Template for CV for secondaries? / what to include?

[BabySnoopy]

I have to submit a CV for a secondary, do i use bullet points under each position of mine? and does anyone have a template for CVs for secondaries?

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[controlx]

following because i'm also confused...and what activities do you include? should we cut out hobbies and shadowing experience? how long of a description for each?

 

[Mr.Smile12]

What guidance do you have? How long do they recommend for submitting it?

A CV is a fancy Latinized way to say "resume." No admissions committee wants a "real" academic CV (more than a dozen pages). If you are a traditional applicant, you shouldn't have more than 1 page. Non-traditional applicant/career changers shouldn't have more than 2 pages. School directions or requirements supersede my preferences.

Sections to include (but you have to figure your order), my suggestions:

• Name (with AAMC ID).
  You can add a "vision sentence": less cliche than "aspiring physician that wants to help people".
• Educational history (to high school, include city state ZIP) with any graduation honors. No clubs.
• Significant clinical experiences
• Significant research experiences (ADDED, forgot about that).
• Significant employment experiences
• Significant campus experiences/hobbies

Remember, the schools also have your AMCAS W/A section. This is your way to reorder the experiences chronologically (reverse is my preference because prime real estate is at the top of the page).

The key is to make it professionally appealing without a ton of words. Balance white space and information. Chatbots can help with short descriptions, but they may not be able to reflect your preferences on a visually appealing CV.

If they take word processing formats, you can take advantage of bullets and special formatting characters. If they do not, you must restrict yourself or you will send gibberish characters that will mess up the look.

If you "screwed up" in your W/A, use this opportunity to be immaculate with your resume details. Don't highlight your W/A blemish; in all likelihood, this CV could be used to briefly introduce you to the rest of the committee or your interviewers economically over the length of the W/A.

 

[BabySnoopy]

thank you that is helpful!! all they say is submit a CV and make sure any updated publications are on there

 

[Mr.Smile12]

thank you that is helpful!! all they say is submit a CV and make sure any updated publications are on there

Ah yes. I added research experiences, although publications usually are placed last (or before hobbies) in a traditional CV.

Hint: Keep in mind to highlight valuable or common experiences with the program (place it higher if you can). An effective resume can help screeners knock out items on our rubric quickly, so help us. It also frames and organizes important information for adcoms and interviewers.

 

[controlx]

What guidance do you have? How long do they recommend for submitting it?

A CV is a fancy Latinized way to say "resume." No admissions committee wants a "real" academic CV (more than a dozen pages). If you are a traditional applicant, you shouldn't have more than 1 page. Non-traditional applicant/career changers shouldn't have more than 2 pages. School directions or requirements supersede my preferences.

Sections to include (but you have to figure your order), my suggestions:

• Name (with AAMC ID).
  You can add a "vision sentence": less cliche than "aspiring physician that wants to help people".
• Educational history (to high school, include city state ZIP) with any graduation honors. No clubs.
• Significant clinical experiences
• Significant research experiences (ADDED, forgot about that).
• Significant employment experiences
• Significant campus experiences/hobbies

Remember, the schools also have your AMCAS W/A section. This is your way to reorder the experiences chronologically (reverse is my preference because prime real estate is at the top of the page).

The key is to make it professionally appealing without a ton of words. Balance white space and information. Chatbots can help with short descriptions, but they may not be able to reflect your preferences on a visually appealing CV.

If they take word processing formats, you can take advantage of bullets and special formatting characters. If they do not, you must restrict yourself or you will send gibberish characters that will mess up the look.

