How to Write an Academic CV for Study-Abroad Applications: Tips and Examples

Hi everyone! Wordvice is back with more super practical study-abroad application tips!

How is an academic CV different from a regular résumé?

Both an academic CV and a regular résumé cover your main qualifications, but a résumé focuses more on professional achievements and work experience, while an academic CV focuses more on academic achievements, summarizing your education, academic background and related information.

When you apply to graduate school abroad, besides your undergraduate transcript, GRE scores and personal statement/study plan, you may also be asked for an academic CV. Let’s see how to write one!

Do you need an academic CV when applying to college or graduate school?

An academic CV is an important document that can help you get into the school you want. Even if the school doesn’t require one, college admissions consultants and experts recommend uploading a CV if the school allows it, to strengthen your application~

When might you need to provide an academic CV?

• Scholarship applications — besides the application form, many university scholarships require applicants to submit one as well

• Research project funding — when you apply for grants for graduate research projects, a CV can give the review committee more confidence in you

• University positions — most applications for teaching jobs, research assistant positions or administrative roles at a school require one

• Jobs after graduation — even if you never need an academic CV while at university, you may still need one when you look for work after graduating! Since the content of an academic CV and a résumé builds up over time, keeping a basic CV ready and up to date also gives you a clearer picture of what you’ve achieved so far

What do admissions committees want to see in an academic CV?

What admissions committee members and faculty care about is whether your skills, experience and qualifications fit their school and program. Since they are also reviewing many other applicants’ CVs at the same time, keep asking yourself how to make your CV stand out as you write it!

Here are a few tips:

• Focus on your academic background: a graduate school applicant should emphasize academic achievements more than professional ones. If your work experience is related to your field of study, you can still mention it, but the main focus should be your education and academic background.

• Tailor your CV to each program or school: highlight experience and skills related to the specific field. For example, if you are applying to a PhD program in chemistry, you can describe your experience in class or in the lab.

• Use precise, persuasive language and include details: more persuasive wording and precise vocabulary not only show your command of the language but also catch the reader’s attention.

  For example: rather than simply saying you “spent a lot of time in the lab,” it’s better to explain how you “assisted in bi-weekly slide analysis alongside Dr. Kunstler” -> specific details make your story more convincing.

• Tell your story with a simple, clear structure: a CV lists your experience in bullet points, but you can still show how your work and past experiences developed your knowledge and skills and sparked your interest in research. Admissions committees are looking for students with room to grow.

• Volunteering and internships help: internships and volunteer work outside school show the committee which fields you care about, and they also show that you are willing and eager to take part in team activities.

What key information should an academic CV include?

The order of the sections in an academic CV and the information and details each one covers are flexible and up to you, but a good CV must cover the fields you care about and your qualifications.

So what key information should a CV include?

1. Personal information

Include your full name, address, phone number and email.

• Put it at the top of the first page, centered or left-aligned

• Use a larger font in bold so this information stands out

2. Education

List the schools you have attended, such as university and high school, in reverse chronological order. You can include the school’s name, location, degree earned, field and department, and years of attendance.

• If you have written a thesis, you can list its title and your advisor

• You can list the names of honors and awards you received

• If you submit a transcript, include your GPA or grades on the CV

3. Teaching experience

Most graduate school applicants won’t have teaching experience, but if you have tutored or worked as a teaching assistant, list it here.

• You can list the skills the position required and your main duties

4. Research experience

Graduate school applicants may not have research experience, but if you have helped with or taken part in any research project, you can list it.

• Include the name of the research institution, your title and duties, your supervising professor’s name, and the years of the project.

5. Honors and awards

List each award with the awarding organization and the date received. You can include university scholarships or teaching assistantships, and if you made the Dean’s list for an outstanding GPA, you can include that here too.

• Order awards by importance; they don’t have to be in the order you received them

• If you have only received one award (for example, the Dean’s list or graduated with honors), consider putting it in your education section instead of giving it its own section

6. Grants

Include research projects that received funding, with the project name, funding body, amount and dates.

7. Technical skills

Since academic research requires data processing and analysis, skills and experience in statistics and programming can give you a big boost.

• List the programming courses you have taken and the related skills, such as data analysis, you gained from them

8. Academic and professional experience

List positions from the past 4-5 years that strengthen your skills and qualifications, including internships or administrative work. These experiences should show qualities such as commitment to your work or professional ethics. If you have many different kinds of work experience (for example, research, teaching, management), list them in separate categories.

• List the employer, location, job title and dates of employment

• Under each position, briefly describe your duties and responsibilities. About 1-2 lines is enough; don’t go into too much detail, since professional work experience isn’t the focus of an academic CV

9. Publications

You may already have published work during your studies. If you have more than one publication, sort them into categories such as journals, reports and other. If you don’t have any work formally published under your own name yet, you can still list articles you have published in newspapers, magazines or blogs to show your writing skills and independent thinking.

• List these works using the citation style used in your field

10. Conference presentations

If you have any conference experience, whether as a presenter or just helping prepare slides or other materials, you can list it in this section.

• List the presentation title, conference name, location and date

• Briefly describe what the presentation covered

• Tip: list this experience using the conference citation format used in your field

11. Academic or professional memberships

Joining professional or academic organizations shows admissions committees that, beyond school activities, you actively pursue your interests and make an effort to connect with professionals in your field. In this section, list the academic or professional organizations you are a member of.

• List the organization’s name and your membership period, along with any leadership or other positions you have held.

12. Research and teaching interests

Besides the research and teaching you have already done or are doing now, list the research directions you plan to pursue in graduate school. The more information you give, the more the committee will feel you are ready to do research, which can really strengthen your CV!

• Research: be specific about the topics you plan to research; it’s even better if you can explain your research design and methods.

• Teaching: if you would like to be a teaching assistant (TA), we suggest listing specific course names and fields as well.

13. Community service, volunteering and other extracurricular activities

Community service and volunteering build leadership, organization and other important skills that graduate students should have.

• Be specific about the type of volunteer work (for example, U of I Hospitals Volunteer), the dates you took part, and details of what you did.

14. Other relevant skills and languages

List experience and certifications that will help you in graduate school, and the foreign languages you are good at.

15. References

This should be the last section of your academic CV. You can list 3-5 experts from academic or professional fields who can confirm that the skills and qualifications you list are true.

• List each reference’s name, professional title, institution and contact details (phone number and email are enough). You don’t need to list names alphabetically; order them by how relevant and influential they are in your field.

Formatting tips for study-abroad CVs

However strong the content of your CV, if it isn’t organized well and admissions committee members can’t read it easily, they may lose interest in reading on. When revising your academic CV, follow these formatting and organization tips:

• Whatever formatting you choose (indentation, font and size, spacing, grammar), keep it consistent throughout the CV.

• Use bold, italics, underlining and capitals to mark important information.

• List your experience in reverse chronological order

• Put the most important information at the top and on the left, with the matching dates on the right

• Add your last name and the page number to the header or footer of every page

Revising and editing your CV (CV and résumé)

Once your academic CV or résumé is done, you still need to check that your language is concise and persuasive, the layout is neat and clear, and there are no errors.

A good academic CV for the graduate programs you are applying to usually takes at least three or four rounds of revision. You can ask classmates or a professional editor for an academic CV editing service to check your CV for mistakes or things to improve and boost your chances of getting into the school you want!

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