A curriculum vitae, CV, is one of the most important documents you will begin to write in college. A CV contains your education, extracurricular activities, research experiences, qualifications, awards and more. Because of the extensive information contained in the CV, we suggest you start writing it as early as possible. It is important to make a template even before starting college and adding in information as you go. Everything, from an hour of volunteering to a summer program award, should be documented.

There are different types of templates for a CV. Juliana, Lindsey and I have included a copy of our college CV so that you can get a feel for the information, formatting, and style included in a CV. The good but also bad thing about the CV is that there is no clear-cut template. This mean you have the opportunity to express yourself and let some of your personality shine through the information provided. But at the same time, it could be a bit confusing as to what is considered a “good CV”.  

The most important things to include in your CV is your contact information and a brief statement underneath each activity you have completed. The way you organize it is flexible and up to you. If you are applying for a clinical job you might want to move your volunteering and clinical experiences to the top. However, if you are applying to a research program you might want to move the research section to the top of your CV. The CV is flexible- remember that!

The earlier you start the more prepared you will be for applications and the less likely you are to miss something that you did. When you begin to look for summer programs, volunteer opportunities, or summer jobs during college they will be asking you for a CV. Starting a CV from scratch to submit for an application is very time consuming and can sometimes deter you from applying. Do not let anything hold you back from applying! It is so important to start making a CV early, so you only need to make some final touches before submitting. Starting early and having the time to look over it multiple times will also prevent you from submitting a CV filled with typos that will portray you as unprofessional. Lastly, when you apply for medical school you need to write about 10+ activities that you did during college. If you have a well-made CV, all you have to do is copy and paste the information from your CV. I cannot stress to you how much time this saves you.

To summarize:

1.     Start your CV early!

2.     Add information to your CV as you complete activities so you do not forget.

3.     Check out multiple templates before committing to one style.

4.     Check for typos! Take your CV to your school’s writing center or send it to someone you trust to make sure you are doing it right and that there are no grammatical errors.

5.     Your CV is flexible! Move things around depending on what you are applying to.

-Lindsey CV- - Juliana CV- - Marisol CV-

Good Luck!