• Business School
    • Free MBA Admissions Consultation
    • MBA Admissions Services
    • School-Specific MBA Essay Tips
    • Executive MBA Essay Tips
    • MBA Admissions Calendar
    • Free Guides
    • Video Tips
    • Podcast
    • Selectivity Index
    • EMBA: The Ultimate Guide for Applicants
  • Medical School
    • Free Med School Admissions Consultation
    • Med School Admissions Services
    • Med School Admissions 101
    • Secondary Essay Tips (by School)
    • Student Interviews
    • Free Guides
    • Video Tips
    • Podcast
    • Selectivity Index
  • Law School
    • Free Law School Admissions Consultation
    • Law School Admissions Services
    • Law School Admissions 101
    • Selectivity Index
    • Free Guides
    • Podcast
    • Video Tips
  • Graduate School
    • Free Grad School Admissions Consultation
    • Grad School Admissions Services
    • Grad School Admissions 101
    • Free Guides
    • Video Tips
    • Podcast
  • College
    • Free College Admissions Consultation
    • College Admissions Services
    • Free Guides
    • Supplemental Essay Tips
    • Video Tips
    • Podcast
Accepted

Speak with an Accepted admissions expert for FREE!

Blog HomePodcastContact Us

Accepted Admissions Blog

Everything you need to know to get Accepted

March 15, 2019

Reading Time: 4 minutes

18 Do’s And Don’ts For Your Application Resume

18 Do's and Dont's For Your Application Resume. For more tips, download your free resume guide!

Your application resume is usually the first opportunity admissions readers have to get to know you, your experience, and your skills. Because of the number of other application components they need to review (both yours and those belonging to the thousands of other applicants), most adcom readers will only give your resume a quick 15-second glance before moving on to the next thing on their checklist. Not only do you have to make a great first impression – you have to do it fast!

Fortunately, there are many ways to craft an application resume that strategically highlights your skills and makes you and your qualifications stand out from the crowd. The following do’s and don’ts will help you develop a dynamic, powerful resume that will enable you to sail through the adcom’s initial 15-second screening process and earn your outstanding qualifications the closer look they deserve.

9 Application Resume Do’s

Make sure that your application resume follows these 9 tips:

  1. Place your strongest material in the 2-inch visual space that begins about 2 5/8 inches from the top of your resume.

    Make sure you include your most impressive, impactful achievements and qualifications in this “primetime” space. It’s where the reader’s eyes will focus first.

  2. Use a professional profile or qualifications section in your resume’s primetime space.

    This will give the adcom readers a quick but concrete capsule of your achievements and skills. Write this section when the rest of your resume is complete and you’ve already decided what your strongest qualifications are.

  3. Give the most weight to your most recent professional position.

    The section of the resume for your most recent position should contain more bulleted accomplishments than your previous positions. For each position, rank the accomplishments in order of decreasing relevance to the employer you are targeting.

    38 Ways to Use the Power of Numbers in Your Admissions Resume >>
  4. Quantify your impact on the organizations you have worked for.

    If you reduced expenses, say by how much or by what percentage. If you supervised a project, say how many were on your team. Always ask yourself how you helped the organization, and insert the numbers that demonstrate that impact.

  5. Pay as much attention to your resume’s design as you do to its content.

    Use bullets or other appropriate symbols, insert rules (horizontal lines) to separate major sections, and use a 10-to-12-point conservative typeface for the body text of the resume. Aim for 1-inch side margins and slightly smaller top and bottom margins. (If your target school specifies these guidelines, make sure you adhere to their specific requests.)

  6. Include publications, patents, presentations, honors, relevant volunteer experiences, and professional licenses or certifications in your resume.

    These “extras” can sometimes be the factor that piques their attention and makes them eager to read the other components of your application. (If you’re applying for certain degrees – such as any research degree – your publications and research experiences are not “extras” at all, but a key part of the document.)

  7. Edit and proofread mercilessly.

    Edit your resume to reduce fluff and make every word count. Set your resume aside for a few days and then come back to it again with “fresh eyes.” Misspelled words and grammatical mistakes are the proverbial kiss of death in a resume. Eliminate them.

  8. Place your education after your experience.

    Do this if you’ve been in the workforce for more than five years. If the degree you earned is the most relevant or impressive detail of your education section, highlight it. If the school you attended is the selling point, emphasize it.

