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Enter your email to unlock an extra $25 off an sat or act program, by submitting my email address. i certify that i am 13 years of age or older, agree to recieve marketing email messages from the princeton review, and agree to terms of use., write a high school student resume for college applications.

Crafting a High School Student Resume

Think resumes are only for job seekers? Think again. A high school student resume gives colleges a snapshot of your accomplishments, extracurriculars, hobbies, and work history. They can also be a useful tool for prepping for a college interview or to give to the teachers who are writing your letters of recommendation .

Not sure how to get started? Follow our tips for crafting a standout resume for college and scholarship applications.

What should go on a high school student resume for college admissions?

Any of the sections below could appear on your resume for college applications. Pick an assortment that works for you!

  • Heading with your name, address, and e-mail
  • High school information with your graduation date, GPA (weighted), class rank, and SAT/ACT scores
  • Academic awards, publications, honors, and other achievements
  • Coursework (summer programs, college courses, or other specialized workshops that do not appear on your high school transcript)
  • Extracurricular activities
  • Community service
  • Work experience
  • Special skills (e.g. foreign language fluency or HTML expertise)

When should you submit a resume to colleges?

Some colleges and scholarship committees request or recommend that you include a high school resume with your application materials. (But don’t submit a resume if they don’t ask for one—following instructions is a key application strategy.) Bring your resume to college interviews and give copies to your college counselor and teachers so that they can write you the strongest possible recommendation letter.

High school resume for college applications

Tips for Composing Your College Admissions Resume

1. keep it concise..

Pare down the activities you showcase to the most brag-worthy and most representative of you as a candidate. Do colleges need to know that you were on the field hockey team for one semester in Grade 9? Probably not. The standard rule of thumb is to stick to one or two pages.

2. Focus on depth and length of commitment.

When deciding which activities and accomplishments make the cut, keep in mind that colleges would much rather see you excited about one or two key experiences than sporadic involvement in 20 clubs. If having an after-school job limited your ability to participate in clubs or sports, make sure your resume plays up your work responsibilities, training, and on-the-job skills.

Read More: Everything You Need to Know About Applying to College

3. Provide detail whenever possible.

The details are what set a resume apart from a list of extracurriculars on a standard college application. For example, when describing your involvement in the French Club make sure to include:

  • school years/hours per week you participated
  • specific contributions (e.g. "Organized a successful after-school film series to introduce our community to French cinema and culture" )
  • leadership roles (e.g. "Treasurer, Grade 12" )
  • unique details that will make you stand out

4. Highlight things you weren’t able to write about in your college essays or short answers.

Use your high school resume to show colleges something new. If your devotion to photography didn’t make it on the application but is a big part of who you are, then showcase your photography cred on your resume.

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5. Formatting is key.

Make your resume easy to scan. Divide information into sections with clear headings, bulleted lists, and a consistent font. Use a system of organization that works for you. (Chronological, by importance of activity, or by time commitment are a few options.) Don’t forget to proofread !

6. Be honest and accurate.

Colleges know how to spot inconsistencies in your high school student resume, and they won’t hesitate to call your counselor to verify information that doesn't seem right. So don't tell them that you have practice for the school play for 30 hours per week—unless drama club is somehow your full-time job!

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Sample High School Resumes for College Applications

Valerie is an experienced writer and editor with an extensive backgrounds in health, education, parenting, and nonprofit operations.

Learn about our Editorial Policy .

If you want to apply to a traditional, four-year college, get a leg up on scholarship applications or make the college application process is easier, you need a high school resume. Creating a resume can help you pull together all your information in one spot so you can easily summarize your high school career.

Samples Based on Real Students

The following two samples each have a unique format and highlights based on the career and college goals of two different students. To download, click on the image of the sample you want and use. Each sample is customizable so you can create a resume that truly represents you. If you have issues, see the troubleshooting guide for online printables.

  • 7 Senior Bio Examples to Help You Craft Your Own

STEM-Oriented Narrative Resume

This resume template is narrative in nature, meaning that it offers some explanation as to the nature of the activities the student engaged in. In addition, it makes a point to highlight test scores and difficult coursework - both of which are important to STEM programs.

Use this template if you:

  • Want to highlight your grades, sports, coursework, or test scores
  • Have awards or leadership that you want to explain
  • Are a stellar writer

Liberal Arts Traditional Resume

Students going to a more humanities-based program might appreciate a resume that looks more traditional in nature. It highlights important details from the students time in high school without being too wordy.

  • Have a lot of leadership experience within your extracurriculars that you want to highlight
  • Have a lot of extracurriculars that will take up a full page
  • Do not have a lot of categories to include but have a lot of things in one category

What You Should Include

You need to think about your resume as the prime real estate of your high school career. What is most outstanding about you as a student? The resume is a time to showcase both things that make you stand out, as well as information you think makes you an especially attractive student. You should always make sure your resume is no more than one page and include a variety of information.

  • Basics - Make sure you include your name and contact information.
  • Academics - You'll generally want to include your GPA and class rank and SAT or ACT scores. You might want to include the nature of your studies (ie Honors, AP, or IB) if they are essential to your intended major.
  • Extracurriculars - Include things you are passionate about, spent a lot of time on, or are related to a future field of study.
  • Sports Accomplishments - If sports was a major part of your high school career or if you plan to play in college, you should have a section devoted to your leadership and accomplishments.
  • Leadership positions - This may or may not be a separate section. It is okay to discuss leadership and extracurriculars together if that makes sense for the formatting of your resume.
  • Volunteer Service - You may want to note how many hours per week something took in addition to any initiative you took to make these things happen.
  • Summer Activities - The most highly competitive programs are hoping you took the summers to engage in learning activities. Whether it's language camp, extra classes, or something else that's interesting, if you used your time off for learning - make sure and note that.
  • Honors and Awards - If you won a major national award such as an Honor Society, or if the award is self-explanatory in its title (ie Principal's Award for Academic Excellent), you do not need to explain these. However, if you won something that might not be familiar to everyone reading your resume, make sure to add a brief explanation.
  • Additional Skills - Fluent in German or even Elvish? Go ahead and note it on your resume. If you love to garden or took classes as a natural illustrator - note that too. Not everything on your resume has to be leadership positions held or awards won.
  • Things related to your major - If you have had a major accomplishment related to something you want to study, note it separately. This could be research, field study or any other award.

Arts Majors Take Note

Arts majors, whether they are performing or visual, will often be allowed two page resumes. One page will be academic and extracurricular accomplishments, and the other page will list your most important accomplishments in the arts as a high school student. Each area of the arts frequently has a different way they handle resumes, and different schools may ask for the information differently. If you are giving the resume to a school on your application, it is best to contact them in advance and ask how they want the information formatted.

What Not to Do on Your Resume

There are not a lot of ground rules when it comes to writing your high school resume. You can and should include anything that you think is relevant to you as a student. However, there are a few things you should avoid to make sure your resume stands out. Students should be careful not to:

  • Embellish or fib - It might be tempting to make yourself stand out more by embellishing a leadership position or saying you were involved in something when really you attended one meeting - but don't. Colleges want to know who you are, not who you wish you were.
  • Highlight negative information - If you weren't a top student, focus on how you've improved your grades over the last few years rather than just giving a GPA. If you have high test scores but mediocre GPA, put the test scores higher on the resume.
  • Include more than one page - If you have so much information that it takes up two pages, you have to choose your highlights. (Except for arts students, see above.)
  • It's part of an ongoing theme (ie you are an Olympic hopeful fencer and you've been doing that since you were 8 years old)
  • You won a major, nationally or internationally known award (ie you were won the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 7th grade)
  • Have an immature email handle - If your email address is something like [email protected] - it's time to change it. Some combination of your name or initials generally works best.
  • Get too creative with formatting - Format your resume traditionally and don't get too creative. You want someone to be able to look at it quickly and feel like they have a good grasp of who you are. Fancy colors, perfumed paper, or anything similar is not appropriate.

When to Use a Resume

There are a variety of reasons why doing a resume is a great idea. You can use it in lots of places, and it's becoming the 'norm' that students have them.

  • Having all of your accomplishments, volunteer work and other opportunities in one place is incredibly handy when you start filling out college and scholarship applications. If for no other reason, create one so you have the information gathered for you.
  • While attending college fairs, you can give a representative your resume. You should do this only if you're genuinely interested in the school. If they accept it, they will start a file on you in their admissions office. ( Tip : Add a QR code to your resume. An admissions person is often happy to scan the information right into her phone.)
  • If you are interested in playing sports or taking part of a team that represents the university (ie like Model UN or debate), give your resume to your potential coach as a way to introduce yourself.
  • Asking for a letter of recommendation? Whoever you're asking knows you from one place, so giving that person your resume helps give them a better snapshot and can also ensure they get dates right. Nothing looks worse than you saying you've known your coach for three years when they say they've known you for two.
  • You can give your resume to an advisor or professor at a school if you're very interested in a particular major. Only do this if you've accomplished something noteworthy related to that major.
  • Likewise, give your resume, as a freshman in college, to a professor with whom you're interested in doing research. This helps give them information on your background when you don't necessarily have a lot of experience.
  • Use your resume for college interviews. This often helps the interview be less awkward because now the interviewer has a sheet to refer to for questions.
  • A lot of scholarship applications ask either for a resume or for all the information on it. If you plan on applying for money, keep this handy for quicker applications.

Will a Resume Get You In?

A resume won't necessarily get you into the college of your dreams. However, it shows people that you are a serious and capable person who really wants to be a contributor to the campus. Use your resume wisely, and at the very least, it will help make the process less stressful for you.

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College Application Resume Guide and Example

college application resume

  • By Nancy L. Wolf

Published June 12, 2024 | Last Updated June 28th, 2024 at 09:40 am

High school seniors, put one more item on your to-do list. It’s time to prepare a college application resume.

This isn’t the kind of resume you’ll need when you look for your first post-college job or a brag sheet you’ve put together for someone writing a letter of recommendation, but a resume designed for a high school senior.

Why Do You Need A Resume For College Applications?

The Common Application permits students to upload an activities resume, although many colleges within the Common App system don’t accept resumes submitted this way. 

If any of the colleges you’re applying to do allow it, don’t miss the chance. It’s a perfect opportunity to highlight things you weren’t able to write about in detail in your college essays.

Even if none of the colleges on your list ask for a resume, I strongly recommend you create one for the following reasons:

  • to help you complete the Common Application
  • to give to teachers, counselors, advisors, and coaches writing your recommendations
  • to use when applying for a job or internship
  • to submit when applying for a scholarship
  • to give to the interviewer at an alumni or college admission interview

What Should I Put on My Resume for College Applications?

Here’s a guide to preparing a high school student resume, along with a sample to get you started . 

1. Center your contact information at the top of the page. Include your full name, address, email address, and cell number.

2. Put your educational information in a separate section below your contact information. Include the following:

  • The full name of your high school with its city and state.
  • Your graduation date in month and year format.
  • Your GPA – weighted and unweighted (note each).
  • Your class rank – if your school ranks.
  • Your test scores with dates given – SAT, ACT, SAT Subject Tests, and AP tests.
  • Your academic honors and awards, such as honor roll or AP scholar.
  • Any coursework that may not be on your high school transcript, such as a summer course taken at a college or a summer educational experience at a college.

3. Create a section for your experience (activities and jobs) during your four years of high school.

  • Include your extracurricular Activities at your high school and also any outside-of-school activities and hobbies.
  • Include significant work experience.
  • Include significant community service/volunteer experience.
  • If you have limited extracurricular activities because you had to work outside of school to support your family or you had to take care of a family member, explain that here

4. List your most recent and most important activity first. (Go in reverse chronological order.)

  • For each of your high school extracurriculars, list the activity (avoid abbreviations) by category and date.
  • Describe your specific role within the activity, including any leadership position you held and the school years and/or summers you participated.
  • Use details to show your accomplishments such as the amount of funds raised, the number of students who joined the club you founded or the impact of your campaign.
  • Put each extracurricular in a separate section with white spaces between the sections.
  • Start each description with a strong action word such as founded, managed, provided, built, and led.
  • For any job you had or still have, give the name of the company or group, your role, your job responsibilities, and dates.
  • Omit any superficial or brief activities (such as a club you joined for six weeks in 9th grade).

5. Include a section for your special skills.

The last section of your resume is where you should list any special skills, such as fluency in Spanish, specific computer skills, proficiency in playing a musical instrument or athletic skills not described in the experience section.

In the special skills section, you could also list any time-consuming hobbies you have that do not fit in elsewhere – e.g., Spending 10 hours per week knitting baby booties to donate to homeless women’s shelters.

