Whether you are a student who is currently looking to apply to medical school or a student looking for an internship, there is a common denominator that comes into play: The dreaded CV. Of course, sometimes you might be asked to send in a resume as well but either way, schools (and companies) will most likely ask you for a document that showcases what you have been doing in the past few years. And if you are a student that is looking to apply to CU-MEDi, know that this is a required part of the application.
CV vs Resume
Before we dive any further, let’s discuss the difference between the CV and a Resume. The CV, which stands for “Curriculum Vitae” , serves as a list of all of your past accomplishments: education background, qualifications, and work experiences. Naturally, the length of a CV will vary from person to person. A resume is a concise version of your CV. Your resume should include your education background, qualifications and work experiences, but it should be concise, ready to be scanned and understood in a few minutes by the reader. If the CV is a whole movie, your resume should be a YouTube summary video for those who don’t have the time to watch it all.
Action Words
While it is important to be straightforward with the experiences that you are writing in your CV, perhaps the most important thing in your CV is the explanation portion. Under every topic of experience, you should explain what exactly you have done in your experience. The key to this is to start with strong action verbs that would succinctly tell what you have completed and learnt in the past. These can range from “Scheduled and managed the daily appointments for patients entering the clinic” to “Oversaw and digitized the operations management of the department”
Edusmith Strategy: Have both a CV and Resume on hand. Update your CV regularly when you have completed a new experience, so you have a bank of everything you have ever done. Use that to customize your resume for whatever you are applying for.
Medical CVs
Now, you might be asking, is a medical CV different from a regular CV? Yes and no. A Medical CV will have all the fundamentals that make up a CV, however, there will be more specialized categories that you should put in to make you shine as a future medical student. These categories include:
- Research Experience
- Volunteering Experience
- License/Certifications
Research Experience shows that you have lab experience. And more importantly, you have taken classes that have the fundamentals for the understanding of medicine. Research experience can be lab experience with a professor as a lab assistance or internship. The earlier you start this in your undergrad years, the better!
Volunteering Experience, although not necessary, does show a quality that all doctors must have: Empathy. Although it does not have to be medically related, it would help if your volunteering is connected to medicine. If you are currently on the search for volunteering experience, try to look for participation that involves interaction with people for a start. Is there a particular field of medicine that you are interested in? If so, look into how you can help patients in those fields.
Licenses /Certifications
Did you complete a certain course or obtained a certain license that you think would be relevant? This would be a good place to showcase what you have done here. For example, if you have a First Aid Certification by the Red Cross, this would be a great addition to the Medical CV, it shows that not only have you initiated learning about the human body and how to save lives, but you also know how to perform basic life-saving tasks such as CPR.
Final Thoughts
No matter what position you are in, as a student it is always helpful to have a resume on hand. To make this process easier, we would suggest first writing down every single thing you have done in the past few years before formatting it into the professional CV in the end. Even if it is insignificant to you, it might be worth showing to others, and completely relevant to what you are applying for.
Still not sure where to start? Here at EduSmith, we have counselors who can help you create your CV, brainstorm your personal statement and make your journey into your dream medical school easier. Contact us via LINE: @EduSmithGradMBA or Facebook Page to schedule a meeting with our counselors now to start your journey.