If you "screwed up" in your W/A, use this opportunity to be immaculate with your resume details. Don't highlight your W/A blemish; in all likelihood, this CV could be used to briefly introduce you to the rest of the committee or your interviewers economically over the length of the W/A.

how long are the descriptions usually? right now for some activities i'm ranging from 1 to 4 bullet points. is this too much and are bullet points fine? and i'm assuming we'd cut out shadowing experience

sorry for the somewhat neurotic comments

 

[Mr.Smile12]

how long are the descriptions usually? right now for some activities i'm ranging from 1 to 4 bullet points. is this too much and are bullet points fine? and i'm assuming we'd cut out shadowing experience

sorry for the somewhat neurotic comments

Crafting a resume already induces neuroticism because there is no one way to do it. It's advertising yourself in words, but you get a book of 1000 resume templates, you can see how many people bust the rules in order to "grab the reader's attention."

It depends on your clinical experiences, but I'd put shadowing in UNDERNEATH any experiences where you played a more active role. Most significant goes above least significant unless you are doing strict chronological, and that may not necessarily be helpful.

Like I advise anyone on W/A, emphasize your impact. Maybe 2-4 bullet points work depending on what you include, but you need to mention impact (quantitative results). Tell us how much you fundraised. Tell us how many students you tutored. Tell me how many posters you presented. Numbers equals impact, and anyone reviewing resumes (in the HR world) wants to see numbers.

P.S. I developed an alternative "resume" for applicants: give me a Powerpoint highlighting your accomplishments to allow my admissions team (or future classmates) to know more about you. Some of the slides we would use to introduce students at orientation. If you know what you would include in a short 7-slide presentation on yourself, you probably have a good idea what you would put on a more standard one-page resume.

 

[BabySnoopy]

Crafting a resume already induces neuroticism because there is no one way to do it. It's advertising yourself in words, but you get a book of 1000 resume templates, you can see how many people bust the rules in order to "grab the reader's attention."

It depends on your clinical experiences, but I'd put shadowing in UNDERNEATH any experiences where you played a more active role. Most significant goes above least significant unless you are doing strict chronological, and that may not necessarily be helpful.

Like I advise anyone on W/A, emphasize your impact. Maybe 2-4 bullet points work depending on what you include, but you need to mention impact (quantitative results). Tell us how much you fundraised. Tell us how many students you tutored. Tell me how many posters you presented. Numbers equals impact, and anyone reviewing resumes (in the HR world) wants to see numbers.

P.S. I developed an alternative "resume" for applicants: give me a Powerpoint highlighting your accomplishments to allow my admissions team (or future classmates) to know more about you. Some of the slides we would use to introduce students at orientation. If you know what you would include in a short 7-slide presentation on yourself, you probably have a good idea what you would put on a more standard one-page resume.

Thank you!! that is very helpful, i appreciate it

 

[E0001234]

What guidance do you have? How long do they recommend for submitting it?

A CV is a fancy Latinized way to say "resume." No admissions committee wants a "real" academic CV (more than a dozen pages). If you are a traditional applicant, you shouldn't have more than 1 page. Non-traditional applicant/career changers shouldn't have more than 2 pages. School directions or requirements supersede my preferences.

Sections to include (but you have to figure your order), my suggestions:

• Name (with AAMC ID).
  You can add a "vision sentence": less cliche than "aspiring physician that wants to help people".
• Educational history (to high school, include city state ZIP) with any graduation honors. No clubs.
• Significant clinical experiences
• Significant research experiences (ADDED, forgot about that).
• Significant employment experiences
• Significant campus experiences/hobbies

Remember, the schools also have your AMCAS W/A section. This is your way to reorder the experiences chronologically (reverse is my preference because prime real estate is at the top of the page).

The key is to make it professionally appealing without a ton of words. Balance white space and information. Chatbots can help with short descriptions, but they may not be able to reflect your preferences on a visually appealing CV.

If they take word processing formats, you can take advantage of bullets and special formatting characters. If they do not, you must restrict yourself or you will send gibberish characters that will mess up the look.

If you "screwed up" in your W/A, use this opportunity to be immaculate with your resume details. Don't highlight your W/A blemish; in all likelihood, this CV could be used to briefly introduce you to the rest of the committee or your interviewers economically over the length of the W/A.

