Resume Critique Forum

[dnptan]

Hey all,

I was wondering if I could get advice on this resume:



Feel free to comment on anything (content, format, organization). Thanks!

edit: Thanks Bronck for pointing out privacy issues.
edit: Thanks pacifica for pointing out misleading sections
edit: Link to rest of my app - http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=202623

[North]

Looks good to me, dude.

[hhockberger]

Looks good. My only suggestions would be:
•Increase the size of your name at the top so out stands out more
•Change date ranges to "May 2010 - Present" for the things you're currently doing so it lines up with your other date ranges

It's concise and shows that you're smart, accomplished, and interested in patent law. Good luck!

[Bronck]

You do realize this has your full name, address and number on it right? If you're not going to take it down, at least white out those portions.

[dnptan]

Thanks for the feedback! Updated - hoping to get some brownie points over at Stanford for IP law.

[RhymesLikeDimes]

Excuse me if I missed it somewhere, but what's your LSAT?

[Dany]

Looks good in general and is well-organized, and I like your job descriptions. Here are the changes I'd suggest:

- Add comma in between "Beverly, MA"
- "AWARDS AND HONORS" needs to be underlined for consistency
- I would probably bold your universities and employers instead of underlining them (there's a ton of underlining everywhere that I think is a little overwhelming) but that's just personal preference.
- summa cum laude and magna cum laude should be lowercase and italicized
- I don't think you need dates for your awards and the phrasing ("Since Apr 2012") seems awkward - if you're going to keep them, make them the same as your other date ranges ("Apr 2012 - present")
- I might tab over Senior Thesis to line up with B.A. and B.S.
- You capitalize a bunch of things that probably shouldn't be capitalized unless those are the actual titles (Technology Reviews, Intellectual Property Databases, Clinical Trials, etc.)
- I might say "class of 23 students" instead of "class of 23"

[PRgradBYU]

Solid. Just make sure the formatting doesn't get tweaked when you upload it to your applications; I had to modify my resume substantially to make it retain its formatting. Too bad LSAC doesn't let you upload PDFs! It'd make it a lot easier.

[dnptan]

Great suggestions - thank you for the feedback. Updated as per Dany's advice. magna/summa are italicized, it's just the image uploaded didn't catch it.

[txdude45]

You do realize this has your full name, address and number on it right? If you're not going to take it down, at least white out those portions.

between this post and this one (http://www.top-law-schools.com/forums/v ... 2&t=202623), I don't think this guy could have put out much more information about himself. I understand the urge to throw all the info out there, but disguise it from adcoms or randos

good resume format though

[dnptan]

Well actually my work resume is a bit different from this law one. I didn't bother to include things which would make a meager contribution (thus clutter space) in my resume. Although your insight is of concern, because I definitely don't want to sound like I'm padding. Some things I omitted:

Membership, NSCS honor Society
Membership, BU Philosophy Association
IP Researcher - Poseidon Energy Corp (Philippines, family company)
3D Modeler - BU Biomedical Engineering Dept.
Guest Lecturer - High School
Certification: First Aid (Human)
Certification: Animal Surgery
Certification: Good Clinical Practices (Level 2)
Certification: Good Laboratory Practices (Level 1)
Certification: Laser Safety (Level 2)
Certification: IR Spectroscopy
Certification: Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
----

As you can see, it's mostly Engineering stuff that won't really be pertinent to Law School.

[pacifica]

Very solid overall.

One suggestion I would make is to "play against type." I think you have more than enough on your resume to demonstrate your technical proficiency, and your patent firm work will definitely show that you're a good fit for any law school's IP programs. Sorry to sound harsh, but that's about all I can get from your resume.

I think you need to put some stuff in there about writing/reading related skill sets, as well as show at least some engagement with public service. I'm coming from a similar background as you, and I definitely hated taking out the science awards for what I deemed to be significantly lesser awards like for writing or speaking or community service activities I participated in. (Not that I deemed those activities less worthy or anything, I just thought the science accomplishments were more challenging to obtain, which I think is where you're coming from too.) Nevertheless, I made those sacrifices because I knew it's good to present a broader image of myself.

Specifics:
(1) I'm fairly certain 80% of adcoms don't know what matlab, solidworks or autocad is. In fact, the whole technical skills line can be take out. I really don't think they care. Languages skills on the other hand are very cool.
(2) I don't know what BU CAS College Scholar's cut off is, so unless you specifically list it out on your resume (like if it's equal to a certain class rank or something), you might as well take it out.
(3) If you already mentioned biomed eng honor society in awards, no need to mention it against under activities.
(4) Your lab assistant and TA gigs can easily be described in one bullet point, so save yourself two extra lines
etc. etc.

You get my drift. Carve out some more space to get some breadth on your resume. I think with your stats and background, you have a fantastic chance to get into a top school. You just need a broad presentation to show that you're not ONLY good at science or even intellectual property law; rather, your interests are broad enough to fit in a diverse community with your unique asset of a strong science background.

I'm sorry if I wrote in a negative tone. I'm really rooting for you, since I have a very similar background as you.

[dnptan]

Specifics:
(1) I'm fairly certain 80% of adcoms don't know what matlab, solidworks or autocad is. In fact, the whole technical skills line can be take out. I really don't think they care. Languages skills on the other hand are very cool.
(2) I don't know what BU CAS College Scholar's cut off is, so unless you specifically list it out on your resume (like if it's equal to a certain class rank or something), you might as well take it out.
(3) If you already mentioned biomed eng honor society in awards, no need to mention it against under activities.
(4) Your lab assistant and TA gigs can easily be described in one bullet point, so save yourself two extra lines
etc. etc.

Hey pacifica thanks for the suggestions. I addressed them the following ways:

1) I think I will keep this, but put language on top. I don't really have anything that would merit a line on its own, and I like having more than 1 thing under each header.
2) Fixed - I hope the format works. Thanks for pointing this out!
3) The BMES is a professional society, so I pointed that out, thanks!
4) Again, I prefer having 2 points per header at minimum. Plus the 4-3-2-2 format looks cool (to me).

Coming from an ENG background as well, is there anything you can suggest that would add to "play against type"? Unfortunately I think that you're right and I am very tech-focused. There were never really awards for "best writer" or "best speaker" at my University - at least for my majors. For public service I'm fairly active in the micro level, giving to charity/giving advice to BU double majors/student groups in high school, though nothing official. I got invited to give a talk in my high school, which I plan to leverage in my diversity statement. As for resume stuff, I'm drawing a blank - the best I can do is play to my strengths I guess.