No awards or honors for my CV

[captiv8ed]

Is that lame? I was on the Dean's List and President's list at my community college, and my Associate's was with high distinction. But the school I now attend doesn't do grades and we don't have departments. Should I just not create a section on my CV? Or should I create one and list my academic honors for my earlier school? Should I include my stipend from Americorps for my undergraduate service? Am I the only one wandering around with no accolades?

[Maya]

Is that lame? I was on the Dean's List and President's list at my community college, and my Associate's was with high distinction. But the school I now attend doesn't do grades and we don't have departments. Should I just not create a section on my CV? Or should I create one and list my academic honors for my earlier school? Should I include my stipend from Americorps for my undergraduate service? Am I the only one wandering around with no accolades?

I'm having a similar problem, captiv8ed. In fact, I have been avoiding even working on my CV because I think that having to face my lack of publications/awards as well as lack of relevant work experience will just make me feel worthless and depressed, and I need to be inspired while I'm writing my statements of purpose. Eventually though I will have to figure out how to approach the stupid CV. I really can't think of anything that will be worthwhile on there though...anything that is worthwhile knowing (like my one and only essay award) is already on my transcript, as are my courses, grades, etc.

[Abiogenic Gas]

I'm in the same boat with you two. I hate seeing that empty space for awards and honors on my applications.

[Liesje]

I don't think it matters that much. I mean, if you have published articles or presentations, that's awesome, but the difference between nothing and a bunch of weak fellowships or scholarships or shitty shit like phi beta kappa taking up space is not that great, IMO. Same goes for work experience - I can't really include my 4 summers of off the books construction work, so I'm just leaving it blank. Though I'm sure it depends on what kind of department you're applying to.

[carrar]

I had absolutely the same problem. But I decided to look at it like this was MY way of presenting information in bullet form. Yes, I have transcripts for my courses, my application already talks about my degree, I mentioned my master's dissertation and my internships in my SOP, but this is one place to get it all together and display it how I wanted.

I also didn't have anything published, but I did want to show that I didn't just sit around; I was involved, even if I didn't have the opportunity for lots of research. I added the $600 scholarship I got because of a research paper, along with being on the Dean's list and some other info, under the header "Honors and Research." I also added coursework classified by subfield (since my major was interdisciplinary), so it would be easier to recognize what qualifies me for the PhD.

Make your CV work for you. Even if you don't have major accomplishments, you must have something. Intentionally combine headers, add headers, leave off some headers. Smooth over the weaknesses by highlighting the positives. I don't think the adcomms are looking to be impressed by your CV; I think they're just looking for all your important stuff in one place, looking to see what you highlight. It's an overview of who you are.

[Ziz]

I have the same problem, but not just with honours and awards. I have a few small scholarships and Dean's list etc but my school doesn't have a lot of the opportunities others seem to. Namely, there are no undergrad TAs, RAs, no opportunity to write a senior thesis, therefore no opportunity to win the award for best thesis, paper, anything. There is one award at the end of the year for the person who comes top of the class in the entire department, but I didn't get that and that's it!