Submitting CV / Resume?

[EmmaJava]

Hey everyone - just curious as I look through the requirements to apply to each program on my list, I am noticing that nobody is requesting submission of a CV or resume (I've spot checked about half a dozen schools just now). I had assumed that this would be an application requirement to go along with other pieces of documentation. Not only was I assuming that, but it feels weird not to be asked for one, and it opens the possibility that the things I'd want highlighted in resume form now need to be included in SoP form. I guess I'm wondering what others are doing when faced with an application checklist that doesn't mention CV or resume - are you submitting one anyway? Or are you putting that kind of information into your SoPs? It's especially interesting in light of some SoP advice I'd received that suggests that you can economize what info goes where based on the documents that the selection committee will be gathering (for example, how it's not necessary to mention your 4.0 GPA since they have your transcript, etc.). As a final vent/question, does it not seem a bit odd, even borderline unprofessional, not to have something like a CV or resume included with the rest of your documentation? We're kicked in the collective teeth about how competitive everything is, and I feel as though we're required to be hyper professionalized even to have a shot at admission, yet nobody wants to see our CVs? I don't get it. Thanks in advance for any feedback! 

 

Edit: Here's at least one place that want it, OSU: https://english.osu.edu/grad/ma-phd/prospective#How to Apply

• curriculum vitae/resume of no more than two pages with a clearly stated sentence at the beginning of the CV that declares your scholarly area of interest(s), for example: American literature and queer theory, 18th-century poetry, postcolonial theory and women writers.

 

Edited October 25, 2015 by EmmaJava

[fuzzylogician]

I think maybe one of the eight schools I applied to wanted a CV. Once I had put it together, though, I submitted it as a supplemental document wherever that was an option. Other application systems have short essay questions that allow you to cover much of the same information, so you might want to just quickly click through the applications for your schools to see what they look like. 

And to answer the "why don't they want a CV" question, I think the reason is that most students don't have anything substantial to write in it at this early in their career, and if so then they can address it in their SOP or it can be addressed in their LORs. So, it's one less document to look at, and not much danger of losing important information. Later down the line when you have multiple presentations and publications, then things are different. 

[Dr. Old Bill]

I do think it's a bit odd that you're not seeing a C.V. request more often. Thinking back to last year, I know I submitted a C.V. to many, if not most of the programs I applied to. It may be that it's just a part of the application field itself, and simply not overtly stated in the requirements you've looked at? Either way, you should have one prepared, just in case.

[EmmaJava]

Hey thanks to both of you, this is great...Yeah, I even went through pro-seminars and other workshops in my MA that helped us focus on each piece of a PhD app, and CV was definitely among the pieces that we workshopped. Anyway, I'll be sure to prepare something solid. Thanks again.

[Tinieblas.]

Hi, guys.  Has anyone come across an application website where it is impossible to submit a resume?  I'm looking to economize on my SOP, so I'm thinking of cutting out my explanation of my writing internship, which I also detail on my resume.  Should I count on being able to do this?  

Thanks in advance.

[EmmaJava]

Unfortunately I haven't even had the chance to check it out yet, what with GREs and drafts of a million different things, trying to communicate with letter writers, etc. - however I will be sure to let you know if I come across a non-CV friendly site! I should be getting online in the next week or so. Right now I'm still just assuming that some aspect of this whole process is borderline reasonable, like getting a single chance to show - in any format whatsoever - what I've done right, and not just how I suck.  I hope that doesn't come off as unnecessarily negative or whatever. Just trying to be funny and make light of what seems to be an inherently unwinnable game on so many fronts, haha. Chin up and CV's ready!

[Tinieblas.]

Thanks, Emma.  I'm in the same boat as you, scrambling up until the last minute as well ; )  I'll report back if I find any app websites that don't allow CVs.  Good luck!

[EmmaJava]

So far, so good, Tinieblas - I have completed a number of the early Dec deadline programs, like Berkeley Rhetoric and Stanford's Modern Thought and Literature, and they have all had a place to upload a CV or something similar. I'm feeling reassured, I hope others are too as we wade together into these crazy waters. I anticipate that I'll have my head down until the smoke clears in early January, good luck to all!

[Tinieblas.]

Thanks, Emma!  I have been able to upload a CV to all of them thus far.  Best of luck.  

[EmmaJava]

Virginia. It's a no-go for CV/Resume upload at UVA. What do you think, Team 2016?  Ask the DGS if I can send an through an attachment?  Just send it through and let them handle it however they see fit? Consistent with what I've been posting, I'm wary of my chances with any program that won't take my CV into account. This cookie-cutter stuff accentuates my weaknesses and hides my strengths, it just simply does. Fortunately UVA is very much in the minority. I've been applying far and wide and just about everywhere has a designated spot for a CV/Resume upload, so that's good. But by God I'd love to be competitive at UVA. I attended a grad conference there and that pretty much did me in, I'm in love with UVA and Charlottesville. But they don't want to take a look at, oh, say, what I've done at all. Grr.

[Joan Callamezzo]

I had a couple schools that did not ask for a CV but I just uploaded one anyways. Every app I've ever filled out had a space to upload "additional materials."

