there, if you didn't then I wouldn't. This is however just my opinion 😛.

 

[badasshairday]

this is overkill and will simply lead to people overlooking meaningful experiences because of all the meaningless clutter you have in there. A CV is a list of accomplishments that demonstrate that you are qualified to do a certain job. Shadowing a physician doesn't make you more qualified to do any job and becomes especially meaningless once you step onto the wards during your third year of med school. Undergrad clubs and leadership positions are equally worthless and mean nothing to any professional looking at your CV. Undergrad volunteer experiences are pretty useless too unless they were very significant/unique but otherwise i'd say you can list them as 1 or 2 liners if you really want to.

On the other hand education, research experiences (even if they don't lead to publications), publications/presentations/posters, honors/awards, skills, certifications, and professional society affiliations are definitely worth putting on there. In addition you can put in any volunteer work you've done recently or which is medically related.

I'm sure there are other things that belong on there that i forgot to list but you get the idea.

👍

I agree. I have a bunch of crap I did in undergrad to get to med school but some of it really isn't all that relevant, ie. shadowing doctors, volunteering at planned parenthood (i'm applying to radiology), random club stuff from undergrad is worthless now that I am applying for residency. It makes you look like you are trying to be more important. The majority of med students should have CV's around ~2 pages long at this point of there career, (unless they are non-trad older students).

 

[alwaysaangel]

Alright, I'm putting together my CV for the match, thought I would ask some questions:

1) First and foremost, how long did you guys make your CV? I've never seen one that was less than two pages, but considering that I have no awards and no publications (crud) I feel like it's silly to let it run on for more than one.

Mine was only 1.5 pages - that included a couple of awards, publications, step scores and all my med school activities.

2) How much did you draw from college? Obviously my degrees and major work experience is going on there, but what about clubs? Volunteering? Hobbies?

In general you shouldn't draw from college. Its like putting high school stuff on your med school app. Unless its really applicable (eg you're applying EM and did EM research as an undergrad - you shouldn't put it). Certainly no clubs or volunteering. Just list what you did in med school (including hobbies)

3) I'm mentioning ongoing research, and research I did for pay in college, but what about volunteer research that never led to a publication and never will? Should I even bother throwing that on? I mean I guess it shoows an interest, but it also sort of shows that my interest never really leads anywhere meaningful.

Put on anything you did in med school that you can talk about meaningfully in an interview.

4) Any other suggestions on filling the space? I've already got a section labeled hobbies, and I've stuck a lot of barely/not relevant crud on there (my junior professional engineering license, for example). Any other ideas?

Don't worry about filling space. Frankly, the CV you make yourself is just for letter writers and to make edits. ERAS has a very specific format where you fill in the blanks. You really need to just decide what you're including and how you're going to tlak about it.