  9. Use a two-page resume if appropriate.

    Two-page resumes are fine (and in some cases, preferable) if you’ve been in the workforce for about ten years or more or have particularly impressive work experience. Depending on your field and the degree you’re targeting, you may have a longer CV with a detailed list of publications, etc. (Once again, if your target school puts a limit on the page count, go by their rules, not ours.)

9 Application Resume Don’ts

Here are 9 things you should absolutely NOT do in your resume:

  1. Don’t make things up!

    This includes inflating your accomplishments, level of responsibility, or skills.

  2. Don’t confuse your resume with your autobiography.

    While there are many pieces of information that your resume must have, its primary purpose is to focus on the aspects of your life and career that address the employer’s needs. You’ll have the rest of your application to highlight your life’s most important stories.

  3. Don’t use pronouns (“I”) or articles (“a” or “the”).

    They detract from the force of your accomplishments, slow down the reader, and take up precious space.

  4. Don’t provide personal data.

    Marital status, date of birth, height/weight, and similar non-work-related information can be used to illegally discriminate against applicants, and they rarely add anything of value to your qualifications.

  5. Don’t repeat the same action words throughout the resume.

    Instead of using the verb developed or led over and over, pull out your thesaurus and mix in terms like accelerated, delivered, directed, established, initiated, or reengineered.

  6. Don’t leave out dates.

    Even if you choose the functional resume format to minimize frequent job changes or lack of experience, include your dates of employment somewhere on your resume (usually at the end).

  7. Don’t use more detail than you need to convey your accomplishments.

    Dense, paragraph-sized bullet points make for tough reading. A good rule of thumb is to limit each bullet to one to two lines of text with three to five accomplishments for each position.

  8. Don’t use clichés like dynamic or self-starting.

    Let the details of your resume convince the adcom reader that you have these qualities.

  9. Don’t make your resume a list of your job duties.

    Instead, make it a list of your accomplishments! Weave your job responsibilities into your descriptions of your accomplishments.

Do you need help putting together a stand-out resume? Or do you have a professional resume and need help transforming it into one suitable to send in with your application? Browse our Admissions Resume Services and work one-on-one with an expert advisor who will help you create a resume that will get you noticed by the adcom at your target graduate program.

The Quick Guide To Admissions Resumes - Download your free guide today!

AcceptedFor 25 years, Accepted has helped applicants gain acceptance to top undergraduate and graduate programs. Our expert team of admissions consultants features former admissions directors, PhDs, and professional writers who have advised clients to acceptance at top programs worldwide including Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Princeton, Penn, Columbia, Oxford, Cambridge, INSEAD, MIT, Caltech, UC Berkeley, and Northwestern. Want an admissions expert to help you get Accepted? Click here to get in touch!

Related Resources:

• Fitting In & Standing Out: The Paradox at the Heart of Admissions, a free guide
• 6 Fatal Resume Flaws to Avoid
• How to Write the Qualifications Summary for Your Resume

Article by Accepted / College Admissions, Grad School Admissions, Law School Admissions, MBA Admissions, Medical School Admissions / college resume, grad school resume, law school resume, MBA resume, med school resume

Get Accepted!

Sign up for a free consultation today!

Which program are you applying to?

Most Popular Blog Posts

1. 7 Simple Steps to Writing an Excellent Diversity Essay

2. 4 Ways to Show How You’ll Contribute in the Future

3. How to Write About Your Research Interests

4. Tips for Answering the Yale University Supplemental Essays and Short Answer Questions [2022-2023]

5. When Will Medical Schools Give You an Answer?

6. Sample Essays from Admitted HBS Students

7. Tips for Answering the University of Pennsylvania Supplemental Essay Prompts [2022-2023]

8. Top STEM MBA Programs: A Comprehensive List and Overview of STEM-OPT Eligible B-Schools

Sample Essays

MBA Personal Statement Examples

Medical School Personal Statement Examples

Graduate School Personal Statement Examples

Law School Personal Statement Examples

College Application Essay Examples

 

This Site is Featured on GMATClub

Home Page Services and Prices MBA Med School Law School Grad School College

About Us Press Room Contact Us Podcast Accepted Blog
Privacy Policy Website Terms of Use Disclaimer Client Terms of Service

Accepted 1171 S. Robertson Blvd. #140 Los Angeles CA 90035 +1 (310) 815-9553
© 2022 Accepted

BBB A+ RatingStamp of AIGAC Excellence

Copyright © 2023 · Education Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in