The undergraduate CV is not a tremendous make-or-break piece of the application. The bar is set pretty low- you’ve probably never made a CV before, and evaluators understand that. However, if you do make a great-looking CV, it may get slightly more notice. That slight notice may be enough to bump your application into the “accept” pile. So it is worth spending some time on. Here are some guidelines which will help your CV pop.
There is no page limit. CVs do not have a page limit. Many undergraduate students don’t understand the difference between a resume (which should be 1-2 pages) and a CV (which can be infinite) and try to cram everything on to one page. Use some white space, including more details. The CV is an exhaustive description of every work-related thing you have done.
Judicious job descriptions. In veterinary medicine, we generally do not include job descriptions. I know what a technician or an animal assistant or a kennel worker does. However, in undergrad you may have pursued some out-of-discipline activities which are valuable experiences. For example, I don’t really know what a home healthcare provider does. In these cases, you can include a SHORT description of responsibilities.
Reverse chronological order. Start with the most recent activities in each heading first, then work your way towards older things. Make sure the formatting is consistent. If you have dates on the left hand for your education, use dates on the left hand throughout.
Emphasize important points. If you have an important role in a club, like President, highlight that with italics or bold or underline or set it apart somehow. You want to bring attention to important information. Don’t overuse this, though, or the CV will be too cluttered and difficult to track.
Structure according to importance. For undergraduate applicants, this will be education, experience, awards, clubs, and references. You may also have sections for research/publications and teaching. If you have research or teaching experience- even if it is outside the domain of veterinary medicine or even academia- include it. If you taught ballet in your high school years for 5 years, that reflects a level of maturity and responsibility, which are key qualities for a good veterinarian.
Include extracurricular activities. For undergraduate applicants, I think this section is particularly important. All of the applicants are smart, but a good veterinarian needs good communication skills. Did you hole up in your apartment and study constantly? You may not be the best vet school material. Demonstrate that you can relate to other human beings.
Keep it clean. Use lots of white space. Use clear section headings. I use a template from Word and recommend you browse through some templates to find one you like. Keep the dates clearly separate from the text. Examples below.
| Not Clean | Clean |
| 2018 President, Campus Campaign to Reduce Waste in Dining Halls | 2018 President Campus Campaign to Reduce Waste in Dining Halls |
| References Dr. Jo Smith, Veterinarian, 1033 This Place Rd, Columbus OH 43035 Dr. Harry Applegate, Owner, Best Friends Vet Clinic, Tempe AZ 85284 ————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————————- | References Dr. Jo Smith Veterinarian 1033 This Place Rd Columbus, OH 43035 Dr. Harry Applegate Owner Best Friends Vet Clinic Tempe, AZ 85284 |
Just having a nicely formatted, thorough, and easy to ready CV will not guarantee you a job. However, if you have qualifications identical to another applicant, and your CV looks like you have spent time on it and made it look as professional as possible, and the other applicant just slapped together a CV without doing any research, which do you think the evaluators will choose? Me, too.