The Importance of Scholarship Resumes
No, a scholarship resume is not a listing of all of the scholarships you’ve won. Though that would be nice! Rather, a scholarship resume is a document that outlines your greatest accomplishments in life so far. These accomplishments can be personal, academic or extracurricular. Regardless, listing out what you have done is a fantastic way to get a good sense of where you stand against other scholarship applicants.
“But why do I need a scholarship resume?” you may be asking. Actually, having this accomplishments listing on hand is useful for several purposes. Let’s take a look at each.
It Helps You
A scholarship resume can be very helpful to you. Just think of all of the forms and applications you have to fill out when applying to colleges and applying for scholarships. That’s a lot of questions that need answering. And you wouldn’t want to accidentally leave out something important about yourself like the fact that you won an essay contest in the ninth grade, or that you’ve been on the honor roll for your entire high school career. That’s where a resume listing all of your accomplishments comes in very handy. All you have to do is sit down one day, sort through your files and find everything you’ve done that is worth mentioning. Once you have that list compiled, you won’t have to think on your feet anymore. So long as you continually add to the list, you will always have an easy to use reference on hand.
It Helps Letter Writers
Whenever you ask someone to write a letter of recommendation for you, you can do them a huge favor by providing a list of your accomplishments. They may be writing letters for several students, so your list will help jog their memory as to the specifics that make you so worthy of the scholarship. Likewise, if a letter writer drops in a few of those accomplishments into the letter, they will appear to know you very, very well (even if they don’t) and your application will look even better because you have an external source saying the same things you did about yourself.
How to Create a Scholarship Resume
A scholarship resume is actually pretty easy to make. It’s not like a standard resume, which requires careful consideration of which jobs and achievements should appear. Rather, a scholarship or accomplishments resume is a place for you to list all of your accomplishments in one neat and tidy spot. Creating one is simple, but let’s go through it step by step anyway.
Do It Yourself-Research
When you plan to create a scholarship resume, you will need to sort through everything you’ve ever done that could be considered an accomplishment. This may take some time because not all accomplishments can be identified with an award or a certificate. Take some time to sit and think about your life, all of the activities you have partaken in, the contests, the grades you’ve received, etc. Then, anything that can be considered an accomplishment should be compiled and listed.
List From Most Current to Earliest
Once you have a solid list of accomplishments, it’s time to get them organized. Your first task should be to list them in descending order, meaning from most current to the earliest. You’ll always want to mention your most current accomplishments first because they are typically the most relevant and impressive on applications.
Make It A Habit to Update
You will do yourself a favor to continually update your scholarship resume. Let’s say after you create the resume that you win a different scholarship or your GPA goes up. Make it a habit to update your resume whenever something new pops up. This way, you won’t ever forget something and your resume will always be up to date and relevant.