How to Format Your College Application Resume

Formatting is key to making your resume easy to scan. Here are some tips to follow:

  • Use a professional font
  • Make your headings consistent
  • Bulleted lists may work
  • Use a limited amount of bold and underlining; aim for a clear and clean format
  • Keep your narratives brief but detailed
  • Do not abbreviate the names of groups or organizations
  • Try to keep the resume to one page (unless you won a Nobel Prize in high school)
  • Proofread, proofread, proofread to avoid typos, spelling errors, grammar mistakes, and punctuation problems – and ask a trusted adult to do the same.

Use this sample high school student resume as a template for creating your own.

Remember that your resume is not a do-it-once document; be sure to update it as needed. And let me stress again: You can’t proofread a resume too carefully.

You want a college admissions officer to remember you for your accomplishments, not for your typos!

Use  R2C Insights  to help find merit aid and schools that fit the criteria most important to your student. You’ll not only save precious time, but your student will avoid the heartache of applying to schools they aren’t likely to get into or can’t afford to attend.   

Other Articles You Might Like:

10 Ways a Parent Can Help Their Student Prepare for College

How to Motivate Juniors to Start the College Process

High School Resumes May Be More Valuable Than Ever for College Admissions

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  • How to Write a High School Resume for College Application (with examples)

Writing an excellent high school resume for college consideration is the only way you increase your chances of getting into the higher education institution of your dreams. While many people state that you can only create an excellent resume when you have tons of high school accomplishments, you can always work with what you have and still create a killer document.

In this article, we provide you with useful tips on how to craft the perfect high school resume for college applications. Better yet, we share with you some great examples to help you understand the fundamentals of good resume writing . Let’s get on with it.

teens

Adopt the Perfect College Application Resume Format

College admission panels across the country pay particular attention to the format of your document. As such, even if the contents of your paper are compelling to the core, if your formatting is off, then your application will quickly end up in the “reject” pile. So, how do you get the college resume format? Below are a few things to consider.

Use the Reverse-Chronological Structure

This tip is perhaps the most useful in this regard. See, despite there being many colleges in the country, the majority of them still receive tons of applications. So, to ensure that your document is worthy of a second look, your latest and best qualifications should be noted quickly. Luckily, the reverse-chronological format will help you pull this off quite easily.

Are you short on time? You can use this college application resume builder to craft an excellent document with proper formatting.

Be Great with the Spacing, Headings, and Fonts

A college resume with proper spacing is sure to stand out since it is easy on the eye. This is because everything is not crammed up together. Apart from that, it would be best if you crafted proper headings for the different sections to make it easy for the assessors to identify parts of your application. Lastly, you need to use a legible typeface to ensure that the admission panel can read your document comfortably. 

Choose the Right File Format and Resume Length

Unless communicated, always save your college resume as PDF since they are machine-readable. For more information on this matter, read more on the acceptable file types for resumes . When it comes to length, one page is always ideal for a high school resume for college.

teen

Write an Excellent College Resume Objective

College admission panels do not read applications. Instead, they skim through them. For this reason, you need to write an attention-grabbing objective .

College Application Resume Examples for High School Seniors

Never write your objective like this:

“An exceptionally diligent scholar with a keen interest in Geography and History. I only have a 3.1 GPA, and 1348 SAT scores, but I am dedicated to working extremely hard on campus. I was captain of my high school lacrosse team.”

So, what is wrong here? Well, it just does not move the reader.

Below is an excellent example of a resume objective.

“Enthusiastic student writer/producer looking forward to bringing a refreshing feel to New York University’s student fraternity exceptional leadership and organizational capabilities. Started and ran an educational YouTube channel that has since gained over 400,000 views and 3,000 comments. Lacrosse team captain with A+ average in Geography, Chemistry, and Art.”

Why is this a “thumbs up?” It shows enthusiasm and quantifies achievements, offering the reader a better perspective. Moreover, it makes good use of tenses .

Highlight Your Activities in the College Resume

Every standout college resume should have the following details:

  • The initiatives you launched, their impact, plus any other useful information to support the claims.
  • Your hobbies/ interests that are relevant to the course you want to pursue in college.
  • The number of professional books you read on the side.
  • Clubs you founded, ran and/or participated in.
  • Sports activities and achievements.
  • Subjects that you were most passionate about.

While the list does not stop there, make sure that you are aware of the things not to include in your resume . This way, you will craft a more compelling document.

College Application Examples

Below is an excellent example of a college resume for high school scholars.

Founder, Supervisor

  • Started and ran a YouTube educational channel for two years.
  • Wrote and produced 14 short educational documentaries.
  • Got 400,000 views and 3,000 comments with 91% positive viewer feedback on the YouTube channel.
  • Excellent lacrosse player. Trained 4 days/week since age 12.
  • Lacrosse team captain during my final year.
  • Read 276 books in different genres.
  • Created exemplary art that is pinned in the school gallery.

Useful Takeaway

Avoid writing accomplishments on your college resume at random. Instead, provide those that suit the course and institution you want to join. Case in point, if you’re going to pursue information technology, be sure to list computer-related achievements at the top of your document. In the meantime, take a moment to learn how to list achievements, accomplishments, and awards in a resume on your resume .

That said, avoid writing basic info such as:

  • Love writing educational posts.
  • Good lacrosse player.
  • Captain of the lacrosse team.
  • Like to read.

Instead, take time to ponder on your past to find information that will add more weight to your accomplishments.

teenagers

Add Extra Sections on Your Resume for College

Given that a college application resume is probably the first serious document you’ve been tasked with, it may be hard to figure out what to share to impress the admission committee. To make a lasting impression, you will need to highlight strong points. But you don’t do that in powerful words like self-motivated, driven, industrious, etc. Instead, choose the right information to share. Here are some examples of what looks good on college applications resumes:

  • Previous work. If you’ve previously held a part-time or summer job, highlight it to show your working ethic.
  • Volunteer gigs . Have you offered your services for free to homeless shelters, nursing homes, animal shelters, hospitals, etc.? Include that too.
  • Awards and Certificates. Talk about the activities and competitions you’ve been involved in, for instance, spelling bee, science congress, essay writing, etc., and the awards earned from them.
  • Extra-curricular projects. Highlight your projects as well on your high school resume for college. These could include your site/ blog, books/ articles, art, performances, etc.
  • Social media influence. If you are an influential figure on social networks such as Instagram, Twitter or YouTube, mention it.
  • Leadership roles. Do you have a leadership role in your sports team, club, part-time job, or church? Talking about these positions can help demonstrate your leadership skills.
  • What are some things you like to do that could be relevant to your high school resume for college? Include it.
  • Sports activities. List all the sports activities you’ve participated in. If you were a captain in any of them, highlight it.
  • Hobbies . How do you spend your free time? It could be writing poems, cycling, playing a musical instrument, etc. Use them to show that you utilize your time well.
  • If you’ve learned speaking other languages aside from English, for instance, Spanish, Mandarin, Italian, and so forth, include them in your skillset. If you’re bilingual it’s even cooler.

Write a Compelling Education Section

A breakdown of your academic history is fundamental in a college admissions resume. Your education part must have:

  • Your school’s name and where it’s located
  • Graduation date (even if it is yet to happen)

Example of the Education Section

When writing this section, go a step further and highlight your relevant accomplishments as well. Example of how to put education on a resume :

Libertyville High School, IL

  • Debate Team
  • “A” in Science and Mathematics
  • Assistant captain, Swim Team
  • GPA score of 3.8
  • SAT score 1510
  • Graduation Date 4/7/19

teenager

Always Include Your Working Experience

When you are applying for college, job history isn’t a must as it’s probably your first resume with no experience . However, if you possess a bit of experience, it would help to include it. Remember, this section should go beyond mentioning that you held a particular post. Include what you achieved while in that role to emphasize on your valuable skills.

Job Experience on a Resume for College Example

Here is a perfect work history example:

McDonald’s, Syracuse, NY

  • Often ranked as the number 1 tip earner in 2019
  • Thrived within high-volume floors, serving up to 200 guests per shift
  • Earned employee of the month award price

Highlight Your Skills on Resume for College

Skills are also essential in a resume for college applications. But before you decide what skills to put, learn what transferrable skills the admission committee value most. Then, pick and highlight those that you possess.

Skills to Put on College Admission Example

Always ensure that your skills are relevant to the program you wish to join. Then, present them in bullet form.

Example How to Put Skills in a Resume

Here is a sample of the skills segment of a resume applying for a medical program:

Member, HOSA

  • Led a small team in 6 health science events
  • Initiated over ten service projects
  • Read 27 medical books and journals since the age of 12
  • Learned necessary emergency response procedures while volunteering at a local hospital
  • Fluent in Spanish

Now you know what looks good on college applications and can proceed to craft an excellent resume for you. Remember, you can include other sections, such as certifications , if they are relevant. Don’t forget to top it off with a powerful cover letter, even if it is optional. Good luck!

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resume for high school senior applying to college

resume for high school senior applying to college

How To Write A High School Resume For College + Examples

Tips on writing a high school resume for college

Reviewed by:

Former Admissions Committee Member, Columbia University

Reviewed: 4/24/24

Did you know that a strong high school resume could help your chances of getting the admission offer you wanted? This article will share with you all you need to know about what to put on a high school resume before college!

Applying to college is a long journey that requires a lot of preparation and dedication. When gathering everything you need to finish an application for your education after high school, it’s common to overlook the college admission resume. 

Resumes are not just for seeking jobs or internships during the final years of college. They also have many uses for high schoolers, especially when it comes to applying for college. College application resumes are often used as supplementary material to increase your chances, but some schools require applicants to submit a high school resume . 

So, what should a high school resume look like? What should you include in your resume? How can you make sure your resume stands out? This article will guide you on how to write your resume for college applications, including examples of application resumes to help you craft your own.

What To Include on Your High School Resume

When writing a college resume, it’s always important to be mindful of what to include and highlight. A resume should be no longer than one page long , so you have limited space to work with. A poorly done resume could end up harming you, much like other components of your college application profile. 

Your high school to college CV provides a condensed overview of your academic and extracurricular experiences . Much like any other resume, it really is up to you to decide what you want to include. 

Additionally, there are plenty of high school skills you should put on your resume! However, to craft a well-written college admission resume , it is strongly suggested to at least include the following:

  • Contact information (email address, phone number, and location)
  • Experiences and activities
  • Awards and achievements
  • Hard and soft skills

At this point, you might be thinking: “Hey, these are just stuff that’s typically included in college applications!” You’d be right, but it’s one thing to have all the information and a whole other to formulate it, organize it, and present it as a well-composed document. 

Furthermore, a high school resume allows you to include more information and details about your job experiences and career aspirations, both of which college application committees deeply care about. 

How To Write a Resume for College Applications

Now that we’ve provided a list of everything you should include let’s go through each section. By understanding the details you need to include, you can better understand what to include on a resume for college applications. 

Note that your resume does not need to include all of these sections; these are just highly recommended ones. You can decide which information to put on your resume based on your experiences and accomplishments.

The objective section of your college resume is where you outline your reasons for applying to college. Making your objectives known is important even for high school students because it tells the admissions committee your plans and goals for yourself. 

Your objective should indicate your ability to self-reflect and demonstrate your responsibility and passion for what you hope to become.

As such, this is usually the most critical component of your resume. For this part, you should include your dreams for your future, why you think the school and the program you apply to will help you, and what you plan to do about your career after you graduate. Outlining these three things will help the committee understand your reasons for applying.

If you have a clear career objective and sound confident and eager, it can benefit your chances of getting admitted. 

Experience 

In this section, you should include any valuable experience you are involved in. This can include work, internships, volunteering, academic projects, extracurricular activities, or even hobbies. 

However, when it comes to experience, quality matters over quantity. Having a bunch of shallow experiences where you didn’t do anything noteworthy will only clutter your resume instead of helping you at all.

‍ When choosing which experiences to include, keep this list of criteria in mind : 

  • What you’ve accomplished
  • Valuable skills, knowledge, or lessons you’ve learned
  • Positive impact
  • Relevancy of the school/program you’re applying to
  • Time (recent experiences should get higher priority)

When writing your experience and activity section, make sure you include the following:

  • The location 
  • The starting and end dates
  • Highlights of your specific role and responsibilities and accomplishments
  • Any noteworthy accomplishments

In essence, your experiences should clearly express what you’ve done and how long you’ve done it for. It’s strongly recommended to put the details in a bullet list to make the information easier to read.

Providing an overview of your education history is important when applying to college. Give the admissions committee a picture of your educational background so they have a better idea of your skills, learning experience, personal interests, and whether or not you’re a fit for them. 

You only need to include education during your high school years and onwards. For each part, put all the details in bullet list form. Educational details include your:

  • Field of study
  • Achievements
  • Expected graduation date

However, if you’ve taken any form of education outside the regular school curriculum during your high school years, such as any classes (including AP and IB courses), lessons, certificates, or development programs, feel free to include them. 

