Most college applications request personal resume information. The Common Application requests such information in the Honors / Awards and the Extracurricular Activities and Work Experience sections.
When completing these sections, it can be beneficial to describe your experiences instead of merely listing them. For example:
- Instead of: Answered phones at a medical office
- Consider: Received calls, determined nature of call, directed inquiries, scheduled appointments, organized patient files
- Instead of: Assistant manager at a fast food restaurant
- Consider: As assistant manager, I supervised 12 employees, trained team members; interviewed prospective hires, and assisted with bookkeeping
The following words can be helpful when describing your extracurricular activities, awards and achievements and volunteer service:
- Analyzed
- Arranged
- Assisted
- Attended
- Awarded
- Built
- Communicated
- Collaborated
- Collected
- Competed
- Conceived
- Coordinated
- Created
- Delegated
- Delivered
- Designed
- Developed
- Determined
- Earned
- Entertained
- Established
- Evaluated
- Facilitated
- Formulated
- Founded
- Greeted
- Identified
- Implemented
- Improved
- Initiated
- Instructed
- Interned
- Led
- Maintained
- Managed
- Mentored
- Motivated
- Negotiated
- Nominated
- Oversaw
- Participated
- Performed
- Persuaded
- Placed
- Planned
- Practiced
- Presented
- Presided over
- Ran
- Received
- Recognized
- Recruited
- Selected
- Served
- Spearheaded
- Studied
- Suggested
- Supervised
- Synthesized
- Taught
- Tested
- Trained
- Transformed
- Tutored
- Volunteered
- Wrote
Lynn Radlauer Lubell, Publisher of InLikeMe.com and Founder of Admission By Design, an Educational Consultancy based in Boca Raton, Florida.
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