Grad school resume - what to include?

[firecrasher]

Hi, I'm pursuing an academic Master's in American Studies as a change of career after 10 years in another industry. The department specifically requests that resumes focus on work history. I'm working as a musician in addition to my day job, and I mention in my SOP that my experiences as a musician have specifically informed my research topics of subcultures and music. 

 

Do you think it's appropriate to put my musical experiences on my resume in addition to my employment experiences? I've been performing on and off solo for 15 years, am currently in a few bands, and have been on a few studio recordings. Just nothing "prestigious." I don't want it to come off as amateurish or foolish since I'm not making a living off of it, but I want to quantify what's on my SOP. 

 

(As for the rest of the application, undergrad GPA 2.88 in 2004 due to illness, 4.0 GPA in grad/undergrad coursework taken in the past year at my target schools, GRE 161 V, 5.0 AW, quant not taken into consideration, LORs all profs in target programs). 

Edited December 10, 2013 by firecrasher

[NeuroGirl042]

Academics generally have CVs instead of resumes (resume = your life condensed down to 1 page, while a CV is a more thorough representation of what you've done). A CV would probably be the better option here because you wouldn't have to eliminate anything to include all of your relevant work. There are a lot of samples online to go off of, but some good general categories to filter your info into are Education, Honors/Awards, Experience (you may want to put your musical experience here), and perhaps a category for teaching or service. As academics are normally asked to divide their time between research, teaching, and service (at least in my field), it could be a good idea to try and parse everything down to those three topics. 

 

When I was applying, the applications that asked for a resume also stated that a CV was acceptable... check your applications and see if they say that too! I'm in a hard science, so it may be different, but I don't think it would be that different.

 

I can't really give you an opinion on what your AdCom would think about adding your music experiences. However, I think that any relevant experience to your field can only help your application.

 

Best of luck! 

Edited December 11, 2013 by melissac042

[firecrasher]

Thank you! Here are the specific directions. Mine is two pages by necessity because I've taken post-bacc coursework at a few universities. My categories are Employment Experience, Academic Experience, Performance Experience, Volunteer Experience, and Memberships (Phi Theta Kappa, ASA etc). I don't have teaching or research experience... which is what I'm going to graduate school to obtain   

 

"In requesting a resume, we are interested in your work history, not just in any scholarly work history you might have. Feel free to send us a resume that includes description of the kinds of responsibilities you have held in previous employment, especially if it presents skills or knowledge not already represented in other parts of your application. Resumes often give evidence of other qualities that are highly correlated with success in graduate school, such as maturity, time management skills, etc."

Edited December 11, 2013 by firecrasher