Like with your regular school education, including important details like fields and areas of study, how well you did, achievements, and prospective graduation date. Any standardized test scores you have taken, such as the SAT or ACT , can also be included in this section. Be sure to include the test name, score, and testing date. 

A resume is an excellent place to showcase your skill set. When it comes to resumes for colleges, your skills are a great addition to building your applicant portfolio. It tells schools what you’ve gained from your education and all your experiences. 

Your skills can include your capabilities, strengths, or simply anything you’re good at. This section can just be a list. Not many details are needed as long as you make your skills easy to understand. Don’t write anything too vague or confusing, but don’t be too wordy. This section is meant to be a rundown of your skill set. Some examples include:

  • Punctuality
  • Determination
  • Team Player
  • Communicative 

Another thing to think about is your hard skills and soft skills. Soft skills (as listed above) are more generic, vague, and difficult to measure and can be applied in many different scenarios. Hard skills involve specific abilities and talents, such as web design, digital animation, software creation, or scientific experiment design. 

Awards and Achievements

Participation and experiences are good in and of themselves, but you must go somewhere with them to stand out in front of the admission committee. They love individuals who can make an impact or a difference. That's why you should include your awards and achievements in your college admission resume as well.

This section can include awards, positive contributions, noteworthy advancements, and other things you've accomplished. Keep in mind that it doesn't have to be limited to academics. However, if you want to bring up anything we’ve mentioned in other sections, make sure to include more details so you're not repeating yourself. 

Make sure to list the honor and who gave it to you, and be specific. Don't just say something vague and broad, as that can make your achievement look weak. Try to include a date or a statistic.

If you don’t have any awards and achievements to include on your resume, that’s okay! You can add any passion projects and hobbies , like a blog you’ve started, a side hustle you’re focused on, or a community garden you’ve worked on. 

Learning how to write a college application resume is a valuable skill for any high school student preparing for the admissions process. So, take these tips and do your best. It may take some time to put together a great resume, but you’ll get there!

What Not To Include on Your High School Resume

Now that we’ve gone through what you should include and understand how to prepare a college admissions resume let’s go over some mistakes to avoid . 

Anything Lengthy

Like many other resumes, college resumes must be as short and concise as possible. Unnecessarily lengthy sections are devastating to a resume’s effectiveness. This mistake is especially easy to make when describing experiences or details of something. Remember: your resume is a portfolio, not a story.

So make sure you only include the needed details in a concise and easy-to-read manner. Scan your resume whenever you’re finished writing it. If something is not needed, cut it out. 

Repetitive Information

Repeating yourself unnecessarily should also be avoided in your college application resume. If you find yourself repeating something in different parts of the resume, either paraphrase or remove it entirely. 

Of course, sometimes, you may need to repeat things. In fact, repeating can reflect emphasis or importance. But make sure you add in enough variety and minimize saying the exact same things over and over again.

Insincerity

Dishonesty is one of the worst things you can do for yourself when writing a resume for college applications. It might seem tempting to blow things up a bit to impress the admission committee, but lying not only makes you look bad but could also get you in big trouble if you submit anything false in your application.

Therefore, it’s very important to be honest in your resume. Have faith in your true self and your abilities. You’ve already been through so much throughout your high school years, and that’s something you should take pride and confidence in. 

College Application Resume Template

Creating a strong college application resume can boost your chances of getting into the college of your choice. This template is a helpful starting point for organizing your academic achievements, activities, and more. It's a way to show colleges what makes you a standout candidate . You can customize it with your own information to make it uniquely yours. 

[Your Name]

[Your Address]

[City, State ZIP Code]

[Your Email Address]

[Your Phone Number]

Optional: Include a brief statement about your academic and career goals

[High School Name], [City, State]

  • Expected Graduation Date: [Month, Year]
  • GPA: if applicable
  • Relevant Coursework: [List any honors, AP, or specialized courses

Academic Achievements

  • List any academic awards, honors, or recognitions you've received

Extracurricular Activities

  • List clubs, organizations, or groups you've been involved in at school
  • Specify any leadership roles held in these activities

Community Service/Volunteer Work

  • Describe any volunteer work or community service projects you've participated in

Work Experience

  • List any part-time jobs or internships you've held, including job titles, employers, and dates

Extracurricular Interests/Hobbies

  • Highlight any personal interests or hobbies that showcase your personality and character
  • Include any relevant skills, such as language proficiency, computer skills, or certifications

Achievements and Awards

  • List any non-academic awards or achievements, such as sports, arts, or other accomplishments
  • Optional: Mention that references are available upon request

High School Resume for College Admission Examples

Here are some samples of examples you can work off of when writing your own high school resume. 

John Anderson

123 Main Street

Anytown, USA 12345

(555) 555-5555

[email protected]

Motivated and detail-oriented recent graduate seeking opportunities to leverage my analytical and communication skills in a professional environment.

Bachelor of Science in Computer Science

Tech University, Class of 2021

Professional Experience

Software Developer Intern, XYZ Tech (Summer 2020)

  • Collaborated in a team to develop a mobile app that received 50,000+ downloads.
  • Conducted quality assurance testing and resolved software bugs.
  • Assisted in the creation of technical documentation for internal use.

Research Assistant, Tech University (2019-Present)

  • Conducted experiments in the university's lab, resulting in two published research papers.
  • Assisted in data collection, analysis, and equipment maintenance.
  • Collaborated with professors and fellow students on research projects.
  • President, Computer Science Club (2018-Present)
  • Volunteer, Local Animal Shelter (2017-2019)
  • Member, Tech University Debate Team (2017-Present)
  • Captain, Intramural Soccer Team (2019-2021)
  • Dean's List, Multiple Semesters
  • Tech University Scholarship Recipient
  • Outstanding Research Assistant, 2020
  • Programming Languages: Java, Python, C++
  • Software Development: Agile methodologies, Git, JIRA
  • Data Analysis: MATLAB, R
  • Languages: Fluent in Spanish

Samantha Lee

123 Elm Street

Los Angeles, CA 90001

[email protected]

Bachelor of Arts in Psychology

Los Angeles University, Class of 2022

Research Assistant, Center for Behavioral Studies (2020-Present)

  • Conducted surveys and interviews for research projects on human behavior.
  • Analyzed and compiled research data, creating comprehensive reports.
  • Assisted in the development of experimental protocols.

Intern, Mental Health Clinic (Summer 2021)

  • Supported clinicians in providing counseling services to clients.
  • Managed appointment scheduling and maintained patient records.
  • Conducted research on the latest therapeutic techniques.

President, Psychology Club (2019-Present)

  • Organized guest speaker events and workshops for club members.
  • Led discussions on current developments in psychology research.
  • Collaborated with professors on student-led research projects.

Volunteer, Homeless Shelter (2018-2020)

  • Assisted in meal preparation and distribution to homeless individuals.
  • Organized clothing drives and hygiene product donations.
  • Participated in outreach programs to connect homeless individuals with local resources.

Dean's List, Four Semesters

Psychology Department Scholarship Recipient

Outstanding Research Assistant, 2021

Statistical Analysis: SPSS, R

Data Collection: Surveys, Interviews

Counseling Skills: Active Listening, Empathy

Languages: Proficient in Spanish

Make sure you include everything necessary, as well as additional information to help your case, and then structure your document in a style that’s easy to read!

How Important Is a High School Resume for College?

The importance of a resume in the college admissions process can vary, but it often plays a valuable role in presenting a comprehensive picture of your qualifications and experiences. 

While grades and test scores are crucial, a resume complements these academic aspects by allowing you to highlight your achievements, extracurricular activities, leadership roles, and community service involvement.

Many colleges appreciate well-rounded students who not only excel academically but also actively contribute to their community. Your resume serves as a tool to showcase your commitment to various pursuits beyond the classroom, demonstrating your dedication and passion for different aspects of your life.

Furthermore, some college programs or scholarships may specifically request a resume as part of the application process. In such cases, a well-prepared resume becomes even more important, as it can significantly impact your chances of gaining admission or securing financial aid.

In summary, while the importance of a resume may vary from one college to another, having one on hand is generally a good idea. It allows you to present a well-rounded view of yourself as a student and individual, increasing your chances of making a positive impression on the admissions committee. 

And there you have it! We’ve gone through what to include in your high school resume, how to write it from head to toe, and what you shouldn’t include in your resume. Still, have questions unanswered? Keep reading to learn more. 

1. How Do I Make My High School Resume Stand Out?

Remember to be yourself on your college resume. Show the real you to the college admissions committee. Don't worry about fitting a mould or copying others; let your uniqueness come through in your own way.

2. What Is a Good Objective for a High School Resume?

Your career objective should match your situation and goals. Remember, there's no one-size-fits-all answer, so think about why you want to apply and what you want to achieve with your university education. Your honest answers will guide you to the best objective for your resume.

3. How Long Should a High School Resume Be?

Keep your college application resume concise; it should never go beyond three pages. Aim for brevity while including crucial information. You decide what's important to showcase to college admission committees.

4. When Should I Prepare My High School Resume?

For your college application resume, start early by tracking your career-related experiences, achievements, education, and activities from your freshman year. Make a list of everything that showcases your strengths. Create your first draft before senior year, and edit it later to match your program or school requirements.

5. What If You Have No Experience?

Remember, experiences aren't limited to work. Extracurriculars, community service, personal projects, and hobbies all count! While work, internships, and volunteering are great, they're not a must. If you've had any enriching non-study activities, include them as experiences!

6. When Should I Submit My Resume to Colleges?

Typically, colleges will ask you to submit your resume with your other application materials on or before the submission deadline. We recommend submitting your application early, especially if your college has a rolling admissions cycle. 

7. What Looks Good on a Resume for College?

Colleges aren’t expecting high schoolers to have a lot of experience on their resumes. If you can have a couple of extracurriculars and/or volunteer experiences on your resume, that’s excellent. School awards and jobs also look great on a resume! Your main focus in high school should be on your grades, so make sure not to overload your schedule and let your GPA suffer. 

Final Thoughts

Hopefully, now you have an idea of how to write your high school resume. Your high school life is a journey, and your college admission resume is a storybook. Select all the highlights and the most impactful and influential moments, garnish your resume with writing, and present it proudly to the admission committee as your portfolio! 

When you think you can hand out your high school resume confidently and say, “This is who I am! This is what I’m made of! This is why you should admit me!” Then your resume is ready. But even if you aren’t feeling your best, have faith in yourself and always put your best foot forward! 

Also, remember to take advantage of college resources . They’ll offer more insight into what particular schools are looking for in applicants, so you can tailor your resume accordingly.

Best wishes on your college applications!

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resume for high school senior applying to college

Transizion

The Admissions Strategist

How to write a high school resume: the ultimate guide (multiple templates included).

A high school resume is an organized, professional-looking document. It lists your education, achievements, qualifications, work experience, skills, and awards.

Some colleges require a resume for admissions , but all internships and jobs require at least a resume when applying. You might even submit a resume for scholarships.

  • The resume advice in this article can be used for your college applications, internships, and jobs.

If you’re in high school, you should start building your resume right now. This will make it much easier to upgrade your resume over the next few years.

You’re going to use a resume for the rest of your professional life . Make sure to update it with pertinent information and new experiences.

Let’s first start with some frequently answered questions students ask about high school resumes.

How important is a high school resume for college applications?

Your resume usually will not lead to an acceptance or outright rejection.

But, a well-formatted high school resume can help you make your case for an acceptance.

In the same manner, a poorly formatted resume with plenty of grammar mistakes and lies can undermine your chances of an acceptance.

  • Why? Admissions officers want to admit students show curiosity for the university. A student submitting a sloppy resume is showing her lack of interest in her application.

Undergraduate business, BS/MD , and honors programs frequently request a high school resume along with the application.

  • In this case, the resume is more important than usual, so be sure to take your time and format it correctly (scroll down to find out how to format a resume).

Your application, essays, and transcript are more important to college applications than a resume is. With that said, if you’re submitting a resume or the college asks for one, you must submit a high-quality resume.

Is there an official high school resume template?

No. A high school resume comes in many forms, so you have many choices to choose from.

For high school students applying for college, internships, and jobs, you should embrace the best approaches for high school resumes.

High School Resume: How to Write an Amazing Resume! (Examples Included)

Click above to watch a video on High School Resumes.

What is the best approach to writing a resume?

The best resumes are concise and packed with substantive information .

Remember, admissions officers and hiring managers are busy people, so you need to include pivotal information in your high school resume while wording your accomplishments in a concise and pithy manner.

Last, your resume needs to be formatted correctly. A resume that is formatted properly is easy on the eyes and, thus, will be much more enjoyable to read.

  • Admissions officers and hiring managers are more likely to pay attention to resumes that are easy to scan and absorb.

