How to Write a Graduate Student CV, with Tips

What is a Graduate CV?

A graduate CV is a CV you might produce when you’re applying for further study beyond an undergraduate degree. Also called an academic CV, the document has a more educational emphasis than a standard CV, which tends to focus more on your work experience. The purpose of a graduate CV is to show university admissions staff that you’re the right candidate for postgraduate studies. You might typically prepare a graduate CV for admissions to a master’s course, or when applying for a PhD.

Key Sections to Include in a Graduate CV

Unlike a standard, reverse-chronological CV for use in job applications, a graduate CV focuses mainly on your educational achievements and academic background. Admissions teams will also want to understand why you’re applying for postgraduate studies, so you’ll need to state your research objectives or your ambitions for a career in academia. As you’ll see from the sections below, an academic CV is typically far longer and includes more details than a CV for job applications.

Below are the sections to include in your graduate CV for postgraduate course applications or research positions. Depending on your levels of experience in academia, it might not be necessary to include all these sections. Only add them if you have something relevant to mention.

CV header

In your CV header, add your basic contact and personal information. Include your name, any professional titles or affiliations, your address (both home, and institutional if you’re currently attached to a university), your email address, your phone number and your LinkedIn profile, if you have one.

Research objective or CV summary

This section serves as a brief introduction to you and your academic ambitions. State your main areas of research interest, your key skills and what you hope to achieve in your academic career.

Here’s an example research objective for a graduate psychologist’s academic CV:

Education

Unlike the education sections of a CV for job applications, this section should offer a detailed history of your qualifications. For research fellowships and postdoctoral positions, go back as far as your undergraduate studies. For postgraduate courses, such as master’s and doctoral studies, you can go back further to include secondary school and A-level grades.

List your education in reverse-chronological order, starting with your most recent achievements. For each, list the course name, type of award, institution, location and your dates of study or graduation. You can also include details on any awards you won, dissertation topics or specialist subjects, and societies you were a member of.

Take a look at this example education section for a student applying for doctoral degrees:

Publications

List any academic papers or articles you’ve had published. These could be peer-reviewed publications or other articles you’ve published related to your studies or area of expertise.

Format your publications in the following way:

If you have any experience teaching, or as a teaching assistant while you were studying, list them in this section. This section is different from your work experience section, where you would list teaching appointments if you’re a more experienced academic with greater teaching responsibilities. However, the format of this section can follow the same structure as a standard employment section:

Awards, honours, grants and fellowships

You could include awards, honours, grants and fellowships in one section, or split them into two sections (awards and honours together, with grants and fellowships separately). Both sections show the recognition you’ve received from academic institutions, either with awards, or funding for research projects.

You can present these entries in your CV in a simple bullet list, as follows:

Professional associations

If you’re a member of any professional associations, you can add a simple list of them in this section. Follow the same bullet point format shown above.

Conferences and presentations

In this section, list any conferences you’ve presented at, or other presentations or lectures you’ve delivered. Include the name of your presentation, as well as the name and date of the conference or event.

Here’s an example of how to format a conference or presentation section:

Research experience

Add any academic research posts you’ve held in this section. This is most relevant if you’ve been employed in academia for some time, and might not be so relevant for those applying for postgraduate study. This section should follow the same structure as your employment and teaching experience section. Include the job title, organisation or institution name, location, dates and some bullet points outlining your responsibilities.

Employment

Here you can mention any relevant work experience outside the scope of academia, that you haven’t included in any other section of your CV. List your job title, the name of the employer and the dates you worked there, along with some bullet points describing your responsibilities and achievements in the role. You can list your previous employments in the same format as in the ‘teaching experience’ section above.

Additional skills

This section is ideal for listing any skills that you feel are relevant to your postgraduate studies, or a position in academia, but that you haven’t covered elsewhere in your CV. Add these in a simple bullet list format.

Additional activities

Similar to the skills section above, here you can list any activities you’ve taken part in that might benefit your studies and make you stand out as a candidate. This could be voluntary work, hobbies or pastimes that enable you to develop relevant skills for the course or role.

References

Unlike a standard CV, graduate student CVs tend to include references. Add up to three referees, including their name, job title, organisation and contact details. Your referees could be academic supervisors, tutors and mentors, or managers from relevant jobs you’ve had in the past. Make sure you receive permission from your referees before adding them to your CV.

Format your references as below:

Tips for Writing a Graduate CV

If you’re applying for postgraduate study or a position in academia, take a look at these tips to maximise your chances of success:

• Don’t worry about your CV length: while traditional CVs for job applications are usually brief documents that attempt to quickly grab the attention of the reader, academics will expect a more thorough document. As such, don’t worry about how long your CV is getting, but instead focus on including all the relevant information.
• Use an academic CV format: the main two CV structures for job applications are traditional/reverse-chronological and functional or skills-based. However, graduate CVs don’t follow either of these structures. The academic CV format has many more sections than either of these.
• Tailor your CV for every application: one of the most valuable things you can do is tailor your CV for every application. This might not mean including or excluding certain details from your CV (as every academic CV is a comprehensive document). However, it will mean tailoring its content to be as relevant as possible for the role or course you’re applying for.
• Review example CVs: if you’ve never written a graduate CV before, familiarise yourself with the layout and structure by reading some CV samples. This will help you to get into the right mindset to produce a winning graduate CV.
• Use a clean, professional CV layout: a graduate CV can easily become a cluttered, dry document. Elevate your CV by using an eye-catching CV template with subtle design elements, that can help to hold the attention of the reader.
• Re-draft and proofread your CV: it’s likely to take a few attempts to get the right tone and content for your postgraduate CV. Re-draft your CV until you’re happy with its contents, and proofread the document for spelling and grammar errors before sending it.

Key Takeaways for a Graduate CV

Graduate CVs follow a different format and structure to CVs you might have prepared for job applications in the past. Be detailed and comprehensive about your academic history and educational achievements, and make sure you tailor your CV for every application. CVwizard has various tools and CV articles to help you craft a compelling CV that can enhance your chances of success in academic applications. Sign up today to see how CVwizard can help you create a perfect graduate student CV.