Writing a Curriculum Vitae

What is a CV?

A Curriculum Vitae (CV) is a complete and concise summary of your education, work and other relevant experiences and accomplishments.  This makes it different from a resume, which is tailored for a specific job.  You will keep and continually update your CV throughout your career.  This page will help you prepare, organize and write your CV.
Please use the links below to navigate to relevant topics, or just start from the top.

Purpose of a CV

The purpose of your CV will change over time; this information is targeted to current medical students. 
For 4th years: Writing your CV is one of the first steps in the residency application process, one that you can and should do as soon as possible.

• To obtain an interview
• To assist you in completing your application (i.e. in filling out ERAS)
• To assist your letter writer in preparing a letter of recommendation

Preparation

• Create a list of your experiences, accomplishments, honors and activities
• When considering information to include in your CV, ask yourself…
  • Is this relevant?
  • Does this help me?
  • Will this piece of information help select me for a residency interview?
  • If I were reading this for the first time and without knowledge of myself as an applicant, would this information be useful?
• If you answer "no" to these questions, leave the information out.

Formatting

• Organize each section in reverse chronological order, most recent first
  • Dates are typically on the right or following an item
• Formatting should be consistent throughout
  • Use common fonts
  • Use bold, italics, capitalization and bullets to organize your CV
  • Headings should be consistent in style, size and formatting
  • Include name on every page
  • Consider using layouts available on your computer
• Make it clear and easy to read.
  • Keep sentences short and succinct
• Length 1 to 2 pages is standard at this stage of your training
• Avoid unnecessary and irrelevant experiences
• Don’t use abbreviations
• Proof for spelling and grammatical errors!

Major Sections of a CV

These are important sections that every CV must include. 

Name And Contact Information

• Name (cap, bold and in larger font)
  • Use your name as it appears on your medical school credential. No nicknames.
• Use a permanent address, cell phone number and email address
• Be sure to have professional voice message and email address.

Education

• List all colleges/universities you have attended, listing the most recent first.
  • Include medical school, graduate and undergraduate education.
  • Do not include high school.
• Include name, location of institution, degree, certificate, date of completion (or expected completion) and major/minor field of study.
• Include graduating with honors here if you do not have an Honors section.
  • GPA is not necessary
• If you completed a thesis or dissertation as part of one of your degree programs, you may wish to add this distinction along with the title of the paper, particularly if it is relevant to your career goals.  It may also be included in a Research Section.
• Study abroad time can be included if you feel it is relevant to your application and you are prepared to be asked questions about it.

Honors And Awards

• Include awards and/or scholarships received during medical school (election to AOA, biochemistry prize, etc.)
  • You may include medical school Honors grades (typically only included for your letter of recommendation writer).
• Include only the most important awards and scholarships from undergraduate or other programs.
• Include description of award if not obvious.
• Do not include financially based scholarships.
• If you have numerous items, you may want to separate them into subsections: i.e. undergraduate and medical school.

Licensure/Certification

• List current licenses and health-related certifications
• USMLE Step 1 – Pass, Score 222, June 2008
  • Including Score is optional
  • Do not include 2-digit score

Experience

See below.

Experience

This portion of the CV will vary for each student.  You do not have to use one section labeled “Experience” but rather separate sections such as “Work Experience” or “Volunteer Experience”.  Below is general information for all experience sections.  Below, you will find more specific information on specific sections you may wish to include.  You can divide or combine sections as it makes sense for your CV.

For all Experience Sections:

• Include all relevant medical or specialty related experiences.
  • Include long-term activities, committee work, community service projects, leadership experiences and student organization involvement.
  • Include activities from before medical school only if they are noteworthy, show long term commitment or are applicable to your career goals.
• List beginning with the most recent experience.
• Include position title, name of employer or organization, location (city & state or country) and dates.
• Include brief a description of your major responsibilities and achievements in a bullet point format using action words.
• Make sure to include ALL work experience, medical or non-medical which accounts for time off between undergraduate studies and medical school.
• Do not include experience that is part of the medical school curriculum (i.e. CEE or CHC)
• Include both paid and unpaid experiences

Additional Experience Headings

• Work Experience
• Research Experience
• Publications/Presentations
• Community Service
• Volunteer Experience
• Professional Organizations
• Extracurricular Activities
• Leadership
• Teaching
• Interests
• Special Skills (i.e. Languages)
• Additional Information

You may create headings to reflect or highlight your experiences.  Group relevant experiences together.  Do not have ten headings each with one experience below.

Work Experience

• Focus on major and medically related experiences.
• Include position title, name of employer, location (city & state) and dates.
• Include brief description of your major responsibilities and achievements.
• Be sure to account for anytime when you were not in school.

Research Experience

• List all research experience (including undergraduate)
  • This includes thesis work, paid positions, summer internships, etc.
  • Your work does not have to be published to include it here!
• Include your title/role, institution, location, research topic or title, advisor and date
• Brief description of project and your major responsibilities and skills

Publications

• List any published abstract, paper or article in medical bibliographic reference style.
  • Your thesis in and of itself is not a publication.  Include this work under research or education.
• Include Publication Year or “in press” if not yet published.

How to Cite a Publication: Author(s): last name, first initial (your name in bold). Title. Name/Title of journal (in italics). Volume: page numbers. Date
Example:
Hisama A, Mattson R.H., Student J.D., Felice K, Petroff OA. GABA and the ornithine delta-aminotransferase gene in vigabatrin-associated visual field defects. Journal of Medical Stuff, 10(7):505-7, 2001 Oct.

Presentations

• List research, professional or poster presentations at institutions, conferences or specialty association meetings.
• List the title of the presentation, authors, audience, and any other relevant details.
• List date and place presented

Community Service/Volunteer Experience

• Include long-term activities, committee work, community service projects, leadership experiences and student organization involvement.
  • Do not repeat experiences you have included elsewhere
• Include activities from before medical school only if they are noteworthy, show long term commitment or are applicable to your career goals.

Professional Organizations

• List professional organizations of which you are a member
• Include leadership positions you may have held
• Dates are optional

Interests

• Include a list of your outside interests, hobbies and other activities.
• Include special skills such as languages
  • Example: Spanish: fluent spoken and written

Tips

• Be perfectly honest.  Do not exaggerate your qualifications
• Use strong, descriptive action verbs to describe your experiences
• If describing current experience, use the present tense
• If describing previous experience, use past tense
• Have your CV proofed for spelling and grammatical errors
• Be able to talk about anything on your CV as an expert!

Sample CV's

These CV’s are from real 4th year students from past years.  Use them as guidelines for how to format you CV and what information to include, but remember that everyone’s experiences are unique.  Be sure your CV reflects your experiences.

• Sample 1
• Sample 2
• Sample 3
• Sample 4
• Sample 5