How to Craft the Perfect High School Résumé

A well-crafted résumé can help you stand out to prospective colleges. Read on to learn how to craft a stellar student résumé.

A well-crafted student résumé can help you stand out to prospective colleges. This is vital considering how many applications colleges review with similar credentials. Making a lasting impression on an admission counselor can be the difference between getting accepted into your dream college or not. That’s why you need a strong student résumé.

Reference documents

First, make sure you have the proper resources available. Gather all your significant personal documents, including your high school transcripts, SAT/ACT scores, and AP scores for reference. If you’re applying to a Theater or other performance program, you may also need an appropriate headshot of yourself to include with your résumé.

Contact info and professional statement

The top of your student résumé should include your full name, mailing address, email address, and phone number. Next, you should include a short summary giving some details characterizing yourself. This is your chance to build yourself up to admission officers and mention your future career goals and how attending their college will help you achieve them. Just remember to keep it short and sweet.

Related: How to Write a Postgrad Résumé With Little to No Experience

Education

Your high school résumé should include a section about your education and test scores. This section should contain the name and location of your school (just “city, state” format is acceptable), when you’re planning to graduate, and your current GPA, as well as your SAT, ACT, and AP test scores. If you’ve taken any dual enrollment courses at colleges, be sure to include that information here as well.

Honors and awards

This section should list all honors and awards you’ve received as well as when you received them. Admission officers want to see you’ve excelled and what you’ve excelled in. These honors and awards will help set you apart from the rest of the applicants you’re competing against for admission.

Related: 3 Easy Strategies to Increase Your Scholarship Eligibility

Leadership and extracurricular activities

This section should list all the extracurricular activities you’ve been a part of, from piano lessons to school clubs. Make sure to note when you participated in these activities and if you’re still involved in them. You should include activities from a variety of categories, such as sports, music, clubs, and volunteer work. Most importantly, don’t forget to mention if you held a leadership role in any of these activities, like captain, president, treasurer, etc.

Hobbies and interests

This is where you get to show off the subjects and pastimes you enjoy the most that didn’t fit into any other section. Maybe you love to code and you joined an online forum devoted to coding. Maybe you have an interest in poetry and you’re part of a writing group that attends poetry slams once a month. Show off what matters most to you!

Take your student résumé as an opportunity to display the best version of yourself. Show college admission officers what you’ll bring to their school if they accept you, and illustrate all that hard work you’ve given to reach your goals and make a difference in the world in any capacity. Your high school résumé should speak highly of you and is the perfect way to help you stand out when it matters most.

For more help crafting the perfect résumé, check out our Internships and Careers section!

Like what you’re reading?

Join the CollegeXpress community! Create a free account and we’ll notify you about new articles, scholarship deadlines, and more.

Join Now

Tags:

About Susie Obregon

My name is Susan Obregon, I'm currently 16 years old, and I live in Miami, Florida. My mom likes to say that I could write before I could talk. Writing has always been in my nature and I've always found that expressing myself and my ideas with the world is the best source of happiness in this life. I hope to touch and aid everyone in their lives with my writing, and thank you to everyone for their support on this journey!

 

Join our community of
over 5 million students!

CollegeXpress has everything you need to simplify your college search, get connected to schools, and find your perfect fit.

Join CollegeXpress

College Quick Connect

Swipe right to request information.
Swipe left if you're not interested.

Union University

Jackson, TN


Jeff Parsons

Jeff Parsons

Counselor

Thank you so much for this valuable information about these opportunities. I truly appreciate the CollegeXpress communications and use them to keep my high school seniors informed about their opportunities!

Chris Bell

Chris Bell

Bell College Consulting

The college lists on CollegeXpress are indispensable for sussing out creative additions to a student’s list, and the college-specific pages provide terrific commentary and suggestions for related schools. CollegeXpress is among the most trusted sources I use for information for my students.

Kayla

Kayla

High School Class of 2021

CollegeXpress helped me organize the schools I wanted to choose from in one place, which I could then easily compare and find the school that was right for me!

Maria  Fernanda

Maria Fernanda

High School Class of 2023

CollegeXpress is always telling you with time to spare when to apply for certain scholarships, what they require, and if you’re eligible or not. They also provide helpful tips for both incoming college students and current college students, such as what to absolutely have in your dorm.

Caio Matos

Caio Matos

High School Class of 2022

Starting the college admissions process as an international student was daunting. Thankfully, CollegeXpress was the first website I used for that cause and it helped me so much, from knowing where to start to deciding what my next move would be. I'll take a gap year, but I’m certainly using the website again when applying for fall 2023.