Should I add my CV if the school doesn't ask for one?

[thereandbackagain]

or will they find that to be obnoxious? Despite glowing letters of recommendation and what I think is a good SoP, I'm wondering whether I should go ahead and add my CV (which details some creative publications/presentations and critical presentations/professional service that may or may not have been mentioned in my letters of rec). I left most of them out of my SoP, but now I'm getting nervous and thinking that my CV would be a helpful addition. However, the school doesn't ask for one, and since this is THE school that I most want to get in, I don't want to piss them off. What think you?

Edited December 15, 2010 by thereandbackagain

[LJK]

If a school does not specifically say that they don't accept them, I think it is more than acceptable to send a CV. If they are not interested, they don't have to look at it. If they are trying to decide between you and someone else, having more information that might tip them in your direction is in your best interest. I highly doubt that a school will be angry with you for giving them a fuller picture of you.

[schoolpsych_hopeful]

YES YES YES send your CV. It shouldn't upset them, and it's a nice way to summarize all of your accomplishments.

or will they find that to be obnoxious? Despite glowing letters of recommendation and what I think is a good SoP, I'm wondering whether I should go ahead and add my CV (which details some creative publications/presentations and critical presentations/professional service that may or may not have been mentioned in my letters of rec). I left most of them out of my SoP, but now I'm getting nervous and thinking that my CV would be a helpful addition. However, the school doesn't ask for one, and since this is THE school that I most want to get in, I don't want to piss them off. What think you?

[eklavya]

Of course send it. But CV? Why not send a resume? I have been advised by my professors and folk who graduated from my lab (and went to grad schools) to send a resume. The reason being that adcomms might think that it's boring to go through a long CV as you're applying for a grad position, not a full time and long-impact job position. Someone sending a short and sweet resume might have a leg up.

[thereandbackagain]

Well, I guess mostly because my resume would be far less relevant to grad school than my CV. I'm older, so I have a lot of work experience that is not pertinent to my current course of study. Also, a resume would not list presentations/service/publications/awards/etc. My CV is clear, well-organized, and 2-pages long. I don't think that it is excessive, and I think that it shows I know what is expected of me in the field I want to enter. Of course, I might be totally wrong.

Of course send it. But CV? Why not send a resume? I have been advised by my professors and folk who graduated from my lab (and went to grad schools) to send a resume. The reason being that adcomms might think that it's boring to go through a long CV as you're applying for a grad position, not a full time and long-impact job position. Someone sending a short and sweet resume might have a leg up.

[eklavya]

My CV is clear, well-organized, and 2-pages long.

Yes.. 2 pages shouldn't be a problem. I was pointing fingers to those who barely finished their undergrad or Masters and yet prepare a CV >3/4 pages to send to a graduate program. And it makes more sense in your case as you've been out of school for a while.

[LJK]

As a current MS student, I have a CV that is 1 pg long. Its a little crammed as a CV - more resume style I guess. It will probably soon make the transition to being a 2 pg document, but I wanted to keep it tight for my grad applications. Just because I call it a CV and put things like research experience on and leave off experience as a sales floor clerk doesn't mean it has to go on forever. I think the key difference is that CVs are academically centered and with only 5.5 years of higher education at this point, there isn't going to be that much academic experience to list. And as the OP is indicating, usually for anyone regardless of age applying to grad school there won't be that much relevant academic experience to list. And if you have a legitimate 3 or 4 page worth, why not share it? If anything I think that writing curriculum vitae at the top shows that you are at least aware that academia uses a different standard. I don't think its a huge difference but those are my 2 cents.

[thereandbackagain]

Thanks for the advice, y'all. I went ahead and added it. Now comes the interminable waiting.

[hello! :)]

@LJK: Sorry to go off tangent and if this is me being too nosey-- I noticed that you're applying to a lot of great programs, but why UC Merced? You're in a master's program and you have a full page CV already. AFAIK, UC Merced is not really known for their research.

[LJK]

[quote name=hello! ' timestamp='1292650358' post='171391]

@LJK: Sorry to go off tangent and if this is me being too nosey-- I noticed that you're applying to a lot of great programs, but why UC Merced? You're in a master's program and you have a full page CV already. AFAIK, UC Merced is not really known for their research.

Edited December 18, 2010 by LJK

[hello! :)]

UC Merced is definitely "up and coming" rather than well established, but while UC Merced as a school is not yet known for its research, the professors that they have hired away from top research universities are. It is sort of a strange situation. Cognitive science is not yet a fully separate program and if nothing were to change in the next 5 years, were I to graduate from there my degree would be a PhD in Social and Cognitive Sciences. There is also a very small grad student population which would be quite strange. But the professor I am applying to work with does really cool work. There is a talk series that brings in lots of really interesting researchers regularly so it shouldn't be too isolated. And, maybe since its a new school that is growing it won't have as many funding issues as the other UC schools (?). Also, I have never shied away from out of the box programs, being a founding student in an interdisciplinary/nontraditional/experimental program at my undergrad. There are lots of things to weigh about Merced that are different from the more traditional programs I am applying to, but I set out at the beginning of my application process last March with the intent to find out by whom and where the research I was interested in was being done. Merced happens to be on the list.

Ah, thanks for explaining. That certainly makes sense. Re: funding, don't quote me on this, but I think all of California is feeling the money crunch. So much so that the state considered legalizing marijuana, but it didn't pass. All CA state and UC faculty were also forced to go on "unpaid vacations" (i.e., take furlough days).