Resume Question Forum

[llachans]

How long should I aim for my resume to be? (I think mine might be a little extensive at the moment.)

Also, how should I list making the Dean's List? I was on it for 4 consecutive semesters. Is it better to list all 4 individually or condense it by listing it as 2 school years?

Thanks guys!

[StanDarsh]

One page.

[Moomoo2u]

One page.

1 page.

If you must mention dean's list put it next to the GPA or add into an awards/prizes section that you have. I would not mention how many semesters you've been on it.

E.g. GPA 3.97 - Dean's List

I don't think it really adds anything that the pure numbers don't add themselves though.

[rinkrat19]

If you legitimately have enough (REAL) work experience that you can't fit it on one page, two pages is fine. But the vast majority of K-JD students won't need the second page. Non-trads with extensive WE may have to decide whether to squish or list it all out.

[Tiago Splitter]

If you legitimately have enough (REAL) work experience that you can't fit it on one page, two pages is fine. But the vast majority of K-JD students won't need the second page. Non-trads with extensive WE may have to decide whether to squish or list it all out.

I've been working five years and can keep mine at one page. OP, keep it one page.

[llachans]

ok. thanks guys! will do!

[rinkrat19]

If you legitimately have enough (REAL) work experience that you can't fit it on one page, two pages is fine. But the vast majority of K-JD students won't need the second page. Non-trads with extensive WE may have to decide whether to squish or list it all out.

I've been working five years and can keep mine at one page. OP, keep it one page.

I've been working and volunteering for eight years plus college, and I can't, without reducing each job to a single sentence (these are not one-sentence jobs). OP, make your own decision.

[Tiago Splitter]

If you legitimately have enough (REAL) work experience that you can't fit it on one page, two pages is fine. But the vast majority of K-JD students won't need the second page. Non-trads with extensive WE may have to decide whether to squish or list it all out.

I've been working five years and can keep mine at one page. OP, keep it one page.

I've been working and volunteering for eight years plus college, and I can't, without reducing each job to a single sentence (these are not one-sentence jobs). OP, make your own decision.

See we agreed, and then you decided to disagree just to mix it up. It sounds like the OP is just finishing up school. In that case, there is no reason to have a multi-page resume. I'm not a big fan of highlighting my ability to bounce from job to job for 8 years, but that's just me.

[rinkrat19]

If you legitimately have enough (REAL) work experience that you can't fit it on one page, two pages is fine. But the vast majority of K-JD students won't need the second page. Non-trads with extensive WE may have to decide whether to squish or list it all out.

I've been working five years and can keep mine at one page. OP, keep it one page.

I've been working and volunteering for eight years plus college, and I can't, without reducing each job to a single sentence (these are not one-sentence jobs). OP, make your own decision.

See we agreed, and then you decided to disagree just to mix it up. It sounds like the OP is just finishing up school. In that case, there is no reason to have a multi-page resume. I'm not a big fan of highlighting my ability to bounce from job to job for 8 years, but that's just me.

One job all four summers in college
One job for 3 years, which I left to take...
My current job, where I've been for 5 1/2 years and counting
Plus an extremely unique PT side job lasting 6 years, and a volunteer gig that's been going on 2 years and counting.
No "bouncing" going on over here. But I assure you, it can't fit on one page.

[Tiago Splitter]

I will concede that my response was ice cold.

I could also go two pages on the resume, but I choose to leave off internships I had in college. You decided to go a different route. But I think we can both agree that if you are going to go over one page you better have a good reason. I'd say 9/10 law school applicants should keep it one page. The old guys like you and I would be the exception.

[rinkrat19]

I will concede that my response was ice cold.

I could also go two pages on the resume, but I choose to leave off internships I had in college. You decided to go a different route. But I think we can both agree that if you are going to go over one page you better have a good reason. I'd say 9/10 law school applicants should keep it one page. The old guys like you and I would be the exception.

Fair 'nuff.

[nids333]

I will concede that my response was ice cold.

I could also go two pages on the resume, but I choose to leave off internships I had in college. You decided to go a different route. But I think we can both agree that if you are going to go over one page you better have a good reason. I'd say 9/10 law school applicants should keep it one page. The old guys like you and I would be the exception.

Just curious where you based this estimate off of? Not questioning you, but was wondering what the rationale behind this stat was.

[Tiago Splitter]

I will concede that my response was ice cold.

I could also go two pages on the resume, but I choose to leave off internships I had in college. You decided to go a different route. But I think we can both agree that if you are going to go over one page you better have a good reason. I'd say 9/10 law school applicants should keep it one page. The old guys like you and I would be the exception.

Just curious where you based this estimate off of? Not questioning you, but was wondering what the rationale behind this stat was.

An extensive survey I took over the last six months...

But seriously. A huge portion of law applicants are either in undergrad or within two years out. You'd have to have a lot of great things to put on the resume to make it more than one page when you are 23.

