
College Student Resume Examples & Templates to Use in 2023
Writing a resume for a college student doesn't have to be hard, even if you don't have any experience. Follow our guide and learn how to write a job-winning college student resume.
You contribute to not only publication but also academic and scientific progress. Use your undergraduate research resume to prove you’ve got what it takes.
You’re pretty good at gathering and organizing information, but it all gets a little meta when that information concerns your research abilities.
And yet that’s precisely what you need to do to write the kind of undergraduate research resume that gets results.
The good news?
Your skills are exactly, and pretty much, all you need.
In this guide:
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If you’re looking for an undergraduate research resume, you’ll probably need other kinds of resumes real soon. These are just some of our guides:
Katherine Davenport
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Personal Info
Phone: 222-222-2222
E-mail: katherine.b.davenport@reslab.com
linkedin.com/in/katherinebdavenport
Summary
Industrious undergraduate research assistant with 2+ years of experience, skilled in biology research. Seeking the opportunity to provide excellent research assistance at the Anderson Cancer Center. At the Columbia University Biology Department, wrote and modified 11+ programs in LabView and organized and cross-referenced over 450 Mb of spreadsheets.
Experience
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Columbia University Biology Department
2019–present
Education
BS in Molecular Biology
Columbia University, New York City, NY
Expected graduation: 2022
Awards and Honors
Languages
Key Skills
Now here’s how to write an undergraduate research resume they’ll love:
A couple of research recruiters are filtering out time wasters. It doesn’t take long to whittle away a quarter of the applicants.
Where’s your undergraduate research resume? Gone; It was one of the firsts and only took a second. Why?
“If a candidate can’t present their own resume properly….”
It’s an easy cut to make and an easy one to avoid—make your resume format clear and organized. Here’s how:
Something else to look out for:
Unusually popular undergraduate research jobs might attract so many applicants that decision-makers might resort to using an Applicant Tracking System (ATS).
And, some ATSs can’t handle resumes in PDF. Therefore, always check the job announcement for a preferred file format before defaulting to PDF.
Reports have abstracts—
And resumes have resume profiles.
Have you worked as an undergraduate research assistant for a year? Then your profile will take the form of a resume summary. Use:
These undergraduate research resume examples show how:
See the difference?
The first undergraduate research resume example impresses in two ways. First, it’s all about “what can I do to help?” rather than “here’s what I’ll need.” And second, it quantifies duties and tasks, turning them into real resume achievements.
What if you have little or no undergraduate research job experience?
Write a resume objective and pull relevant achievements from any of your past jobs.
No experience at all?
Draw on your academic and extracurricular achievements instead.
The conclusion is this: little or no experience doesn’t mean anything to offer.
Are you struggling with writing an impressive resume profile? Write it last.
You’ll already have a recap of everything you achieved throughout your career, so it’ll be easy to create an overview in a summary or objective.
Show them you’re ready by making your resume work experience section into a trophy case of accomplishments.
How to put undergraduate research on a resume to achieve just that:
These undergraduate research resume examples show how:
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Columbia University Biology Department
2019–present
Undergraduate Research Assistant
Columbia University Biology Department
2019–present
Big difference.
It’s OK to estimate some or all of those numbers. Just be sure to keep it realistic and ready to justify.
Short on undergraduate research experience? Look to other jobs for relevant achievements. You may find them in your academic achievements.
No work experience at all? That’s to be expected. Let your education section replace it. Move it up right under the objective. As for the experience, focus on your volunteering or internship efforts instead.
One more thing—no matter how experienced or inexperienced you are, you’ll need skills to put on a resume. But this isn’t like gaming an algorithm, and random spamming skills won’t work. Instead, aim to cover all the skills mentioned in the job announcement or job ad and stop there.
Here are some examples of hard and soft skills:
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When decision-makers look through an undergraduate research resume, they’re clearly looking for a solid academic record, but that means a lot more than a solid GPA.
First:
List your degree(s), school(s), and (expected) graduation date(s).
Then:
Add bullet points that show research skills and general academic engagement, think projects, classes, and accomplishments.
This undergraduate research resume example shows how:
BS in Molecular Biology
Columbia University, New York City, NY
Expected graduation: 2022
A standard resume has the experience, education, and skills sections, which you have already completed. But if you think what’s left doesn’t look too impressive, you may be right. After all, an undergraduate research resume isn’t expected to present grandeur experience accomplishments.
So add one or two additional sections to highlight the value you bring:
These two undergraduate research resume examples show good vs. bad:
Awards and Honors
Languages
Hobbies and Interests
Languages
D+, meet A-.
Hobbies and interests can make a great addition to your undergraduate research resume, but as with any other item on your resume, they have to be relevant. Plus, you want to show your proficiency levels next to your language skills.
One last step, and it’s a bit of a doozy—
Even if you’ve never been asked to write a cover letter, you’ll still need one to be considered.
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For an undergraduate research resume that gets interviews:
Got questions on how to put undergraduate research on a resume? Got advice for others writing a resume for undergraduate research jobs? Leave a comment down below.
Writing a resume for a college student doesn't have to be hard, even if you don't have any experience. Follow our guide and learn how to write a job-winning college student resume.
You’ve spent years deepening your knowledge in a narrowing field. Getting all that expertise onto a page or two of a science resume is easier than you think. Find out how.
You won’t need those formidable research skills to get a science research resume together—we’ve got everything you need in one place.