CV questions - list scholarship amnt?

[davidipse]

Hello.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice. I have a few q's about what to put in the CV/resume and how to put it.

 

1) I assume one lists awards and scholarships. But should I note the monetary value too? I'd think one reason to do this is it's an indication of the scholarship's selectivity, but then it also seems really tacky.

 

2) Some of these scholarships were more like research grants (i.e. you had to do some research and present a paper in exchange for the money given). It wouldn't be gratuitous to give a short summary of the research, would it?

 

2) In fact, for any published/presented paper listed on the CV, is it wise or is it gaudy to give a short abstract (1-2 sentences) of the paper's topic?

 

Thanks again.

[Monochrome Spring]

Look up CVs of researchers in your field, specifically those closer to your experience level, and see how they formatted their CVs.

[pterosaur]

For my CV, my professor/advisor told me to put amounts of scholarships and grants.

[TakeruK]

Hello.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice. I have a few q's about what to put in the CV/resume and how to put it.

 

1) I assume one lists awards and scholarships. But should I note the monetary value too? I'd think one reason to do this is it's an indication of the scholarship's selectivity, but then it also seems really tacky.

 

I would also advise to put dollar amounts in, because if you got a institution-specific, or state-specific, or a prestigious award in another country, your admission committee might not know what your award is at all. I would only do this for my application CV though, not for the version of the CV I put online, so if others are like me, if you look at CVs online, you won't see it. I know that many profs in my field, especially those at "soft money" institutions often list their grants and their values to show their ability to bring in research dollars.

 

2) Some of these scholarships were more like research grants (i.e. you had to do some research and present a paper in exchange for the money given). It wouldn't be gratuitous to give a short summary of the research, would it?

 

 I wouldn't put this in the awards part. Instead, I had a section for "Research Experience" where I listed all of my research completed, with short summaries (in bullet point form) and I only very briefly describe the work. I also mention in this section if the work was funded by a specific fellowship. I also have another CV section for publications / papers presented.

 

I saved the long form, full sentence descriptions of my previous work for my SOP.

 

2) In fact, for any published/presented paper listed on the CV, is it wise or is it gaudy to give a short abstract (1-2 sentences) of the paper's topic?

 

Thanks again.

 

I think this is unwise. The "Publications" section of your CV should read like a bibliography in your field -- i.e. just a listing of the citation to the paper. Include a URL to the DOI if you can / are allowed. Again, you should put the details of your research in the "Research Experience" part of your CV. If you are worried that it might not be clear which papers correspond to which work, you can put it part of your "Research Experience" bullet point.

 

e.g.

2009-2010 Undergraduate Research Assistant at University ABC

- Worked with Prof. X to study Y

- Funded by Scholarship Z

- (short description of what you did)

- Work published in Journal R, and presented at Conference S

Edited November 20, 2013 by TakeruK

[Loric]

Hello.

 

Thanks in advance for any and all advice. I have a few q's about what to put in the CV/resume and how to put it.

 

1) I assume one lists awards and scholarships. But should I note the monetary value too? I'd think one reason to do this is it's an indication of the scholarship's selectivity, but then it also seems really tacky.

 

2) Some of these scholarships were more like research grants (i.e. you had to do some research and present a paper in exchange for the money given). It wouldn't be gratuitous to give a short summary of the research, would it?

 

2) In fact, for any published/presented paper listed on the CV, is it wise or is it gaudy to give a short abstract (1-2 sentences) of the paper's topic?

 

Thanks again.

 

Funding also varies year to year due to donations, finances, etc.. so that you got it in 2011 and got say.. i dunno.. $5.. but someone else got it in 2009 and got $50 makes it seem like the person was a lot more worthy in 2009 or got a bigger prize. Technically they got a bigger prize.. but that award may have been as big as they could give that year, not that you didn't earn it just as much as the person in 2009. Same criteria, selectivity, etc.. but different amounts.

 

And along those lines, what if your amount -is- the smaller amount? Did you really not earn it?

 

You met the criteria for getting an award and were awarded whatever monetary amount as attached to that award at the time. List the award, don't mention if it came with a lifetime supply of waffle fries.