Remember these four things when writing your high school resume:

  • The wording must be concise
  • All relevant information should be included
  • Resume formatting should make for an easy and pleasurable read; anything that looks sloppy will reflect badly on you
  • Try to keep the resume as close to one-page long. Over one page is OK for high school resumes, but it’ll be frowned upon later in your career.

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Should i use an online template for my resume.

As a resume expert, I strongly recommend that you avoid copy and pasting online templates.

Why? Each student is different. What might work for someone else won’t work for you.

  • Some students have a great record of academic achievements but a sparse record of extracurricular activities.
  • Some are business-oriented, while others are liberal arts-oriented.

This means you should format your resume from scratch. Not only will you construct a resume that is customized to your needs, but you’ll also build resume skills that you’ll keep forever. These skills will come in handy in college and beyond.

How do I format my high school resume?

You should follow a few general rules when formatting your resume for college admissions, internships, and jobs.

  • Use Times New Roman or Cambria on your resume. These fonts are easy to read.
  • Regular font should be size 10-12. Headings should be at least two points larger than your font.
  • Separate each section (Contact, education, experience, skills) with a heading that is underlined and/or bolded.
  • Keep margins at 1 inch. If you need to shorten the length of the resume, .5 margins are OK. Anything less takes a toll on the eyes.

What information should my high school resume include?

In a nutshell, your high school resume should include:

  • Contact info: Name, email, phone number, address
  • Education: high school name, GPA, test scores, class rank, coursework, achievements and honors
  • Experience: Work, volunteer, and extracurricular qualifications
  • Skills: Computer expertise, foreign languages

How do I format each section?

You now know what makes a great resume. Now, let’s dive into the specifics.

This is how you format each section.

Your name should be centered at the very top in bold. The font size can match your headings, or your name can be a point or two larger than the headings.

This information will go right underneath your name.

Include the name you used on your college application.

Underneath your name, put your cell phone number and professional email address.

Format your cell phone correctly. That means you have two options:

  • There will be parenthesis around your area code and a hyphen after the first three digits of the number. Example – (536) 276-6690
  • No parenthesis at all but with hyphens after the area code and first three digits of the number. Example – 536-276-6690

If your current email address [email protected], it’s time to create a new email. Use Gmail, since it’s secure and works with the G Suite platform, which you’ll use extensively in college.

A safe email is one that includes your first name initial, last name, and the last two digits of your birth year. For example:

[email protected]

Last, you can put your home address if you so choose. Including your home address is not mandatory.

The name and contact sections will look like this:

Todd Gurley [email protected] | (536) 276-6690 30 McVay Avenue Los Angeles, CA

You don’t need an objective section. Most objectives are common sense. They are clichés that provide no value to the document.

The education section is easy as long as you know your academic information. Follow these steps.

List your high school, location, and your graduation date:

Black Horn High School, Bastion Ridge, South Carolina (Graduation: June 2021)

Underneath that, put your GPA (unweighted/weighted), and your best test scores:

GPA: 3.45/4.2 | SAT: 1350 | SAT II Math: 710 | SAT II US History: 680

Then, list your honors right under your GPA. Below your honors, write “Coursework:” and input your highest, most prestigious classes. If you’re applying for an internship or industry-specific job opportunity, you can put related coursework.

Coursework: AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP World History , Spanish Honors

If you’re a freshman, sophomore, or junior, you can also add a “Projected Coursework” section, in which you’ll add courses you’re bound to take next year.

Additionally, students of all grade levels should add an “Awards” section. List your awards under “Coursework/Projected Coursework.” Here’s how it’d look:

Awards: AP Scholar, FRC National Champion, National Honors Society, Musk Receipient of Excellence in Robotics, DECA Achievement Award

When you finish this section, this is how it’ll look:

Black Horn High School, Bastion Ridge, South Carolina (Graduation: June 2021) GPA: 3.45/4.2 | SAT: 1350 | SAT II Math: 710 | SAT II US History: 680 Coursework: AP Chemistry, AP Biology, AP World History , Spanish Honors Awards: AP Scholar, FRC National Champion, National Honors Society, Musk Receipient of Excellence in Robotics, DECA Achievement Award

Now comes the fun part. The quality of this section will determine the overall strength of your resume. You want to remember several critical tips before you dive into this section.

First, your experience headings need to be evenly formatted.

  • Keep necessary elements italicized.
  • Don’t bold everything for the sake of emphasis.
  • You should have two or more bullet points per qualification.
  • When writing the location (“city, state”) of your qualification, make sure it’s formatted the same as your “city, state” in your contact section. As such, if your contact section has “Washington, DC,” then don’t add periods in “DC” in your “Experience” section. In general, watch out for inconsistencies when adding periods in state abbreviations – stick to one version: with or without periods.

Second, your bullet points should be neatly formatted.

  • All bullets should be fragments beginning with action verbs . You are not writing in the first person (e.g. “I collaborated”).
  • Bullets should not end with periods.
  • Choose specific action verbs. Try to avoid using weak action verbs, such as “worked,” “assisted,” and “helped,” among others.
  • Action verbs should be in the past tense (e.g. “collaborated” and “managed”) unless you’re describing an experience that you’re a part of right now. In that case, your action verbs should be in the first-person singular tense (e.g. “collaborate” and “manage”).
  • The roles you had most recently should be at the top. This means you’re following reverse chronological order.
  • If you want to combine similar activities into one bullet point, separate them with a semicolon.

Third, your bullet points can include any of the following:

  • Summer jobs
  • Volunteer activities
  • Community service
  • Extracurricular activities
  • Internships
  • Informal jobs (babysitting)

Fourth, bullet points should be specific. Try to tell a story. Include results.

  • Include numbers, figures, percentages, or anything else that will help you demonstrate your ability to procure results.
  • If you’re having trouble thinking of details to include, think of the who, what, when, where, why, and how of your job duties.
  • Remember, the admissions officer and hiring manager don’t know who you are, so it’s your job to paint a picture of your qualifications.

Here are great examples of bullet points in high school resumes:

Managed four team members during two-hour shifts, resulting in 100% customer-satisfaction rate Collaborated with supervisor to create 100 cards for cancer patients over 30-day span Created sandwiches and addresses customer concerns during lunch rushes five days per week; utilized slicer, Panini press, and cash register to facilitate customer requests Guarded 20 students per swimming session; instructed three students during daily one-on-one swimming classes, resulting in a 100% graduation rate

Hint : You can use these bullet points in the extracurricular activities section on your college application.

Does that make sense? Good. Let’s look at what a properly formatted experience section looks like.

  • Write the workplace or club name on the top line.
  • Next to it, write the location.
  • On the next line, write your position in italics.
  • Next to your position, write the date (month year – month year) during which you worked in that position. Writing out the entire month is not important; what matters is sticking to the format for all your experiences.
  • The bullet points go under the position and date.

For example:

SM Pediatrics and Healthcare, Portland, OR Intern , September 2018-December 2018

  • Coordinated daily appointments and schedule at the front desk for over 50 patients
  • Facilitated insurance paperwork and co-pays to guarantee patient satisfaction
  • Created new filing system for office staff, resulting in 30 minutes of saved time; integrated Trello into office project management by leading tutorials on the platform

Repeat this several times until you’ve addressed each one of your pertinent activities, work experiences, and engagements.

This section usually focuses on two elements: computer and language.

Next to “Computer:” list the things you can do well using, you guessed it, a computer. This can range from coding to graphic design to PowerPoint to CMS to software.

Under the computer section, you’ll input “Language:” if you know any foreign languages. List them by naming the language and, in brackets, give the level at which you know it. There are four levels to foreign languages:

  • Native or bilingual proficiency – You can read and write fluently; you can do business and live in a foreign country with your skills
  • Professional working proficiency – You can do business in the language but aren’t aware of every cultural norm
  • Limited working proficiency – You can read and write here and there but wouldn’t be able to do business fluently.
  • Elementary proficiency – You can barely read or write but can steer a conversation every now and then

All told, the “Skills” section should look like this:

Computer: HTML, SQL, Java, WordPress, Wix, Python, PHP, Adobe Photoshop, MS Office Suite, Wave, Trello, Slack, Quickbooks, MailChimp, Stripe, PayPal Language: Spanish [Professional working proficiency)], French [Elementary proficiency]

Saving and Sending the Resume

Always save your professional documents (cover letter, resume, writing samples transcripts) in PDF. Name the document as [first name]_[last name]_[document type]:

Todd_Gurley_Resume

Underscores are your safest bet when naming a resume. They render your resume easy to organize so admissions officers and hiring managers don’t lose track of them.

Moving Forward: Upgrading the Resume

Over the years, you should update your resume. Spend 30 minutes every few months adding experiences and job duties that will help you attain your next opportunity.

  • As you grow older, your resume will need to be more specialized.

This means you’ll need to add more experiences, duties, qualifications, skills, and credentials that relate to your industry and desired position.

Between senior year of high school and college, your resume will look completely different.

  • In order to ensure you’re updating (or upgrading!) you resume correctly, use the notepad in your smartphone to record your job tasks and duties.
  • If you were asked to do something new, expand your skill set , or develop talents, you need to add these in your resume.
  • The notepad in your smartphone will be a useful resource for when you sit down to upgrade your resume – it will keep your memory fresh and prevent you from hitting writer’s block.

As an exercise, spend a few minutes every year perusing your notepad, witnessing your professional growth .

Expert Resume Advice

Over time, we’ll add expert resume advice below.

Here’s what Vic Lindsay, director of student life at Sweet Briar College, has to say about your resume:

Our role as educators is to give students the skills they need to be successful in future endeavors. When I make hiring decisions, I’m searching for students who want to be molded and who are looking for more than just a paycheck. When you’re ready to move out into the real employment world, your resume should be focused on skills you obtained and achievements that show leadership and initiative. Don’t tell me what you were, tell me what you’ve done. Show me where previous supervisors have trusted you with significant responsibility and that you lived up to those expectations.

High School Resume Templates: Great Samples

Finally, if you were looking for outstanding samples of high school resumes, I got your back.

As I mentioned before, don’t just copy and paste your items into the resume.

Instead, take the time to scrutinize action verbs and bullet-point formation.

Check to see if the grammar and data make sense.

Here are your templates:

High_School_Resume_Template

High_School_Resume_Template_2

High_School_Resume_Template_3

You can also look at them below. Enjoy!

High School Resume Template 1

high school resume

High School Resume Template 2

high school resume template 2

High School Resume Template 3

high school resume template 3

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College Application Resume for 2024 [With Examples, Tips & Template]

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They say college is the most exciting time in a student’s life and we couldn’t agree more! 

The only thing standing between you and your dream university, though, is a college application resume.

You open the resume document, get ready to start writing…

And nothing comes out! After all, how can you even make a resume when you haven’t worked a day in your life?

Worry not - you don’t need any work experience to write a compelling college application resume. In this article, we’re going to teach you just how you can do that!

What Should a Resume for College Application Contain?

  • 5+ College Application Resume Formatting Tips
  • How to Write a Resume for College Applications?
  • 3+ College Application Resume Tips

College Application Resume Template

So let’s dive in! 

Before we get into the knits and grits of writing a resume for college application, let’s first do a quick review of what your resume should contain: 

  • Contact information , including your full name, address, phone number, and professional email.
  • A resume objective , where you state the goal of your college application resume.
  • Education section , where you list the history of your grades and exam scores.
  • Relevant activities , including any work experience you might have.
  • Skills relevant to a resume for a college application, e.g. soft skills such as active listening, interpersonal skills, communication skills, or hard skills such as public speaking, MS Office, or computer skills.
  • Additional sections , such as awards and honors.

6 College Application Resume Formatting Tips 

Before we dive into the nits and grits of CV making, let’s talk about formatting. Here are our top tips on how to format your college application resume: 

  • Choose the functional/skills-based resume format. This format is perfect for those who lack work experience , as it focuses more on your skill-set. If you DO have some work experience, though, then you can opt for the chronological format.
  • Keep your college application resume one page long . As a rule of thumb, this is the optimal length for a resume—professionals with 10 years worth of work experience stick to the 1-page limit, so there’s no excuse for someone with little to no work experience to go overboard.
  • Add plenty of white space , especially around your resume’s margins. It will make your resume look less cluttered and more reader-friendly.
  • Include clear section headings and use the same heading for each section.
  • Use an easy-to-read font. Some resume fonts (such as Ubuntu or Overpass) are resume friendly—professional-looking, easy-to-read, and yet modern. Others, like Comic Sans, are just one big NO.
  • Save your college resume as a PDF. You might be used to Microsoft Word, or even think it’s the safest alternative, but MS Word has a good choice of messing up your resume format if opened in different computers or operating systems. PDF files, on the other hand, remain the same no matter what computer opens them.

