On the potential cheesiness of a bacherlor's-only CV.

[imisscoffee]

I have just a bachelor's degree. I have never spoken at a conference, unless you count and Earth First! conference. I haven't published much, unless you count working for eHow and self-publishing zines. I haven't taught much, unless you count bike-building classes, sourdough bread-baking classes, and women's health classes at the local free school. How cheesy is it to have a CV listing these non-academic accomplishments? Can I spin them to sound proper (and like I am self-driven) by using academic language throughout my descriptions?

Other questions:

Should I have a "personal" section that lists by birthdate and place?

Should I list the school I transferred away from (never receiving a degree from it)?

I know that the question of CV versus resume has been addressed, but I needed to get more specific. Thank you in advance for your answers.

[Alaskah]

You would typically only include your degree-granting school on your CV. I attended 3 different undergraduate institutions, but I only list the one I actually graduated from. Don't include birthday or birth location - they will ask for that on your actual application.

Your CV should be tailored toward the grad program you are applying to, so anything that is not relevant to that program/field should not be included. Some programs list their current masters/PhD students on their website, and some have links to their personal websites and CVs. I have found this very helpful when deciding how to format my CV (by seeing how others in my specific field do it), and also to compare the competitiveness of my CV with those who were admitted to the program

[eco_env]

what about research interests/experience? you can list those. I think any teaching experience is worth mentioning. Also, list any presentation relating to your research interests, even if it was in a non-academic setting. Eventually you'll want to take this stuff out, but since there's nothing else for you to list now, go with whatever you have. If you got any merit based scholarships/research awards, etc. list those too- they show you are capable of convincing people to give you money. I even listed related coursework for a while, since my major was not exactly in the same field as the programs I applied to.

Edited November 7, 2011 by eco_env

[Alaskah]

^^ Yes, include honors/honor societies, and scholarships if you have any. I included that on my CV under a simple "Honors" section. I also have a section for research experience (not all experience has to be published or presented at a conference - it's still valuable experience), but I also have a publication section. I'm further debating including a section of relevant coursework since I conducted experiments in 3 of my classes, and 2 of those experiments had the same theme as my honors thesis, so it shows some depth of understanding in a particular area that I may continue into grad school. Were any of your online articles related to your field? That would show interest out of the classroom.