Applying for admission to a graduate degree program requires the carefully organization and orchestration of many materials. After all, you'll have multiple components to worry about for each school you are applying to: recommendation letters, test scores, transcripts, etc. The hardest part is that not every program you'll apply to will request the same materials. Even if only one prospective graduate program requests a Curriculum Vitae, or CV, you'll find yourself in the position of having to put together this important document.
What is a Curriculum Vitae? You can look at this as a resume of sorts, which details your past experiences and achievements. Your CV will focus more on your education, research, and other information related to your college career than a resume typically would, however. A CV is a longer document that will touch on areas of your life and education that will be important to prospective graduate programs. For example, you will list your travel and cultural experiences, your foreign language skills, advanced coursework you have completed, and even descriptions of papers you have published or presented during college.
The biggest mistake you can make is to simply send off a copy of your resume, if you have one. A resume will not contain all of the information that a Curriculum Vitae contains, and the formatting of the document will be different. Your resume may be a good place to start, but keep in mind that you will have to add many more details and reorder various points in order to transform your resume into a CV that will get you into graduate school.
The best strategy you have for making your CV stand out from the crowd is organization. After all, you can't alter your accomplishments and experiences in any way. The way to maximize your image on paper is to organize your CV in such a way that the most attention-grabbing, relevant information is first. Keep in mind what personal qualities will be of interest to a prospective graduate school, and make those stand out.
Be detailed in the information that you include. For example, if you completed volunteer service with a local organization, don't simply state your length of service and the name of the organization. List you duties and the skills that you acquired. If possible, show how the experience is directly related to your academic and career ambitions. And if you are a good writer and have a bunch of writing and maybe editing skills, then write it also! Aussie writers make me happy every time when I receive a brilliant assignment for college! So, don't be ashamed of adding articles to your CV.
Remember that while you certainly cannot falsify information on your CV, you can dress up some of your experiences and make them sound better. For example, if you won a collegiate essay contest as an undergraduate, don't just say you won 1st place. Say that you were selected out of however many applicants to receive 1st place in a nationwide contest. Think of other ways you can bring your achievements to life on paper.
Since a CV typically takes the place of a resume in the world of academia, your professors are likely quite skilled in the art of writing one by now. Be sure to ask a trusted faculty advisor to check over your CV prior to sending it off.
If your prospective graduate program requires a CV, devoting some time to making this document the best it can be is important before applying to graduate school. The skill of crafting a compelling CV will serve you very well in your graduate school search.