To Dress It’s Best: the Etiquette of the Well Written Curriculum Vitae

While you showcase your grades and other profile details in your application columns to the admissions committees, they are reaching for that one page document that summarises your entire portfolio and narrates your entire gamut of achievements - like putting a shine on your persona and a sprinkle on your unique qualities.

If you are looking to get admission in the university of your choice overseas, you need to dress your curriculum vitae (CV) like you would dress yourself for a formal interview – with poise, élan, and professionalism. The CV should capture the essence of your uniqueness while stating how you are the best fit within the educational ethos of the institution and its long term vision for its alumni pool.

CVs are even more important if you are going back to upgrade your professional acumen during mid career, after you have gathered work experience and want to further it with an extra dollop of a relevant degree. Thus for courses like the MBA, masters in management, project management and business, internationalization and entrepreneurship, the CV can be a make or break document along with the application essays for the admits and scholarships.

Being error free, written with focussed attention to the course you want to undertake, and with a concise summary of your strengths as reflected in your education or vocational path are the three main elements of any good CV. There is no room for sloppiness, no provision for grammatical or syntax errors, no scope for badly composed sentences.      

A CV should focus more on your recent works and achievements but also include your academic and extracurricular activities in school if they were significant and relate with your present passions and interests. The main parts of a CV typically include your personal details, educational accomplishments, career achievements, community work, awards and accolades, your core strengths and even things like your multilingual ability or IT prowess.

Though the CVs should definitely include action verbs, yet they should not look like rows jam packed with jargon and buzzwords that are more cliché than relevant. The CV should definitely leave a good impression, but it should leave the right impression as well. Looking aesthetic is just the beginning of the CV. Its appeal is ultimately in bringing out the IT aptitude and strengths of an IT aspirant, the creative writing ability for someone looking to do a degree in languages or journalism, and social awareness for the student wanting to do social psychology and so on.

In essence the CV needs to look coherent, with easily identifiable sections and clarity on how the student’s progression has taken shape and in which way is the student headed in his/her future years. Finally the success of your university application CV, as for all other parts of your application, is in the verdict you receive from the universities about your admit. Planning in advance and taking time to write a good CV is the secret to the much awaited positive university response.