Resumes for Law School / Business School Applications

Because “One Size Fits All” doesn’t apply to resumes.

Graduate school, MBA/business school, or law school can be a great career investment. Even if you already have a strong resume, it probably needs to be re-tooled for a grad school application. Your resume won’t make your application--but it can break it.

Of course you should carefully review and follow each school’s specific instructions regarding resume content and format. But here are a few rules of thumb for creating a resume that will make a strong contribution to your grad school resume:

Brevity

All resumes should be clear and concise, but once you have a few years of work experience under your belt, your resume will probably run to two pages. Not so for law school and business school resumes. Here one page is the absolute limit. This means you’ll hit on the highlights of each work/academic experience and skip lengthy descriptions.

Go Extracurricular

Information that rarely has a place in professional resumes can be an important part of a grad school resume. Community leadership, special hobbies or talents, international travel, volunteer work—these can give you some personality that helps you stand out from the crowd. They also portray you as a well-rounded leader who does more than punch a time clock and hit the books.

But beware: Don’t include anything that portrays you as immature or tasteless. So running the Boston Marathon: yes. Winning a wet bikini contest: no.

Greater Emphasis on Academic Accomplishments

Once you graduate from college and establish a career history, most academic information should be removed from your professional resume. But for B-school or law school resumes, you want to demonstrate that you can be successful in academic environments.

For law school resumes, the Education section of your resume should precede Professional Experience. The law school application committee wants to see that you have the chops to handle the rigorous coursework. Include scholarships, academic awards, and student leadership.

MBA application resumes should focus primarily on workplace accomplishments, so the Education section should stay at the bottom of the resume. But include scholarships or awards, leadership, notable extracurricular accomplishments (say, if you were captain of a championship-winning team), and your GPA (if it’s stellar).

RedRocketResume has helped dozens of candidates compile concise, powerful resumes that augment their law school and MBA applications. And if you’re looking for expert help on writing an application that will showcase your unique strengths and maximize your admission odds, contact Admission Statements, LCC.

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