How to Write a Resume for College Applications? (With Examples)

Once you’ve got the formatting done right, it’s time to get to writing your college application resume.

In this section, we’ll walk you through that process, starting with:  

#1. Order Your Contact Information the Right Way 

As we already mentioned, your college application resume should start with your contact information. 

These are your contact information section must-haves :

  • Full name and address
  • Functional phone number where you can be reached.
  • Professional email address, preferably consisting of your first and last name.

And here’s what this looks like in practice: 

Sharon White

123 Main Street

New York, NY

Phone Number: 553-123-1234

Email: [email protected]

#2. Write an Attention-Grabbing College Resume Objective

A resume objective is a 2-3 sentence long paragraph that should communicate your motivation for getting into college or for studying a specific major.

As such, a well-crafted resume objective can instantly attract admission officers to read the rest of your college application resume. 

There is, however, a right and wrong way to write a resume objective.

A convincing resume objective is:

  • Tailored to the university/major you’re applying to, instead of looking like a one-fits-all kind of statement that you can use to apply to several colleges.
  • Highlights the achievements that give you an edge over the competition.  

The following example does that right: 

Aspiring journalist with a knack for creative writing looking to deepen their knowledge through NYU’s renowned Journalism track. Founder of my high school’s first online newspaper, the ‘Daily Prophet,’ which now has over 2,000 subscribers. Hardworking, with a grade A average in social sciences and commitment to improving. 

Now compare it to the following resume objective, which although articulated looks like a one-fits-all kind of statement that you can just insert into several college applications. 

Very committed high-schooler with a calling for social sciences. With an SAT score of 1400, a passion for psychology, and experience as a peer counselor, I am confident that my hard work and motivation will shine through as a college student. 

See, the resume objective is your chance to show exactly why you want to attend that college, right from the start. 

So, even if you don’t have many achievements to highlight, make sure to personalize your statement by expressing a genuine interest in your application.  

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#3. Put Weight on Your Education

Taking into consideration that, as a student, you most likely lack significant work experience, your education is the first thing admission officers will look at. 

As such, you should give your education its due importance in your college application resume. 

For starters, make sure to include this must-have information:

  • Your high school’s name and location
  • The date of your graduation

In addition, though, combine that with some relevant achievements that can make your education pop out. 

Let’s take a look at two examples. The second student has simply listed out the essential education information, whereas the first has taken their education section to the next level. 

Dunnellon High School FL

2017 - 2021

  • 3rd place at the International Mathematical Olympiad 
  • Vice-President of the Science Club
  • SAT Scores: 1350 (650 Verbal, 700 Math)
  • SAT Scores: 1400

#4. Showcase Relevant Activities

Extracurricular activities have a great number of benefits when it comes to your college application resume. Most importantly, they:

  • Demonstrate you who are outside of the classroom
  • Provide an opportunity to showcase your skills

Any activity and/or interest related to the college you’re applying to has a place on your college application resume,  but you don’t have to necessarily stop there. 

Any kind of interest, field, or activity where you’re good at can be of benefit to your application. 

That’s because it can prove that your interests are not focused solely on your favorite subject or desired career path and that you are engaged and well-rounded . 

So, don’t just list your college resume activities dryly (e.g. “reading” or “swimming”). Instead, be specific and creative about your interests, and rest assured that you will get extra points for diversity and commitment. 

Don’t believe us? Compare for yourself how the activities sections of two different students look like: the first has put minimal effort into it, whereas the second has put his A-game into writing it.

  • Passionate about science
  • Co-founder of the Astrophysics Club

Activities 

  • Two-times winner of my high school’s Science Fair
  • Co-founder of the Astrophysics Club, finalists of the MIT-founded THINK challenge
  • Swimmer from an early age and member of my high school’s swim team during junior and senior year 
  • Traveling; I have so far visited 10 countries and 15 states in the USA. 
  • Photography, with a focus on architectural photography. 

#5. Highlight Your Work Experience

Now, if you’ve spent your summer holidays working any type of job for teens , that means that you also have some work experience under your belt. 

Although work experience is not necessary when you’re applying for college (meaning that you won’t get left out of college if you don’t have any), it does help to include it if you have it. 

Here’s how to list work experience in your college application resume:

  • Start with the company name (e.g. if you worked at Starbucks), your job title, and the period you worked there. 
  • Put your job title first if you worked, say, as a high-school tutor or camp counselor. 
  • Include 1-2 of your main responsibilities in bullets. If you have achievements to show for, however, make sure to put them first.  

Let’s see how that works in a practical example.

Starbucks Coffee 

  • Awarded employee of the month for 3 months straight
  • Fielding customer complaints and questions
  • Maintaining good customer service and speedy delivery

Even if the above position isn’t related to the student’s desired field of study, the work experience still highlights some of their skills such as commitment, time management, effective communication, and motivation.  

#6. Include Your Skills 

Skills—we all got them, but not everyone knows how to demonstrate them effectively in a college application resume. 

There are two things to consider when you include skills in your college resume:

  • Know the kind of skills that are relevant to your major/field.
  • Prove your skills, instead of just listing them 

Let’s show you how that works through practical examples:

  • Time management
  • Critical thinking

Are these great skills for a college applicant? Sure! 

But anyone can claim to have those skills (and frankly, most people do).

Rather than just listing these skills, you want to also back them up with achievements and experiences like so: 

  • Attention to deadline: managed to update the high school’s online newspaper daily
  • Leadership: successfully led a team of 6 reporters.
  • Creativity: won the 2021 Young Writers competition 
  • Self-motivation: founded the high school’s first online newspaper

Now, this is a skills section on a college application resume that proves you deserve a spot in your favorite university.

College application resume skills 

Wondering which skills to include in your college application resume? Here’s a list to draw some inspiration: 

Soft Skills

  • Good judgment 
  • Open-mindedness
  • Communication  
  • Self-motivation
  • Interpersonal skills
  • Active listening
  • Problem-solving

Hard Skills

  • Computer Skills
  • Programming
  • Public Speaking

#7. Use These Additional Sections

If you’ve followed all our tips till now, congrats - you’re around 90% into creating a top-notch college application resume.

Now, let’s talk about how you can take that to 100%!

In addition to the conventional resume sections we’ve covered till now, you can include the following to help you stand out in a sea of other applicants:

  • Awards. Here, you can list any awards won in competitions (spelling, art, storytelling, math, etc). 
  • Volunteer experience . Did you clean up your town, or maybe you volunteered at an animal rescue center as a high school student? Any kind of volunteering can help your college application resume because it shows you’re a responsible community member. If it’s somehow related to your field or future major, that’s a big plus. 
  • Projects. Be them individual (e.g. you built a website from scratch, or started an informational podcast), or school-related (e.g. an art portfolio for a class, or a history documentary), projects can show that you’re passionate and creative. 
  • Sports. Poet Juvenal said “ a healthy mind in a healthy body. ” This means that physical exercise is an important part of mental and psychological well-being (which is why sports in a college application resume make all applicants look good). Do you excel at specific sports? Include them in your resume!. 
  • Languages. Being fluent (or even just a beginner) in a foreign language is another plus for a prospective college student. Make sure to show it in your college application resume. 

5 College Application Resume Tips

Finally, here are some of our college application tips that didn’t fit anywhere else in the article:

  • Be direct and to the point. Your college application resume is not the right place to show how many SAT-level words you know. Keep your language simple, direct, and to the point. Let your achievements and results speak for themselves. 
  • Don't lie about your academic background or accomplishments. Lying about the awards you’ve won or your achievements won’t get you into college. More often than not, admission officers will see through your lies by asking behavioral interview questions . 
  • Proofread your college application resume.   Spelling and grammar mistakes can make you appear like a less serious applicant. Imagine telling recruiters that you have great SAT scores and GPA but having spelling mistakes in your resume. Kind of contradictory, isn’t it? To avoid these kinds of mistakes, use spelling and grammar apps such as Grammarly and Heminway . 
  • Have one or more people look at your resume before you send it out. There are kinds of mistakes that Grammarly or Hemingway cannot catch. To avoid such mistakes, have one or more people that know you give your college application resume a look. 
  • Emphasize specific achievements over general responsibilities. As mentioned before, emphasizing your achievements over your responsibilities is the best way to set yourself apart from other candidates. The reason is that your achievements effectively show how well you handle responsibilities and they are uniquely yours.

Making a resume from scratch can take what feels like ages—especially if it’s your first time doing it.

You’ve got to tweak the formatting. 

You make a change at MS Word and the layout falls apart in front of your eyes. Or you end up using a bland and outdated template. 

Well, you don’t have to worry about any of these things with Nóvóresume’s free resume templates . 

With 8 free templates to choose from - college application resume included - you don’t have to worry about anything other than inputting your information.

Let our resume builder do the rest! 

college application resume template

Key Takeaways

And that’s a wrap on college application resumes. We hope to have made the process of writing yours easier and even more enjoyable. 

For good measure, let’s go over the main points we covered: 

  • Your college application resume should contain the following sections: contact information , personal profile , education section , relevant activities , your skills , and additional sections , such as awards and honors. 
  • In terms of formatting, the functional resume template fits your college application best. Additionally, make sure to keep your resume one page long and save it as a PDF. 
  • Write a resume objective that doesn’t surpass 3 sentences and that clearly communicates your motivation for getting into college and your most relevant skills. 
  • Make sure to give your education section its due importance by being thorough about your grades, SAT scores, and achievements. 
  • Don’t forget to list all your relevant activities and passions, as well as soft and hard skills.
  • Instead of writing your college application resume from scratch, use one of Nóvóresume’s ready-made templates to save yourself time and effort!  

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3 High School Student for College Resume Examples

Stephen Greet

High School Student for College Resume

Formal high school student for college resume, elegant high school student for college resume.

  • High School Student for College Resume Writing 101

Life as a high school student can be exhilarating, but it can also feel like you’re juggling five million things. You’re sending out college applications, doing interviews, taking extracurricular courses, trying to have a social life, and prepare your resume for that killer job you’ve been eyeing.

If you don’t have a lot of experience, you might feel like it’s impossible to create a resume as a high school student headed to college. Fortunately, it doesn’t have to be!

We’ve helped thousands of high school students craft awesome resumes and master writing a great cover letter for that college job over the years, which is why we’ve created this guide with everything you need to know—starting with three sample high school student for college resumes.

or download as PDF

High school student for college resume example with 6+ years experience

Related resume examples

  • High school teacher
  • English teacher
  • Middle school teacher
  • Social science teacher
  • High school student

The Most Important Part: Skills & Work Experience

Your resume skills and work experience

As a high school student, you may be short on career experience, but you can use this section to focus on all the skills you’ve gained from the activities that keep you busy!

Your goal here is to show that you’re a motivated go-getter, and you can use the skills section to do just that. Start by reading the job description carefully to see what kind of skills they might want, like verbal communication, time management, or research.

Then, think about what skills you’ve picked up from school clubs, after-school activities, odd jobs, or errands, and write those down. If you’re stuck, ask a friend: sometimes the skills may seem so obvious to you that you’ll forget to include it!

9 Best High School Student for College Skills

  • Customer service
  • Microsoft Office
  • Social media marketing
  • Determination/diligence
  • Research/analytics
  • Bilingualism
  • Time management
  • Collaboration

Sample High School Student for College Work Experience Bullet Points

So you’ve gotten the skills section out of the way. Now, you want to focus on letting your previous experience shine.

Sure, you may not have worked as a teen in a traditional 9-to-5 yet, but that doesn’t mean you don’t have the chops. So how can you convince the recruiter you can do what it takes as a high school student looking for a college job?

Focus on impact (using metrics) from previous roles like volunteer work, internships, regular chores, extracurricular activities, or side gigs. Showcase using numbers the impact you had. Recruiters will clearly see that you know what’s important, and more importantly know how to measure it.

Let’s look at a few examples:

  • Started an Eastern European Literature club as a freshman, recruiting 35+ members in the first semester
  • Assisted in fundraising events for inner-city kids, helping raise $40,000 in 2 weeks
  • Founded and ran a comedy page on Instagram and TikTok, reaching 5 million views and 23,000 followers
  • Surpassed sales targets by 6-9% on a weekly basis by upselling appetizers and desserts to diners

Top 5 Tips for Your High School Student for College Resume

  • A career objective can help your resume stand out when you’re a high school student, but only if it’s not impactful. Clearly demonstrate your achievements and drive, and mention where you see yourself within the company you’re applying to. If it’s just generic fluff, it’s best to skip it.
  • It can be easy to minimize your talents if you’re early on in your career. That’s a mistake! Focus on what makes you unique: are you a polyglot? A math whiz? Top of the class in Computer Science? If it could help you stand out, put it down!
  • Conversely, don’t wax poetic when writing your high school student for college resume. It doesn’t need to be a two-page resume. If you’ve got the essentials, you’re good to go. Less is more, and filler will kill your chances of getting interviewed.
  • Yes, we’re repeating this! Use your work experience to show what kind of positive impact you’ve had through your previous tasks and responsibilities. Whether it’s chairing class meetings, participating in community activities, or volunteering for a fundraiser, make it clear what your impact was.
  • A good resume should be easy on the eyes. Have lots of white space, simple bullet points, and no fancy graphics or images that could mess up your layout. Remember, your resume as a high school student is the first impression your future employer might have of you!