[TakeruK]

Funding also varies year to year due to donations, finances, etc.. so that you got it in 2011 and got say.. i dunno.. $5.. but someone else got it in 2009 and got $50 makes it seem like the person was a lot more worthy in 2009 or got a bigger prize. Technically they got a bigger prize.. but that award may have been as big as they could give that year, not that you didn't earn it just as much as the person in 2009. Same criteria, selectivity, etc.. but different amounts.

 

And along those lines, what if your amount -is- the smaller amount? Did you really not earn it?

 

You met the criteria for getting an award and were awarded whatever monetary amount as attached to that award at the time. List the award, don't mention if it came with a lifetime supply of waffle fries.

 

This is a good point, but my meaning was not that small fluctuations in prize money due to fundraising/donations will make a difference. To use some examples, admission committees would want to know if an award was something like $2000 (i.e. small change to the school), or was it like $20,000 (about the value of a TA/RA package or tuition), or $40,000-$60,000 (about the value of tuition + RA/TA funding). So small changes due to fundraising might make some awards go from $1000 to $800 or $22,000 to $21,300 etc. But these variations are not important to the Graduate School.

 

In my experience, awards with year-to-year variations like this are small in prestige and in scope (prestigious and large scope awards would just grant fewer awards in years where funding is tighter). I've seen awards for several hundred dollars for the top student in a particular course, or for about a thousand dollars for the top student in a particular year at a particular department. For these, it does not make as much sense to write the award value, since the point you want to demonstrate is that you were the top student, not that your skills were able to bring in $X. (However, I would debate the value of even including a "Top Student in Course X" type award at all).

 

So, I might even agree with a rule like you shouldn't list the monetary amount unless it's over $10,000 (or some other arbitrary cut-off at around this point). Just list these awards by their title that demonstrates what you have achieved. If you are trying to save space or be concise, I wouldn't even list awards valued at less than $10,000. In my experience, these awards are small in scope, in the sense that they might be for "Top X-Year undergraduate student in Department Y", instead of something more prestigious, like "Top X% of all applicants in field Y". 

Edited November 22, 2013 by TakeruK

[Loric]

) I just don't think it's "right" to be discussing money when your admission is still in consderation.

 

A school should not be picking you, or "not picking" you, based on a financial situation. Yes, i get the practical "How are you going to pay for this?" question on an app. But amounts of awards and grants and such..? Then they just shop for the dollar amount they want and pick those students.. it's not supposed to work like that. The same way your whole financial aid status. This is essentially carte blanche to eliminate "poor" people from the applicant pool. The school is not supposed to be looking at your financial aid information when making their decision.

Edited November 23, 2013 by Loric

[TakeruK]

) I just don't think it's "right" to be discussing money when your admission is still in consderation.

 

A school should not be picking you, or "not picking" you, based on a financial situation. Yes, i get the practical "How are you going to pay for this?" question on an app. But amounts of awards and grants and such..? Then they just shop for the dollar amount they want and pick those students.. it's not supposed to work like that. The same way your whole financial aid status. This is essentially carte blanche to eliminate "poor" people from the applicant pool. The school is not supposed to be looking at your financial aid information when making their decision.

 

I agree that "How are you going to pay for this?" is not a valid question to ask for admission.

 

But, the purpose of listing the award amount is to demonstrate the prestige of the fellowship won. It's not perfect, but it's a good way to tell the committee that "Award X from Country Y" is an award approximately equal to a NSF award etc. 

 

Schools aren't just looking for candidates who won't cost them money. Most schools will even say that they will not accept self-funded students (i.e. people who can just pay their own way). A student costs more than the money to pay their tuition and stipend. Students also cost the profs' time and space in classrooms, which might be better spent on a good student that the department may have to pay.

[davidipse]

Thank you guys for the suggestions. I wanted to put in that I talked to a prof. today and he suggested, instead of indicating the dollar value, to have a line or two describing the applicant pool, selectivity, purpose, etc. of the award/grant/scholarship.

 

I think I'll do that—maybe quoting, briefly, the scholarship websites when they say something especially indicative and give the link.

 

Thanks again.