We have already written about personal statements and letters of recommendation, so I thought it may be a good time to discuss a few of the remaining aspects of the application process about which we frequently receive questions: resumes and transcripts.
First, let’s discuss your resume. We require that you submit a detailed resume with your application. It should include your extracurricular, volunteer, and community activities, in addition to any full or part-time employment or internships. This is one of the parts of the application that allows us to learn a little more about you, your interests, and the experiences that you will bring to U of C. Students frequently ask if their resume must be limited to one page. There are no page limits – your resume may certainly be more than one page if you need it. We do not want you to leave out anything important. However, use your judgment – you do not have to include absolutely everything that you have done in your life and more than two or three pages will rarely be necessary. Your resume should be professional and remember to proofread!
Second, we require that you submit all undergraduate and graduate transcripts through the LSDAS. We will review your transcripts in detail; they are quite helpful for giving us additional information about your undergraduate experience beyond your GPA. In addition to your overall undergraduate GPA, we will consider the difficulty and breadth of courses you have taken, any trends in your grades, your GPA in your major, academic honors that you have received, the difficulty of your undergraduate program, and the quality of your undergraduate institution. We like to see motivated students who have taken well-rounded, challenging course work!
Your resume and transcripts are two important components of your application. They provide context and supplemental detail about your undergraduate record, in addition to showing us some of the experiences that you will bring to our community.
