GRADUATE STUDENT REFERENCE POINTS RSUM

GRADUATE STUDENTS REFERENCE POINTS RSUM

An excellent rsum is a cornerstone of a successful graduate application. It gives you the opportunity to
provide a consolidated view of your accomplishments and showcase the extent to which you are a
strong, well-rounded and suitable fit with the school.

The main objective of the rsum is to be able to provide a snapshot of your accomplishments
professionally and with regard to your academic performance, personal and community interests. The
admissions committee wants to see how your professional and extracurricular leadership experiences
have set the foundations for your career goals and trajectory.

The career-oriented rsum that you are used to developing throughout his/her professional career
does not work here. You need to write a new rsum for business school, because you need to have
space on the rsum for academic prowess and leadership in community/cultural/sports involvement,
more so than you would for a professional rsum.

The key character traits that should be clearly visible from the rsum are:

Professional discipline and accomplishment

Academic rigor
A definitive sense of commitment, and consistency where that commitment is concerned
Leadership
Initiative
A clear sense of direction

All edits must be submitted as a doc or docx document.

BEFORE STARTING

Please read all instructions in the application form thoroughly before you start. Be aware of specific
requirements or instructions.
a. E.g. Resume should be no longer than 1 page

RSUM FORMAT (These are the basic headers. They will vary based on your personal profile)

1. Header: Name, phone number, email, mailing address

2. Education & Academic Honors: This section should include the name of the academic
institution, city and country, years attended, degree/qualification, and any academic awards
and/or honors received.
3. Professional Experience: Include the following in this section:

This material is the copyrighted property of ReachIvy. It cannot be replicated, reproduced or shared.
Page 1 of 2
 GRADUATE STUDENT REFERENCE POINTS RSUM

a. Name of company, designation and department (for instance Project Manager is the
designation and department is HIV/AIDS programs), length and location of experience
b. List experiences chronologically in descending order (latest experience first)
c. Briefly describe the high-level role and responsibility, and the correlated impact
d. Break your role into specific job functions and within each function:
i. Describe what you did and delivered with regard to that function
ii. What RESULT your actions have had
4. Leadership Your engagement with and leadership roles in the community, with sport, and in
college
5. Skills & Interests Your proficiency with computer programs and languages, as well as 2-3 of
your personal interests.

Key Formatting Tips:

Maintain the structure in an easily readable bulleted list

Dont get too fancy with formatting
Maintain margins for printing (min 0.5 inches on right and left)
Dont reduce font below 10 points just to fit more data in
Ensure that dates are in a standard format consistent through every section
Do not use graphics or stylistic fonts

This material is the copyrighted property of ReachIvy. It cannot be replicated, reproduced or shared.
Page 2 of 2