Academic CV?

[European Lumpi]

Hey All,

This might seem a little frivolous, but I've been wondering what CVs for applicants typically look like. I know that in the US one page is usually the standard, but does that still hold true for  PhD applicants. Or do you try and copy the format of academic CVs that professors usually have? Instinctively I'd be leaning towards the latter option, but it seems a little absurd, since there is little academic information (no published papers, etc.) that I can provide. Do I include any work experience and extracurriculars? I'd love to get some help on the headlines according to which a typical PhD applicant structures his/her CV.

 

Thanks so much for the help

Lumpi

[fuzzylogician]

Unlike the resume, an academic CV can be as long as it needs to be. For a starting student, it may only be 1-2 pages, but it'll grow longer with time, and that's expected. There are plenty of threads you can find using the search function to help you with your question. One piece of advice is to simply look at what other students in your target programs are doing (which is more relevant than what professors are doing, since profs will have a lot more to write about than a beginning student would!). And the other is that you want to use the CV to highlight your accomplishments as best you can, given the purpose you're using it for.

For grad school applications, you might have sections like education, awards (fellowships/scholarships/grants), talks, posters, papers, research experience, teaching experience, other (languages, programming skills, service -- depending on what you have and on the field). If you don't have anything to put under "papers", don't have that heading; if you have one poster and one talk, you might have a conjoined "presentations" or "papers and posters" heading, to make this part look "fatter", so to speak. For a while, you may not want/need to have separate headings for peer-reviewed and non-peer-reviewed presentations and publications, so you might just lump those under one heading. As long as you're not misrepresenting anything, you can make whatever choice looks best to you. As for extracurriculars and work experience, I wouldn't add those unless they are somehow relevant to your application. I'm sure there might be others who disagree with this advice. Same goes e.g. for putting specific (relevant!) courses you've taken, putting your UG GPA, or similar things on your CV. Opinions vary.

For me, the main goal you should have in mind is helping your readers use the CV in a way that will maximize your chances of getting in. If your transcript does a good job of describing the classes you took, you're all good. No need to repeat that information in your CV (also, usually, no need to repeat your GPA unless it's very impressive; and even then, I'd remove it once you start your PhD). Don't generate extra unnecessary work for your readers; I assure you that they have enough other things to do, and they'll appreciate the conciseness. If, on the other hand, all the transcript says is that you took "LING 1234" and "LING 4321", I might not have any idea what you know, so it might not be a bad idea to add an extra page that very briefly spells out the actual names of those classes and what you learned (in 1-2 sentences!) -- e.g.: "LING 4321: Graduate Introduction to Syntax" or even an added like "introducing the foundations of modern syntactic theory within the minimalist framework" or some such, so your readers know what you actually learned in the class. This, of course, might be useful for grad school apps, but again would be something to remove later on. So for a lot of details, the answer to whether or not to include them is "it depends!". 

[GreenEyedTrombonist]

My CV is currently 4 pages. It includes my education, research, presentations, publications, awards, other writing experience, and relevant work experience. I included the last two sections because my research interests are primarily in digital communication so I thought it would be prudent to highlight my online writing and other digital work that didn't neatly fit into my research projects and publications. 

[cowgirlsdontcry]

8 hours ago, European Lumpi said:

Hey All,

This might seem a little frivolous, but I've been wondering what CVs for applicants typically look like. I know that in the US one page is usually the standard, but does that still hold true for  PhD applicants. Or do you try and copy the format of academic CVs that professors usually have? Instinctively I'd be leaning towards the latter option, but it seems a little absurd, since there is little academic information (no published papers, etc.) that I can provide. Do I include any work experience and extracurriculars? I'd love to get some help on the headlines according to which a typical PhD applicant structures his/her CV.

I haven't seen the CV of any professors here at my PhD university but I have seen the CV of several full professors at my BA/MA university. Their CVs were in the 30+ page realm. Makes my 4-page CV seem puny by comparison. However, I'm in the process of readying two papers for publication, presenting at a major conference next summer in Paris, and teaching, which will take it to the 5-page realm. It takes time to build a CV.

You do want extracurriculars and work experience detailed if they are relevant. If they are not relevant, a one-line reference will do. I was a paralegal for 20 years prior to returning to school and going to grad school. I made a reference to that career at the end of the section on experience. There are many examples online. You should pick one, create a CV and then ask for assistance. The career center at your university would be a good place to start.