How Long should your CV/Resume Be??

[jazzrap]

Hi Guys,

I notice that for job interview, your resume usually needs to be limited to one page. Is this true for applying for Ph. D programs in Political Science??

For University of Washington, the requirement says "500 KB maximum", meaning that you basically can write as long as you can for your resume. But does the Adcom bother to read a, say, three-page resume?

At this point, I cannot access to every program's resume information. I have to actually "start" the application process to see the details, but the Fall 2013 cycle in UCSD, for example, has not officially started yet.

Any ideas??

[TakeruK]

A resume is usually a 1-2 page summary (that's what the word means!) while a CV could be much longer. If you look at some prof's CVs on their webpages, you might find 20 page long documents that list every single talk they've ever given! You obviously don't want to go to this much depth, but I think it should definitely be longer than just 1 page. Also, if you look at CVs from outside of North America, sometimes you will see very detailed information like "Born 1960. Married. 2 children." etc. -- this is usually not required for North American CVs either.

I am not in your field, but I imagine something similar would be used in all fields. My CV format was

- Name/Contact Info

- Education -- For each school/degree, I included major, thesis supervisor, thesis title

- Research Experience -- For each project, 3 to 5 lines listing what I did and what the main results were

- Publications -- separated peer reviewed articles and conference presentations -- I picked out one presentation per topic instead of listing every single one.

- Scholarships and Awards -- included year, name/funding agency, and dollar value

- Teaching Experience -- For each item, 2-3 lines explaining my duties

- Volunteer Experience -- same as above, only included things I thought were relevant

My CV was 4 pages in the end. Most of it was just list/point form so it wouldn't be very hard for them to read even though it's 4 pages. The important things are at the front so if they get bored, my volunteer stuff isn't that important anyways! However, each school will have different application format -- sometimes the school does not ask for a CV but instead asks individual questions that would correspond to a CV section. For example, one school asked me to upload a list of publications, a list of awards, a list of teaching and research experience, etc. all as separate documents. Also, the research experience section will allow you to go much further in depth on what you actually did than your SOP, I think. You should still overlap the most important facts but this is your chance to tighten up your SOP by leaving the other details for the CV. (At least, in my field, I tried to keep the SOP to less than 2 pages; at one school we were limited to just 1 page).

None of the schools I applied to actually specified an upper limit on the CV page count. Despite this, I still probably wouldn't submit anything longer than 5 pages though.

[jazzrap]

A resume is usually a 1-2 page summary (that's what the word means!) while a CV could be much longer. If you look at some prof's CVs on their webpages, you might find 20 page long documents that list every single talk they've ever given! You obviously don't want to go to this much depth, but I think it should definitely be longer than just 1 page. Also, if you look at CVs from outside of North America, sometimes you will see very detailed information like "Born 1960. Married. 2 children." etc. -- this is usually not required for North American CVs either.

I am not in your field, but I imagine something similar would be used in all fields. My CV format was

- Name/Contact Info

- Education -- For each school/degree, I included major, thesis supervisor, thesis title

- Research Experience -- For each project, 3 to 5 lines listing what I did and what the main results were

- Publications -- separated peer reviewed articles and conference presentations -- I picked out one presentation per topic instead of listing every single one.

- Scholarships and Awards -- included year, name/funding agency, and dollar value

- Teaching Experience -- For each item, 2-3 lines explaining my duties

- Volunteer Experience -- same as above, only included things I thought were relevant

My CV was 4 pages in the end. Most of it was just list/point form so it wouldn't be very hard for them to read even though it's 4 pages. The important things are at the front so if they get bored, my volunteer stuff isn't that important anyways! However, each school will have different application format -- sometimes the school does not ask for a CV but instead asks individual questions that would correspond to a CV section. For example, one school asked me to upload a list of publications, a list of awards, a list of teaching and research experience, etc. all as separate documents. Also, the research experience section will allow you to go much further in depth on what you actually did than your SOP, I think. You should still overlap the most important facts but this is your chance to tighten up your SOP by leaving the other details for the CV. (At least, in my field, I tried to keep the SOP to less than 2 pages; at one school we were limited to just 1 page).

None of the schools I applied to actually specified an upper limit on the CV page count. Despite this, I still probably wouldn't submit anything longer than 5 pages though.

Thanks!!

[Eigen]

Exactly what TakeruK said. You're resume should be short (I've personally heard one page, if possible) while your CV continually grows. Mines around 4 pages now, and I'm slowly removing most of my undergrad stuff.

The rule of thumb I've heard is that most high school stuff should be gone by the time you finish undergrad, and most undergrad stuff should be done by the time you finish your PhD, but that most grad school stuff stays on forever.

Obviously, some things from undergrad never leave- pubs, major awards, presentations, etc. but some of the more minor stuff you start replacing with more recent and relevant work.