In a CV, should I feature my AMCAS cGPA or my school transcript GPA? My AMCAS cGPA is 0.02 higher

 

[Mr.Smile12]

In a CV, should I feature my AMCAS cGPA or my school transcript GPA? My AMCAS cGPA is 0.02 higher

Admissions staff may want to blind that information, so I'd check with the schools there (which GPA or to refrain from disclosing). GPA can be featured if you apply for a "real job."

 

[wysdoc]

In a CV, should I feature my AMCAS cGPA or my school transcript GPA? My AMCAS cGPA is 0.02 higher

A CV should include education, awards, and work experience.
The GPA and other things are on your AMCAS

 

[E0001234]

A CV should include education, awards, and work experience.
The GPA and other things are on your AMCAS

Ah okay! Another question: if I were to feature a presentations section, would I include abstract presentations that I was 2nd author on (did not present myself)? I'd like to include these somewhere if possible, since they were @ national conferences

 

[wysdoc]

Ah okay! Another question: if I were to feature a presentations section, would I include abstract presentations that I co-authored, but did not present myself? I'd like to include these somewhere if possible

yes, publications/presentations too

but not grades. hobbies, sports, etc.
Do it like a job application CV

 

[E0001234]

yes, publications/presentations too

Sorry, I meant to say second author, not co-author! Does that change anything?

 

[wysdoc]

Sorry, I meant to say second author, not co-author! Does that change anything?

do the ones you were the author but only the presentations you actually did

 

[controlx]

yes, publications/presentations too

but not grades. hobbies, sports, etc.
Do it like a job application CV

would you recommend including clubs I have leadership positions at and shadowing experience? and what's your take on the description included under each activity? thanks

 

[wysdoc]

would you recommend including clubs I have leadership positions at and shadowing experience? and what's your take on the description included under each activity? thanks

Look up Resumé templates on your word processing program of choice (Pages, Word) and choose a format you like the looks of.
They are more commonly used for business or job seekers and are concise and factual, not an essay format, not a creative writing exercise

 

[controlx]

Look up Resumé templates on your word processing program of choice (Pages, Word) and choose a format you like the looks of.
They are more commonly used for business or job seekers and are concise and factual, not an essay format, not a creative writing exercise

got it! would you recommend keeping a skills section (e.g., additional languages, licenses like CNA/EMT) or no? just asking because i do see them on online templates but also wonder if it's redundant

 

[Mr.Smile12]

got it! would you recommend keeping a skills section (e.g., additional languages, licenses like CNA/EMT) or no? just asking because i do see them on online templates but also wonder if it's redundant

If you got it, flaunt it. At the end of the resume.

 

[sarcasmrules]

A bit late, but here are key differences between a CV and resume: CVs, unlike resumes, have everything and no limit: publications, volunteer positions, conferences, etc and can be 100 pages long. Resumes are limited to 1-2 pages. Another difference is in a resume, you can list things completely unrelated to your field (like working in a restaurant server). In a CV, however, you only list experiences related to your field. For medical school: any and all clinical experiences, research, pre-health club involvements, including leadership position, but not the server position.

 

[Mr.Smile12]

A bit late, but here are key differences between a CV and resume: CVs, unlike resumes, have everything and no limit: publications, volunteer positions, conferences, etc and can be 100 pages long. Resumes are limited to 1-2 pages. Another difference is in a resume, you can list things completely unrelated to your field (like working in a restaurant server). In a CV, however, you only list experiences related to your field. For medical school: any and all clinical experiences, research, pre-health club involvements, including leadership position, but not the server position.

Of course, nowadays, people at this level easily interchange the terms resume and CV. (I say at this level because they are still used distinctly for hiring PhDs for academic jobs [CV] vs. non-academic/industry jobs [resume].) However, while you can list employment unrelated to your field in a resume, it's not recommended depending on the job position.

What is true is that these are meant to be time-savers so that people don't have to run through your entire standardized application to find important information. (Some applications can generate an application "cover sheet" to make it easier for reviewers in lieu of a resume.)