Absolutely! Don’t worry if you haven’t had an internship or worked in retail yet. Focus on volunteer work, your education, extracurricular courses you’ve taken, hobbies, and any other achievements like a strong GPA. Remember, everyone needs to start somewhere.

Sure thing! In fact, it’s better to have less than too much. If you have all the essentials we talked about, then you should be good to go. And remember: recruiters aren’t expecting you to have that much experience out of high school.

All you need to do is make sure any skills the job description asks for are reflected in your resume. Plus, include relevant work experience that aligns with the mindset or profile they’re looking for. And don’t forget to customize your career objective !

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  • High School Senior Resume Example

Resume Examples

  • Common Tasks & Responsibilities
  • Top Hard & Soft Skills
  • Action Verbs & Keywords
  • Resume FAQs
  • Similar Resumes

Common Responsibilities Listed on High School Senior Resumes:

  • Completing college applications, including writing personal statements and essays
  • Studying for and taking standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT
  • Participating in extracurricular activities, clubs, or sports teams to enhance college applications
  • Attending college fairs and visiting college campuses to make informed decisions about post-secondary education
  • Applying for scholarships and financial aid to support college education
  • Managing coursework and maintaining a high GPA for college eligibility
  • Participating in community service or volunteer work to fulfill graduation requirements and strengthen college applications
  • Working part-time jobs or internships to gain work experience and save money for college expenses
  • Creating a resume and a list of accomplishments to use for job applications and interviews
  • Attending senior meetings with guidance counselors for college and career planning
  • Preparing for senior year events such as prom, graduation ceremonies, and senior trips
  • Developing time management and study skills to balance academic responsibilities with personal life

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High School Senior Resume Example:

  • Orchestrated a community service project that engaged over 50 student volunteers, resulting in 200+ hours of service and a 15% increase in local park revitalization efforts.
  • Secured a competitive internship with a local law firm, contributing to case research that aided in a 10% increase in successful case resolutions over a 3-month period.
  • Developed and led a student-run tutoring program that improved participating students' average test scores by 20% across core subjects within one semester.
  • Initiated and managed a fundraising campaign for the school's athletic department, raising over $5,000, which funded new equipment and uniforms, increasing team morale and performance by 25%.
  • Successfully balanced a part-time job at a retail store with academic responsibilities, achieving a promotion to shift supervisor within 6 months due to exemplary leadership and customer service skills.
  • Implemented a peer-mentoring initiative within the National Honor Society, increasing membership retention by 30% and fostering an environment of academic excellence and collaboration.
  • Project Management
  • Community Engagement
  • Research and Analysis
  • Program Development
  • Fundraising
  • Time Management
  • Customer Service
  • Peer Mentoring
  • Academic Tutoring
  • Problem-Solving
  • Artistic Curation
  • Event Planning
  • Workshop Facilitation
  • Team Building
  • Public Speaking
  • Collaboration
  • Strategic Planning
  • Data Interpretation
  • Adaptability

Top Skills & Keywords for High School Senior Resumes:

Hard skills.

  • Organization
  • Communication
  • Problem Solving
  • Research Skills
  • Computer Literacy
  • Critical Thinking
  • Presentation Skills

Soft Skills

  • Leadership and Team Management
  • Communication and Presentation Skills
  • Collaboration and Cross-Functional Coordination
  • Problem Solving and Critical Thinking
  • Adaptability and Flexibility
  • Time Management and Prioritization
  • Empathy and Customer-Centric Mindset
  • Decision Making and Strategic Planning
  • Conflict Resolution and Negotiation
  • Creativity and Innovation
  • Active Listening and Feedback Incorporation
  • Emotional Intelligence and Relationship Building

Resume Action Verbs for High School Seniors:

  • Collaborated
  • Participated
  • Contributed
  • Volunteered
  • Coordinated
  • Facilitated
  • Implemented
  • Demonstrated

Build a High School Senior Resume with AI

resume for high school senior applying to college

Resume FAQs for High School Seniors:

How long should i make my high school senior resume, what is the best way to format a high school senior resume, which keywords are important to highlight in a high school senior resume, how should i write my resume if i have no experience as a high school senior, compare your high school senior resume to a job description:.

  • Identify opportunities to further tailor your resume to the High School Senior job
  • Improve your keyword usage to align your experience and skills with the position
  • Uncover and address potential gaps in your resume that may be important to the hiring manager

Complete the steps below to generate your free resume analysis.

Related Resumes for High School Seniors:

High school student first job, high school student with no experience, high school graduate, substitute teacher with no experience, beginner teacher assistant, first year teacher.

How to Write a Resume for College – A CollegeAdvisor Guide

How to write a resume for college – introduction.

Standing out as a stellar applicant in the college admissions process is tough. One way to separate yourself from the crowd is by crafting a strong resume for college. Your college resume can highlight information about your background, activities, and achievements. Some of these might not be indicated elsewhere in your college application or recommendation letters . 

In this article, we will teach you how to write a college resume. We’ll highlight 5 simple steps to building your college application resume. We will also discuss what a college resume is and why you may need a resume for college. Additionally, we will provide examples on how to write a resume for college by reviewing college resume examples. Finally, we’ll walk you through some college resume templates in our example college resumes.

So, let’s look at how to write a college resume and explain what makes a good college resume, why you should include a resume for college in your applications, and more!

What is a college resume? 

A high school resume is typically a one-page document that complements your college application . Your high school resume (or college resume) can help you showcase your achievements and extracurriculars for college. It does this by sharing information that is not elsewhere within your college applications. The goal of a college resume is to show the college admissions officers who you are and how you spend your time outside of the classroom . 

Before we jump into how to write a college resume, let’s examine some things that make up a good college resume.

A good college resume should include: 

  • Clear structure
  • Concise language (bullet points over essay-style)
  • Relevant details
  • Strong formatting

As we discuss how to write a resume for college, you might wonder what purpose a college resume serves. In short, a college resume is a summary of experiences that you can use to add depth to your college applications. You can also think of a college resume as your high school resume, or a resume for college. Your college resume will include a brief description of each of your experiences and extracurriculars for college. 

While we examine how to write a resume for college, you should first note that your college resume should include key details like your educational details, GPA , extracurricular activities/jobs, and honors/awards. As we’ll discuss, your college resume will have other key features. We’ll go through each of these as we learn how to write a resume for college. 

Many colleges list a college resume within their college application requirements. But, even if a college resume is not listed in the college application requirements, we recommend creating one anyway. 

We will look at a sample college resume later in this article, along with a 5-step guide to creating a resume for college that you can use as you begin writing your college resume. 

Do I need a resume for my college applications? 

No, you do not necessarily need to include a college resume with your college applications. However, a high school resume or resume for college can be a helpful tool in the college admissions process. 

So, how could including a resume for college application be beneficial? First, including a college resume in your college applications can help highlight your skills, experiences, and qualifications to the admissions office of your dream school.  

Having a college resume can help you showcase your extracurricular activities in your college applications. You can highlight leadership positions, accomplishments, interests, and activities on your college resume that might not appear elsewhere in your college applications. 

Creating a resume for college application can also demonstrate your accomplishments and experiences to college admissions officers. Even if a high school resume is optional in the list of college application requirements, including one in your college applications can help you stand out. Standing out is incredibly important in the admissions process, especially if your ideal college is high on the list of college rankings . 

It is a good idea to start putting together your college resume as you near the end of high school.

You may forget the names of clubs, supervisors, mentors, teachers, etc. as you get ready to apply to college. So, the earlier you can gather all the information for your high school resume, the better! That way, all of your experiences are fresh in your mind, and you can create the strongest resume for college possible. 

When should I prepare my college resume? 

As you begin the process of applying to college, you might be wondering when to prepare your college resume. The ideal timeline for creating your high school resume can start as early as 9 th grade. 

In general, you won’t want to include anything on your high school resume before 9 th grade. Like other college application requirements, college admissions officers are only interested in the activities you have participated in during high school. 

Keep a list starting in 9th grade

As early as 9 th grade, you can start keeping a list of your accomplishments and activities. Even though you won’t need to format this list into a college resume yet, it will be the basis for your future college application resume.

As you begin the college admissions process, you can use the list you created and turn it into a college resume. As you apply to college and prepare your college resume, research which college resume format works best for you. Reviewing a sample college resume or college resume template can help you find the perfect college resume format. 

As you look through college resume examples, think about which aspects of the college resume template you like the best. Then, adapt things from those college resume examples to fit your college resume. Once you have decided on a college resume format, list your accomplishments, jobs, and activities within that college resume format. 

Summer before senior year

The best time to create your high school resume is during the summer before your senior year. This gives you plenty of time to perfect your college application resume. 

We’ll examine the necessary components of a successful college resume in the next section of this article. So, read on!

What should a high school student put on a resume? 

As you begin the college admissions process, you may be asking yourself what to include on your high school resume. You can start the college application resume writing process by brainstorming how you spend your time outside of your courses. 

Think about everything you have done or achieved since you started high school and write it down. Your high school resume should highlight your activities, interests, and skills. Pay particular attention to these factors as you consider what to include on your high school resume.

Your high school resume will be organized categorically. Some of the most common categories for a resume for college application include personal information, work experience, extracurricular activities, volunteer experience/community service, education, and skills.  In addition to the categories listed above, below is a list of some other things that high school students should list on their resume for college.

Top ten things to list on your college resume:

  • School name and address
  • Contact Info
  • GPA or Class rank, if applicable
  • Internships & volunteer roles
  • Awards and honors
  • Extracurricular activities
  • Leadership positions
  • Language competencies

As we mentioned earlier, you may not have information or experiences for every category listed above. That’s perfectly fine! Focus on what applies to you and what you can include on your high school resume as you learn how to write a college resume. 

What does not belong on my high school resume? 

Now that we have examined what to include on your high school resume, let’s discuss what does not belong on your college application resume. 

Keep it current

In general, you should avoid including any activity or achievement from before 9 th grade on your resume for college. However, it’s okay to include something that is particularly impressive and/or attached to a current activity. 

For example, if you have 12 years of experience in playing the violin, you will want to include that on your high school resume. However, if you joined your middle school band for a semester, you should likely leave that out of your college resume. Your resume for college should reflect activities that matter to you now.

Avoid listing daily duties

There is no need to include informal everyday activities on your college resume, such as cooking for your family or cleaning around the house. When you are crafting your resume for college, it’s best to stick to things that are relevant to admissions committees or future employers. 

Note that this is one area where your college resume differs from your activities list. For instance, if you spend considerable time caretaking your three siblings, you may choose to include that on your activities list within the Common App. However, the same responsibilities likely shouldn’t appear on your resume for college.

Keep it clear

As you examine college resume templates and college resume examples, take note of the language and structure in a sample college resume. It’s important to use concise language and clear structure throughout your resume for college. 

Additionally, do not include excessive text or overly detailed explanations on your college application resume. You want your resume for college to be simple and clear. In general, you should limit your high school resume to one page, or two at the absolute maximum. Most people who review your college resume will spend about 30 seconds with it. So, your resume for college should be easily scanned, above all. 

When you use concise language throughout your college resume, it will make it easier for your reader to understand your accomplishments. Because most people will skim your high school resume, having a clear structure throughout will make it easy to read. Keep it simple and keep it consistent. 

Steer clear of images and graphics

While you might come across this in your college resume format research, it’s best to avoid including images or graphics in your college application resume. Although this is a new trend and can be seen on multiple college resume examples and college resume templates, it can be distracting and take up valuable space on your high school resume.  

For instance, if you volunteered at twelve different soup kitchens, there is no need to list each one separately. That will become tedious and take up too much space on your essential resume for college application. 

Finally, you should never misrepresent your qualifications on your high school resume. Be honest about your involvements, however many you have. It’s not worth potentially getting caught in a lie or an exaggeration during a college interview.

Where do I submit my college application resume? 

While you apply to college, you might be wondering what to do with your resume for college applications. Many college application portals will include a section for your college resume, especially if a resume for college is listed as one of the college application requirements. 

Most college application portals list the high school resume section as optional. While you are applying to college, you might notice that most colleges require that you fill out an activities section as part of the application process. The activities section will ask you to list your extracurriculars for college. Often, your activities section will serve the same purpose as your college resume. 

