Guest Nikhila Posted January 1, 2004 Report Share Posted January 1, 2004 Hi everyone, I have a couple of quick questions. In your opinion, what is a good length for a CV? For employement purposes, I know the shorter the better. But for academic purposes, U of T wants us to list our Extracurriculars and this is taking up alot of space for me. I think my CV may be about 4 pages. I'm enrolled in a course-based Master's program so I don't have a section on publications, otherwise my CV would be even longer. I'm just not sure what is too long. I feel like the committee has so much paper to go through in each application that a long CV would be enough to sink your chances for snagging an interview. Secondly, are you guys describing your extracurricular activites in addition to listing them? This is my first time submitting my CV for academic purposes, so I'm pretty nervous that it is a POS. I'd really appreciate any suggestions. Thanks and Happy New Year! Nikhila Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blinknoodle Posted January 1, 2004 Report Share Posted January 1, 2004 Hi Nikhila, I applied to Toronto's MD/PhD program where they also required us to submit a CV. Although they didn't give us any guidelines, I had sections for academics, research, publications, presentations, awards, extracurriculars, work and interests. I consulted with them before I submitted and they said 4 pages would be no problem. -blinknoodle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted January 1, 2004 Report Share Posted January 1, 2004 Hi there, I think if you take a look at some standard CVs, e.g., that of your supervisor, it can provide some good insight as to the general format required. Four pages seems reasonable for a graduate applicant, although some may be more (perhaps in the case of PhD students) or less. If it's bothering you then you might want to consider giving the UofT Admissions folks a shout next week and asking what they feel may be appropriate, or more importantly, inappropriate. However, if your CV includes all the sections noted above by blinknoodle, and if they're filled to the brim with valid material, resulting in your CV being fifteen pages long, then I'm sure this would not be grounds to make UofT too upset--on the contrary, it might be such the thing that would finally allow you to shine like a wee star during this whole process. Cheers, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kirsteen Posted January 1, 2004 Report Share Posted January 1, 2004 Hi there blinknoodle, Just a wee question for you, and for anyone else who has a good bit of CV experience. In terms of work experience, where do you feel you should place this within your CV? Of course, there are academic-related work experiences, e.g., Research Assistantships, Teaching Assistantships, etc., which may warrant promotion within the CV, but what about other work experiences which would also be included, yet not directly science-related? Given those, it may seem that the work experience section should be demoted a little below "Awards", etc. What do you guys think? Also, what tack are the rest of you taking in terms of the order of your sections? Blinknoodle's order seems fairly logical, but how about the rest of you? Are you using any other order for any other logical reason? Currently, although I don't have my CV here in Sweden, I recall my order being: Awards Research Publications Abstracts Presentations Extracurricular Activities I've seen a few other sub-headings which I may twiddle with too, but I'd be interested in hearing the approaches you guys have taken. Sköl, Kirsteen Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blinknoodle Posted January 2, 2004 Report Share Posted January 2, 2004 I pulled up my CV and these were the titles I had (in this order). The order was sometimes based on how it would fit the page best, and to highlight my specialities -- so definitely work with what you've got. I also haven't done any graduate work yet, so that may tweak things considerably. I had: Education -this included my independent study project and thesis work from school Research Skills -this included a synopsis of my research activities as well as general techniques (including both school and work research experiences) Research Experiences -this included paid summer research experiences Publications Presentations Honours and Awards Community Leadership and Teaching Experiences -I included my ECs and TAing here (my TAing was part of a course, and not paid, which is why I stuck it here) Special Training (probably could omit) -WHMIS, CPR, Radiation Safety, Animal Care, etc. Other Work Experience -this is where I stuck in non-academic work experience Other Interests Languages Now I only included current or recent ECs and work experience, so I bet a CV could become really long if you included everything since the age of 16 (do they really ask you to do that?). I know my Research Skills and Research Experiences slightly overlap, but I think someone told me to keep my academic research experiences (ie. thesis) within "Education" and I wanted to showcase it somewhere else as well [i just listed the project title in Education and elaborated in Research Skills]. But I hope this helps a bit, and I'd be interested to see how other people approach their own. Cheers, -blinknoodle Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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