[nids333]

An extensive survey I took over the last six months...

But seriously. A huge portion of law applicants are either in undergrad or within two years out. You'd have to have a lot of great things to put on the resume to make it more than one page when you are 23.

Understandable, I guess the 2 page option doesn't imply that those with less experience should stretch theirs into two pages.

[anmar213]

I'm with rinkrat,

I've been out of college for 5 years. Within that ti'me i've held 2 jobs. Held another 2 interesting PT jobs in college. With all the activities and volunteer stuff, there is no possible way I can get it on one page. I've been to Admission Workshops for two different schools. One said to take it down to one page, no exceptions. The second said to make it as long as needed, but they can easily recognize fluff, which is worse than leaving information out.

[ThomasMN]

I think that 90% of law school applicants should be able to easily condense everything into a one page resume. That being said, we all have exceptions. I spent 7 years in the Army, which I condensed into the 3 positions that I held in the Military. Then I was in the reserves for a couple of years while I was in college and I did a few internships while in school. To top things off I went to two different colleges! Unless you are in an odd situation along those lines I would keep it to a page.

[MumofCad]

1-2 pages is acceptable. Harvard's own examples has one that is 2 pages long so there is no reason to feel the need to cut out something important to keep with some arbitrary restriction. If its important, leave it.

Mine is a full 2 pages, and the 2 successful Harvard apps I looked at from last year were two pages (one person had a substantial number of publications on top of volunteer and work experience, can't remember really looking at the others as I was largely scanning their PS but both sent me the entire application because they no longer had the PS). So you aren't going to be dinged for a 2 page resume.

ETA; I also don't think even for non-trads it would be advisable to pull out internships from undergrad. They aren't judging us solely on what we've been doing since graduating. They do care at the core about what you did as an undergrad - including internships. They are comparing non-trads to the K-JD crowd and listing no activities during college does not look good IMO.

[Tiago Splitter]

1-2 pages is acceptable. Harvard's own examples has one that is 2 pages long so there is no reason to feel the need to cut out something important to keep with some arbitrary restriction. If its important, leave it.

Mine is a full 2 pages, and the 2 successful Harvard apps I looked at from last year were two pages (one person had a substantial number of publications on top of volunteer and work experience, can't remember really looking at the others as I was largely scanning their PS but both sent me the entire application because they no longer had the PS). So you aren't going to be dinged for a 2 page resume.

ETA; I also don't think even for non-trads it would be advisable to pull out internships from undergrad. They aren't judging us solely on what we've been doing since graduating. They do care at the core about what you did as an undergrad - including internships. They are comparing non-trads to the K-JD crowd and listing no activities during college does not look good IMO.

I suppose expecting lifelong academics to treat me like an adult in the same way a private sector employer would was probably a poor assumption.

[ahduth]

I really don't think they care if it's one page or two pages or whatever. Use however much space you need - it's not like applying for a job, if you have something interesting, put it in there.

Just make sure it's not messy and incomprehensible.

[freestallion]

I really don't think they care if it's one page or two pages or whatever. Use however much space you need - it's not like applying for a job, if you have something interesting, put it in there.

Just make sure it's not messy and incomprehensible.

+1 - This is what I thought. I always thought that since law school is academic, they want to see ALL your experience and not just one page. That seems to me like something required for job interviews but not for academic applications...

[MumofCad]

I suppose expecting lifelong academics to treat me like an adult in the same way a private sector employer would was probably a poor assumption.

I think its more about the fact that an employer wants info relevant to how you will perform in a job. This is an academic program and they want information relevant to how you are going to perform in their world. Makes sense to me. I don't think adcoms are generally life long academics....

I left some stuff off - I didn't put that I was a waitress for 2 years because I wouldn't find it relevant in either context. Of course though an academic program is going to want to know if you were a research assistant, published work, participated in certain activities, etc. Just like when you go to apply for your first legal job, they are going to want to know beyond your GPA what you did with your summer employment and whether you worked on a law review or something. Helps them put your grades in context.

[Tiago Splitter]

New rule: if you have to ask, its one page.

[MumofCad]

New rule: if you have to ask, its one page.

Hahaha - deal. I'll agree to that.

[094320]

..

[Opie]

New rule: if you have to ask, its one page.

I'm with this too. The only people that should be 2 pagers are people who CAN'T do one page.

I worked part time ALL through HS, full time in the summer. I have 15 years of work experience including multiple management jobs and my current job as an insurance agent. I have worked 2+ jobs most of my adult life, including UG (I've never worked less than 45 hours/week during UG), and I have a 10-15 hour a week internship right now on top of my job.

My resume is 1 page.

Now, I do believe that having a 1-page resume is FAR more important in job hunting than in a law school app, because the focus then is on keeping a hiring manager interested. I think law schools are more interested in the facts than being wowwed with a resume.