If you choose to include a high school resume with your college application, it should reflect your accomplishments in more detail than your activities section. Additionally, if you choose to include a resume for college with your application, make sure it adds something new to your activities list. 

You will receive access to your college’s application portal once you have completed the process of applying to college but before you receive a college acceptance letter and officially enroll . When it’s time to upload your high school resume, be sure to upload it as a PDF rather than a Word document. That way, you can ensure that your formatting of your college resume stays consistent on every application. 

We’ll provide more details about the college resume format later in this article, when we examine college resume examples and college resume templates. 

How often should I update my college resume? 

It may be helpful to update your resume (or other records) every six months to a year in order to avoid missing any important details. You can use your college resume for more than just your college application requirements. In fact, there may be internships or other opportunities you seek out in high school that will ask you to submit a high school resume. Updating your college resume often will help you keep track of your experiences and accomplishments. 

In general, you should update your high school resume as often as it works for you. However, when you are almost done applying to college , you will want to make sure that your college resume is up-to-date and accurate before including it with your application. 

No matter how often you update your resume for college applications, we encourage you to keep copies of any old college resume examples you might have. Having old copies of your college resume can help you in the future as you begin to tailor your college resume for potential reviewers. 

How to write a resume for college

Now that we have a better understanding of what makes up a college resume, let’s focus on how to write a resume for college. You can begin writing your college resume by creating a list of your key details . Your key details will be the starting point for your college resume. 

First, you will include information about where you go to school, as well as your current GPA and any Honors statuses. You will also want to list your academic interests on your high school resume, including what you hope to study or pursue beyond high school. 

You will also include your extracurricular activities and the years you engaged in them on your resume for college. Additionally, you will want to add any jobs or internships you have had and the dates you held them. You can also list any leadership positions and the years you held them on your college resume. 

Finally, you will want to include any special skills you have on your resume for college. This can include certifications as well. 

Once you have a list of your key details, you will want to organize these details into sections on your high school resume. For some, these sections might include Objective, Education, Leadership Positions, Work and Internship History, and Special Skills.  

College Resume Walkthrough

Linked about is our college resume walkthrough. Let’s do another walkthrough of these sections here to see what kind of information to include in each one. 

Your objective is the reason why you are writing your college resume. This section will vary depending on where you send your resume. 

If you are creating a resume for college applications, you should include information about your intended major or future career in this section. However, if you are sending your high school resume to a potential employer, your objective section will include information about why you are uniquely skilled for the job. 

Education 

The education section of your college resume should include all high schools you have attended, along with your GPA and anticipated date of graduation. 

If your high school provides you with a class rank, you can also include that piece of information within this section of your resume for college. 

Additionally, you can include your SAT or ACT score within this section, especially if you are submitting your resume for college applications. 

Leadership Positions 

Be sure to highlight any leadership positions you have held in your college resume. This includes any appointed positions you have received and even informal leadership positions. 

For example, if you were voted Class President of your Student Council, you can include that information here. Or maybe you are a peer mentor on your soccer team—you can include those details within this section of your college resume. 

Work and Internship History 

This section of your high school resume will list your whole work history, including internships , summer jobs , or part-time jobs. 

You will want to include the job title, company, dates of employment, and a brief outline of your duties for each of the work or internship experiences in this section of your resume for college. 

Special Skills 

Finally, this section of your college resume will outline any technical or soft skills you might have. Soft skills include things like teamwork, communication skills, and conflict resolution. 

In this section of your resume for college, you can also include any languages you speak or certifications you have. 

After you have organized your high school resume into sections, you will want to include a bulleted list detailing your responsibilities within each of your engagements/leadership roles. Be sure to include only relevant details in your descriptions, as it’s important to be concise on your college resume.  

Remember to include the years for every role/activity on your college resume. You will want to list them with the most recent positions/activities at the top of your resume for college. 

College resume format

Your college resume format is one of the most important features to consider as you apply to college. As you construct your college resume format, make sure that it’s readable. 

Most people won’t look at your college resume for more than 30 seconds. So, any reader should be able to skim your high school resume and come away with a relatively clear idea of your qualifications and background. 

The ideal college resume format will have the name of the student clearly listed at the top of the college resume. Another aspect of a strong college resume format will have clear sections with strong headlines. Additionally, the best college resume format will include bulleted lists where appropriate. 

We will look at the college resume format in action as we review some college resume examples and college resume templates. 

College resume examples

As we review our sample college resume, we will explain how to use it to craft your own college resume when you apply to college. Use this sample college resume as a reference point for your resume for college. Then, adapt it to fit your own unique needs. 

We will discuss the sample college resume in the next two sections of this article. As we review the sample college resume, pay particular attention to what makes this college resume clear and effective. You can use this sample college resume as a college resume builder while you apply to college. 

At first glance, you can see that this college resume is organized. This resume for college has clear sections and a concise structure. What makes this college resume clear and effective is its formatting, language, and length. Be sure to incorporate these same elements into your own high school resume as you apply to college. 

Remember, this sample college resume is just one of many college resume examples available. Figure out what you like best about this sample college resume and use it to craft your own college resume. 

Sample college resume – What works? 

The key features of this sample college resume are its formatting, language, and length. Focusing on these in your own college resume will ensure that your resume for college stands out. 

Clear delineated sections

The formatting in this college resume works so well because it includes clearly delineated sections and organized by year. Keeping your information and experiences organized by year is an effective format for a resume for college applications. 

Simple and straightforward language

Another feature of this college resume that works well is the language. There is clear language and details throughout this resume for college that provide context for each role and accomplishment. For example, each of the work experiences in this high school resume feature a brief description of the student’s role and duties/responsibilities. 

Concise structure

Additionally, this resume for college application features a concise structure that helps the reader clearly understand the purpose of each section. The descriptions within this college resume are brief but comprehensive. Having a concise structure and clear language throughout your college resume is key. 

The final key feature that works well in this college resume is the length. This resume for college is just one page in length. Ideally, you want your college resume to fit on one page, but that is not a hard and fast rule. If you have a wealth of experiences and extracurriculars for college, your college resume can go over the typical one-page length. 

Even though this high school resume is a little over one page, it does not have any irrelevant details or extraneous information on it. As you begin writing your college resume, be sure to only include relevant details on it. 

As you learn how to write a college resume, keep track of what features work well and incorporate them into your own college resume. If you are unsure if the sample college resume will work for your college resume, don’t worry. There are plenty of college resume examples and college resume templates to choose from as you are applying to college. 

College resume template

There are multiple college resume examples that you can review as you start your college resume or college application letter . Looking at a college resume template can help you decide on the formatting, language, and length that works best for you. 

Hunter College has a web page with college resume examples and college resume templates. Use it as a resource as you build your high school resume. 

If possible, you should avoid using form templates as you construct your college resume. Instead, think of the college resume template as a guide. You should aim to format your resume for college in the way that works best for you. 

It’s best to be a bit unique as you create your high school resume. Looking at a college resume template can help you find your own distinct style. You can also incorporate different aspects from a college resume template into your own college resume. 

However, be sure to avoid any hard-to-read fonts or unnecessary details in your formatting as you learn how to write a college resume. While your resume shouldn’t look like it was made using a stock college resume template, it also should not be overly crowded.

College resume builder

There are also college resume builder resources, like this one from Wheaton College , that will help students build their college resumes. You can use a college resume builder to format your own resume for college. 

At CollegeAdvisor.com, we host webinars on topics that help you apply to college. We have a webinar on how to write a resume for college, with plenty of college resume examples. We also have a webinar with advice from former Admissions Officers on how to build your college resume. 

Once again, you should generally avoid a pre-formatted college resume builder or college resume template. Instead, use these college resume examples as a jumping off point as you begin the college admissions process. 

Formatting your high school resume yourself makes it easier to make any quick edits or fix any formatting quirks. If you were to use a college resume builder or college resume template, these adjustments may be a challenge. 

Build your College Resume in 5 Simple Steps

Having examined some college resume examples, let’s review 5 simple steps for how to write a resume for college. 

Five Steps to Build your College Resume

Make an accurate list of your experiences, awards, education, and qualifications. You will use this list as the outline for your resume for college. 

Choose the best college resume format for the job. Before you finalize your choice of college resume format , review a college resume template or college resume examples for guidance. Then, create a resume header for your college resume. 

Add your accurate information by section on your resume for college. Reference the college resume examples you reviewed previously to choose the sections you will use on your high school resume. Organize each list by year, placing the most recent item at the top of your resume for college. Be sure to separate your extracurricular experiences from your awards/honors, creating two lists (or more if necessary). 

Format your lists to be clear and readable , and add your name and contact information as the header of your college resume. 

Ask a friend, family member, or mentor to copy edit your resume for college! Having another set of eyes on your high school resume will help you create the strongest resume for college possible. 

How to write a college resume – Final Thoughts

In this article, we reviewed how to write a college resume. As we discussed the purpose of a college application resume, we examined college resume examples and described key features that work in a college resume. We hope the college resume examples we featured in our article on how to write a resume for college help you craft your high school resume as you apply to college.

Need help crafting the perfect college application resume? CollegeAdvisor.com can teach you how to write a resume for college. Register for a free CollegeAdvisor.com account and receive access to hundreds of articles and webinars. These resources will help you craft your college resume as you begin applying to college.

This article was written by  Claire Babbs . If you want to get help with your college applications from Claire or other  CollegeAdvisor.com  Admissions Experts , click here to schedule a free meeting with one of our Admissions Specialists. During your meeting, our team will discuss your profile and help you find targeted ways to increase your admissions odds at top schools. We’ll also answer any questions and discuss how CollegeAdvisor.com can support you in the college application process.

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Scholarships for High School Sophomores in 2024

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Starting your scholarship search as a sophomore can seem early, but it gives you a huge advantage in the long run . At this stage, you’re not yet facing the pressures of senior year—such as the college admissions process, applications, final exams, and other looming deadlines. Sophomore year offers the perfect opportunity to plan and research potential scholarships without the stress.

Delaying the start of this search until senior year could limit your options and add unnecessary stress during a critical time of transition. As a sophomore or junior, tapping into as many scholarship opportunities as possible can greatly enhance your prospects of winning and reduce future college expenses.

To support high school sophomores, we’ve meticulously reviewed numerous scholarships across various platforms to pinpoint the best opportunities specifically for you. Our research highlights Bold.org as a standout resource offering valuable scholarships tailored to sophomores .

As you begin your scholarship hunt, aim to explore as many scholarships as possible to maximize your chances of securing awards. Below, you’ll find the list we created of scholarships for high school sophomores to help you get started on your scholarship search.

Apply for scholarships for high school sophomores today to start gaining financial support for your college education.

high school sophomores in class

Should You Apply for Scholarships as a High School Sophomore?

Absolutely. Many students think scholarships are only for seniors, but starting your scholarship search as a high school sophomore gives you a significant advantage. Plus, the earlier you start, the more opportunities you have to win scholarships over the next few years, easing the financial burden of college.

The Benefits of Applying for Scholarships Early

Applying for scholarships as a sophomore provides several benefits:

  • Less Competition : Many students wait until their junior or senior year to apply, so by starting now, you’ll face less competition.
  • Time to Perfect Your Applications : You’ll have plenty of time to develop your application materials, such as essays and letters of recommendation.
  • Preparation for Senior Year : Early scholarship applications prepare you for the larger college and scholarship process during your senior year.

Types of High School Sophomore Scholarships Available

Here are a few examples of available ways for high school sophomores to pay for college:

Academic Scholarships

Awarded based on your GPA or test scores, these scholarships reward academic excellence.

Extracurricular Scholarships

If you’re involved in sports, clubs, or other activities, scholarships that recognize leadership, teamwork, or talent are available.

Community Service Scholarships

Many scholarships reward students for their dedication to volunteering and making a positive impact on their community.

Demographic Scholarships

Some scholarships are designed for students from specific backgrounds or groups, such as first-generation students, minorities, or those with financial need.

high school building

Local Scholarships

Organizations within your local community, such as businesses or nonprofit groups, often offer scholarships to students in your area.

Institutional Scholarships

These scholarships are offered by colleges or universities to attract top-performing students or students who meet specific criteria, such as financial need or leadership skills.

Need-Based Scholarships

Awarded to students based on their financial need, these scholarships help ensure that all students, regardless of financial background, can afford higher education.

No-Essay Scholarships

These scholarships do not require essays and are typically awarded through a random drawing or based on minimal application requirements, making them easy and quick to apply for.

Major-Specific Scholarships

These scholarships are geared toward students pursuing a particular field of study, such as engineering, business, or healthcare, and are awarded to encourage students to excel in that specific discipline.

How to Find High School Sophomore Scholarships

Here’s how to begin your search for scholarships as a high school sophomore:

Scholarship Platforms

Use websites like Bold.org to search for scholarships specifically for sophomores.

