How to write a resume for your college application

How a college resume differs from a job resume

A job resume answers "can this person do the job?". A college application resume answers "what does this student care about, and how far did they take it?". That changes what goes on the page.

What goes on it, in order

1. Heading. Name, city and state, phone, email.
2. Education. Your high school, expected graduation, GPA (say weighted or unweighted), and your most demanding courses.
3. Activities. Clubs, teams, arts, research, anything you started. Your role, grade levels, hours, and one or two lines on what you did and what came of it.
4. Work. Part-time and summer jobs count fully. So do family responsibilities, such as caring for a sibling every afternoon.
5. Service. Volunteering, with total hours if you track them (how to list volunteer work).
6. Awards and honors. The name, who gave it, and the year.
7. Skills. Languages, software, instruments. Leave out "hard-working".

Order activities by what matters most to you, not alphabetically. Put the time detail on every entry, because it is how readers tell a weekly commitment from a one-off:

The Common App activities list, and where your resume fits

On the Common App, your activities go in a section of its own, and a resume does not replace it. The rules, from Common App's own guides:

• You can add up to ten activities, and you do not need to fill all ten.
• Each activity has a position or leadership field (50 characters), the organization name (100 characters), and a description of what you did and any honors (150 characters).
• You give the hours per week and weeks per year for each one; a best guess is fine if you do not know exactly.
• For 2026-2027 the section is renamed "Activities and experiences", and the position/leadership field becomes optional. The character limits do not change.
• If an activity needs more room, the Additional Information question in the Writing section is the place for it.

Write the resume first. It is easier to cut a full line down to 150 characters than to write a short one from nothing. Here is the debate entry above, cut to fit:

Whether a college also wants a resume varies. Look at each college's own questions inside the application, and upload one only where it asks for or allows it.

Scholarship resume

A scholarship resume is the same document, aimed at one committee. Before you send it:

• Read what the scholarship is for. Service, leadership, a field of study, a community. Move the activities that match to the top.
• Use its words where they are true. If it asks for "community leadership", the recycling program you started belongs first, described as leading something in your community.
• Keep jobs and family duties in. A job held during the school year shows you can manage your time, and "Work 12 hours a week during the school year" says it plainly.
• Keep it to one page, and save a separate copy for each scholarship you change it for.

Who else should get a copy

• Teachers and your counselor writing recommendations. It reminds them of everything you do outside their class.
• Interviewers. Bring a copy to an alumni or admissions interview; it gives them questions to ask you.
• Summer programs and jobs. Cut the awards section down and move work to the top, and it becomes a first job resume.

The builder at the top of this page asks one question at a time, and you can add activities, service and awards in the editor after. Download the PDF with a free account and upload it wherever a college or scholarship asks for it.