[haltheincandescent]

8 minutes ago, EmmaJava said:

Virginia. It's a no-go for CV/Resume upload at UVA. What do you think, Team 2016?  Ask the DGS if I can send an through an attachment?  Just send it through and let them handle it however they see fit? Consistent with what I've been posting, I'm wary of my chances with any program that won't take my CV into account. This cookie-cutter stuff accentuates my weaknesses and hides my strengths, it just simply does. Fortunately UVA is very much in the minority. I've been applying far and wide and just about everywhere has a designated spot for a CV/Resume upload, so that's good. But by God I'd love to be competitive at UVA. I attended a grad conference there and that pretty much did me in, I'm in love with UVA and Charlottesville. But they don't want to take a look at, oh, say, what I've done at all. Grr.

Double check that they don't take it after you submit the rest of the application. This was, for whatever reason, the case with Vanderbilt--no place to upload it on the actual application, but after submission, another page opened that allowed you to upload additional "additional materials." 

Otherwise, I'd say yeah, either upload it under undefined "additional materials" if there's a place for that, or, if not, probably ask the DGS if they'll take it as an additional attachment.

[EmmaJava]

Hi Joan, I appreciate that, but UVA doesn't even have that option. Others trying to hit their Dec. 15th deadline this weekend will notice, too. But I'm leaning toward just emailing the department and say, "Hey, guys - here's my academic CV, thanks so much for asking." Then they'll get to see that I already presented a paper on their campus. Any reason not to?

[EmmaJava]

3 minutes ago, haltheincandescent said:

Double check that they don't take it after you submit the rest of the application. This was, for whatever reason, the case with Vanderbilt--no place to upload it on the actual application, but after submission, another page opened that allowed you to upload additional "additional materials." 

Otherwise, I'd say yeah, either upload it under undefined "additional materials" if there's a place for that, or, if not, probably ask the DGS if they'll take it as an additional attachment.

Sweet, thanks - that is incredibly helpful intel, as Vandy is actually next on my list.  That and Cornell round out my December 15 set and then I can catch my breath for Dec 31/Jan 1/Jan 15. Hemorrhaging money in app fees, but as I wrote earlier, I'm having fun doing so. After all, it's a Saturday in December, wedged between holidays, and all I've done is drink beer, hit submit (time after time after time!), and let myself dream :)....

[haltheincandescent]

Oof, yeah--I ended up going ahead and submitting all of mine today....and my bank account is now very sad (although shout out to Vandy for waiving the fee for submitting online).

[pro Augustis]

On the off chance that they just don't want CVs for whatever reason, why not incorporate the information that you feel makes you competitive into your sop for that school? Presenting a paper there sounds both important and possible to work in (maybe the time you spent there at that conference led you to realize how good a fit for you UVA is, say). 

[EmmaJava]

Thanks, pro Augustis. I agree that this is an idea worth considering, and I thank you for the response. I personally am not going to do it, though hopefully this will be good food for thought for someone else's application...  

...It's not that I'm opposed to it in theory, or even in practice, only that I've agonized over SoP and questions like this for too long, in the end coming round to the conclusion that SoP will be (and is, now) entirely research-focused. That probably sounds a bit inflexible, sorry. But it's not so much that I'm not hearing you as that I just can't afford to eschew the painstaking progress that I've achieved on the SoP...that's me, specifically, I mean. For others less "challenged" in terms of SoP, this might work out really well, and in fact this is all coming on the heels of tons of research, feedback, and scouring of these boards and others which have already addressed just these kinds of questions - what, exactly, should go into an SoP? The big question! Not even faculty within the same department will agree on the answer - not even members of the same committee! It's an impossible question. Maddening. And when you couple that experience with the seemingly reasonable likelihood that someone somewhere will be receptive to collecting a CV and throwing it in the pile, I think I'm willing to take my chances. It's calculated. It's one wager over another, this idea that I'm building something here, that my SoP agony has been worth a damn. It could misfire, but that's just it - if you let yourself get too caught up in this guessing game, which approach, arguably, can't misfire? There is simply no way to know. And that's been my fairly constant and vocal frustration from start to finish in this process - that for all the blood, sweat and tears devoted to this process, it's an almost laughable guessing game. Or...would be entirely laughable if we weren't all so invested and there wasn't so much at stake. But in the end I'm finding that a deep breath and some levity are the only things for it. You toss that hat in the ring and let out your breath. If they want you, they'll take you. If they don't, they won't. If they're unsure, maybe they'll interview you, and/or ask for some supplemental information. Maybe it will turn into mid-April and everyone will be pulling their hair out because we've stumped'em all! I'm not going to torture myself over it, and if I find out later that there is some alternate universe in which my CV details would've gotten me into UVA, then I'll have a lot to say and feel good about, like "well then they should ask for a CV" or "good thing everyone else takes one, that should help my chances elsewhere."

Hey, this is on them now. I've taken care of my side to the best of my ever-guessing abilities. Good luck to all!

[pro Augustis]

No need to apologize or anything. It's your application, and you obviously know the structure of your CV far better than I do. Ultimately, as you said, we do what we can with these applications, and then we wait and see. Good luck with UVA.