School Guidance Office

Your school’s guidance counselor can help you find scholarships available for students in your area or grade level.

Local Organizations

Look for scholarships offered by community groups, local businesses, or nearby charitable foundations.

Extracurricular Networks

Some clubs, sports teams, or organizations you participate in may offer scholarships to active members.

Family and Friends

Ask your family members or friends if they know of any scholarship opportunities, particularly from their workplaces or professional networks.

high school scholarships

What Do Scholarship Committees Look For?

Academic excellence.

Many scholarship committees prioritize students with a strong academic record. Keep your grades up and challenge yourself with advanced or honors courses if possible.

Leadership Skills

Scholarship panels often favor students who demonstrate leadership in their schools or communities. Take initiative in clubs, sports, or volunteer activities to build leadership experience.

Community Service

Scholarship providers appreciate students who give back to their communities. Make an effort to volunteer consistently and document your hours, as this will strengthen your applications​.

High school freshmen, high school sophomores, high school juniors, and high school seniors all qualify for high school scholarships. Browse these scholarships specifically for high school students.

Using Scholarships to Build Your College Resume

Scholarships don’t just help financially—they also look impressive on college applications. Even smaller scholarships or essay competitions demonstrate that you’re proactive, dedicated, and able to compete successfully. This can give you an edge during college admissions, as many colleges appreciate students who have won competitive awards.

As a high school student, you have the opportunity to get ahead in gathering financial aid and win scholarships sooner rather than later. Take the time to apply for scholarships in high school to maximize your scholarship awards.

Tips for Winning High School Sophomore Scholarships

Winning scholarships as a sophomore is all about standing out. Here are a few tips to help you:

Focus on Your Strengths

Highlight what makes you unique, whether it’s academic achievement, leadership, community service, or a particular talent.

Be Authentic

Scholarship committees appreciate honest and authentic applications. Share your story, and don’t be afraid to let your passion and personality shine through.

Stay Organized

Keep track of deadlines and application requirements. You might not win every scholarship, but consistency in applying will increase your chances over time.

Polish Your Essays

Many scholarships require an essay. Take the time to write, revise, and edit. A strong, well-written essay can set you apart from other applicants.

Seek Recommendations Early

Start building relationships with teachers, coaches, or mentors who can write strong letters of recommendation when needed.

high school sophomore class

Apply Early: Students should apply early to ensure they have plenty of time to proofread their applications before they submit their applications.

Apply to Many Scholarships: Students should apply for as many financial awards as they can. The more that students apply, the better acquainted they will be with the application process. If students apply for multiple scholarships, probability shows that they will increase their chances of being awarded funds for college.

Don’t Ignore Scholarships With Smaller Awards: Because there is no limit on how many scholarships students can apply for, students should not ignore awards with smaller funds.

Stay Organized: Staying organized during the application process can keep students from clicking on and reviewing the same scholarships over and over. It’s also a good idea for students to note when they applied for specific awards for their records and to track application deadlines.

Common Scholarship Application Mistakes to Avoid

Missing Deadlines : This is the easiest mistake to make, yet one of the most harmful. Always double-check deadlines and submit your application with plenty of time to spare.

Ignoring Instructions : Each scholarship has its own set of instructions, from word count limits to specific formatting requirements. Failing to follow these instructions can disqualify your application immediately.

Generic Applications : Submitting the same application for every scholarship without tailoring it to fit the specific requirements of each one can make your application seem impersonal. Take the time to customize each one.

Overlooking Small Scholarships : Don’t dismiss smaller scholarships. These often have fewer applicants, which can increase your chances of winning. Plus, small amounts add up over time.

International students who plan to attend college in the U.S. can apply for scholarships while they’re high school students. Find international scholarships today.

sophomore scholarships

Frequently Asked Questions About High School Sophomore Scholarships

How can i improve my chances of winning high school sophomore scholarships.

There are a few things that students can do to improve their chances of winning scholarships for higher education. Students should aim to apply early to scholarships, apply to many scholarships, stay organized when applying to scholarships, and consider adding letters of recommendation to their applications.

How Many High School Sophomore Scholarships Can You Get?

There is no limit to the number of scholarships that a student pursuing higher education can receive for high school sophomores. Any scholarship award that students receive should be reported to the financial aid office at the student’s university. Because there is no limit, current high school students should complete applications for essay scholarships, non-essay scholarships, local awards, or anything they feel they could qualify for.

What Should I Focus On During My Sophomore Year to Strengthen Future Scholarship Applications?

Sophomore year is a great time to focus on academics, extracurricular activities, and community service. Maintaining strong grades, taking on leadership roles in clubs or sports, and getting involved in volunteer work can make you a more competitive candidate when applying for scholarships in the future.

When Should I Start Preparing for College Applications?

It’s never too early to start preparing for college. As a sophomore, focus on building a solid academic record, exploring your interests, and considering what type of colleges or universities you might want to attend. You can also start researching college admissions requirements and standardized tests like the SAT or ACT.

How Can I Make My Scholarship Applications Stand Out?

Focus on showcasing your unique strengths and experiences. Highlight leadership roles, personal achievements, and your commitment to academics or extracurricular activities. Writing thoughtful and genuine essays is another great way to stand out. Always start early, and make sure your applications are polished and free of errors.

Should I Worry About Standardized Testing as a Sophomore?

While you don’t need to take the SAT or ACT just yet, sophomore year is a good time to start preparing. Some students may take the PSAT in sophomore year as practice. This can help you identify areas where you need improvement and get familiar with the test format.

How Can I Balance Scholarship Applications with My Schoolwork?

Time management is key. Set aside specific times to work on scholarship applications, just as you would for homework or studying. Starting early and spreading out your applications will prevent them from piling up and becoming overwhelming.

Are High School Students Eligible for College Scholarships Once They Become College Freshmen?

When high school students become college or university students, they can still apply for scholarships as college students. Even in graduate school, students can find tons of scholarships to apply for as graduate students. It’s never too late or too early to apply for scholarships.

College scholarships specifically for high school sophomores allow high schoolers to get a head start on finding financial support for their future college education. Begin your scholarship journey today .

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Scholarship Institute Editorial Team

Our Editorial Team, with a rich background in educational content creation, prioritizes accuracy and quality in every article. We are committed to producing expert content tailored to meet the academic needs of college and high school students, ensuring they receive well-researched and trustworthy information for their educational journey.

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  1. How To Write a High School Resume for College Applications

    Examples Here are some examples of high school resumes to consider as you create your own: Example 1 Here is an example of a high school resume: Jane Smith 123 Apple Tree Lane, Sacramento, CA 55555 555-555-5555, [email protected] Qualifications Highly organized and responsible high school student with customer service experience and passion for problem-solving.

  2. Write a High School Student Resume for College Applications

    Provide detail whenever possible. The details are what set a resume apart from a list of extracurriculars on a standard college application. For example, when describing your involvement in the French Club make sure to include: 4. Highlight things you weren't able to write about in your college essays or short answers.

  3. How to Write a College Resume (+ Templates)

    Here's how to write the perfect introduction for a college resume: Start with an adjective like diligent or dedicated. Add your title (high school student, high school senior). Cite your goal (contribute to the University of California with a commitment to excellence and community service).

  4. Sample High School Resumes for College Applications

    The following two samples each have a unique format and highlights based on the career and college goals of two different students. To download, click on the image of the sample you want and use. Each sample is customizable so you can create a resume that truly represents you. If you have issues, see the troubleshooting guide for online printables.

  5. College Application Resume Guide and Template

    High school seniors, put one more item on your to-do list. It's time to prepare a college application resume. This isn't the kind of resume you'll need when you look for your first post-college job or a brag sheet you've put together for someone writing a letter of recommendation, but a resume designed for a high school senior.

  6. How to Write a High School Resume for College Application (with

    College Application Resume Examples for High School Seniors. Never write your objective like this: "An exceptionally diligent scholar with a keen interest in Geography and History. I only have a 3.1 GPA, and 1348 SAT scores, but I am dedicated to working extremely hard on campus. I was captain of my high school lacrosse team." So, what is ...

  7. How to Write a Resume for Colleges Using Your Common App + Examples

    While many college applications do not require a resume (and many outright ban them), knowing how to write a resume for college using your Common App is an incredible time-saving move for a high school senior. Making a college application resume will help you when applying for internships, jobs, and scholarships.

  8. How to Write a College Resume + Templates

    College Resume Template #2: Microsoft Word or Google Docs. College Resume Template #3: Microsoft Word or Google Docs. College Resume Template #4: Microsoft Word or Google Docs. College Resume Template #5: Microsoft Word or Google Docs. College Resume Template #6: Microsoft Word or Google Docs. Note: To use these example college resume templates ...

  9. High School Resume

    Let's have a look at a concrete example of a resume objective for this case: Correct Example: Hard-working, responsible high school student looking to contribute a positive and collaborative attitude in the retail field. Math-oriented individual with good attention to detail. #3.

  10. 20 High School Student Resume Examples Created for 2024

    Resume Examples Created for 2024. Stephen Greet August 29, 2024. High school is one of the best times of your life, but it can also be one of the most difficult when looking for your first or second job. You've got to fill out applications, prep for interviews, and write your resume. Using ChatGPT for resumes is a cool idea, but can still ...

  11. 4+ High School Resume Examples for 2024

    High school resume for college. Download This Free Template. Why this example works. The applicant shows employers they're hard-working by including their 4.0 GPA on the resume. In the education section, they explain how they gained relevant skills. The resume objective focuses on their academic goals.

  12. How To Craft a High School Resume in 6 Steps (With Examples)

    Here's how to write a high school resume step by step: 1. Include a career objective. A career objective is a one or two-sentence statement summarizing your career goals and how your talents and skills align with the needs of the employer. While people of any age and career level can benefit from including an objective statement on their resume ...

  13. How To Write A High School Resume For College + Examples

    Additionally, there are plenty of high school skills you should put on your resume! However, to craft a well-written college admission resume, it is strongly suggested to at least include the following: Contact information (email address, phone number, and location) Objective. Experiences and activities.

  14. How to Write a Resume for College Application

    And your college application resume format needs to be flawless. Follow this formula for the best college resume template: Pick a professional, simple resume template. Use the best resume fonts, like Arial or Cambria, in 10-14pt. Add big headings, utilize white space, and set 1-inch margins on your resume.

  15. How to Create a High School Academic Resume (With Example and ...

    Here are the basic steps you should follow to create a high school academic resume. Use the right format. Include your name and contact information. Add your education. Include activities. List athletic participation. Include work experience. List special interests.

  16. High School Resume: How to Write the Best One (Templates Included!)

    Include the name you used on your college application. Underneath your name, put your cell phone number and professional email address. Format your cell phone correctly. That means you have two options: There will be parenthesis around your area code and a hyphen after the first three digits of the number.

  17. How to Write a Resume for a College Application

    For example, if you're applying to an arts-focused school, try starting your resume with a resume section called "creative accomplishments" or "artistic talents.". 2. Include resume keywords for your college resume. Use appropriate resume keywords when writing your college resume.

  18. College Application Resume for 2024 [With Examples, Tips & Template]

    Order Your Contact Information the Right Way #2. Write an Attention-Grabbing College Resume Objective #3. Put Weight on Your Education #4. Showcase Relevant Activities #5. Highlight Your Work Experience #6. Include Your Skills College application resume skills #7.

  19. 3 High School Student for College Resume Examples

    Top 5 Tips for Your High School Student for College Resume. Include a custom-tailored career objective A career objective can help your resume stand out when you're a high school student, but only if it's not impactful. Clearly demonstrate your achievements and drive, and mention where you see yourself within the company you're applying to.

  20. High School Senior Resume Example

    Common Responsibilities Listed on High School Senior Resumes: Completing college applications, including writing personal statements and essays. Studying for and taking standardized tests such as the SAT or ACT. Participating in extracurricular activities, clubs, or sports teams to enhance college applications.

  21. How to Write an Impressive High School Resume

    High school name and location. Expected graduation date —the month and year will suffice. Weighted GPA. This is an optional item to include if your GPA will impress the person reading your high school resume—a 3.5 or above, for example. Class rank. Again, if it is impressive—the top 20% of your class, for example.

  22. How to Write a Resume for College

    Step 3. Add your accurate information by section on your resume for college. Reference the college resume examples you reviewed previously to choose the sections you will use on your high school resume. Organize each list by year, placing the most recent item at the top of your resume for college.

  23. Scholarships for High School Sophomores in 2024

    High school freshmen, high school sophomores, high school juniors, and high school seniors all qualify for high school scholarships. Browse these scholarships specifically for high school students. Using Scholarships to Build Your College Resume. Scholarships don't just help financially—they also look impressive on college applications.