College Resume

Answered

All resumes regardless of whether they are for college admissions or job applications should not be more than 2 pages. In most cases, someone who is 16-18 years of age applying to college could easily put all their education, work experience, key stats, and contact information on a single page properly formatted.

For readers who are confused why this poster asked about putting together a college resume, in general, 95%+ of colleges do not require a resume. However, some colleges do, especially specialized schools like the Cornell School of Hotel Management or some music schools or culinary schools. In addition, sometimes, colleges that have special scholarships or honor's colleges sometimes require a supplemental resume and cover letter explaining why they should be selected for that prestigious grant or to be admitted into the honors college.

Sometimes the common app is not sufficient in listing out all the jobs, performances, or other gigs someone might have that affect how attractive a candidate they are.

My rule of thumb is that if the college you are applying to doesn't require it and you can fit 99% of what you want to say about yourself on the Common or Coalition app or their proprietary app, then focus on that. Sometimes more is not necessarily better, especially if what you are sharing in your resume is pretty much-duplicated information already divulged. When admissions officers at large colleges have to sift through 50,000-100,000 applications, they may be annoyed to have to read supplemental resumes that are not required but optional that do not add very much new information for the AO to consider.

I would only include a resume if it were required or if 50% or more of what is covered on the resume is new information that supplements the College App. Adding more detail about the same activities and same jobs doesn't necessarily work in your favor.

Good luck.