The Resume Builder

By Quetzal Mama • June 12, 2015

The Resume Builder

How doing this one thing can increase your odds of admission!

It’s early June. My students are working on their resumes. It’s June people. Why are my students doing this now? And, what’s the resume got to do with college admissions? This is called the Resume Builder workshop and it’s one of the signature workshops from the Quetzal Mama series. My students are using the concept of a “resume” to strategically craft the components of their fall college applications.

We do this exercise strategically in June because I want my students to have a preview or “snapshot” of what their college application will look like to an admissions reader this fall. Using my Quetzal Mama automated tool, my students will jump start their applications by creating their own versions of the college application. They will share with their peers and I will also review and critique the contents.

So how does this work? First, my students’ homework was to find the mission statements of any organization they’ve been involved with during their high school tenure. Next, they had to write a description of their involvement with the organization – using the mission statement as their guide. Following the write up – and one of the trickiest challenges, they must adequately describe their role in 150 characters or less! Not so easy. Finally, they had to prioritize the activities for each category.

What am I looking for, exactly, in previewing these mock applications? Thank you for asking. Here is what I hone in on when reviewing these documents:

What I want to See	What’s Missing?
Strength in the discipline Consistency with Personal Statement The student’s “story” or profile Prioritization is consistent	Lack of focus? Lack of Cultural Authenticity? Is it Lopsided? Are there significant gaps?

How do the contents – the chosen activities, the prioritization, tell an Admissions Representative the student’s story? The contents tell them what’s important to the student, how the student managed their time, what opportunities were available to them, and whether they exhibited genuine altruism. It also exhibits leadership skills, cultural authenticity, and – most importantly, whether they are truly passionate about the major they intend to pursue. This is part of what they refer to as the “holistic” review process. They are examining the profile of the student outside of their academic stats.

Typically, a college application contains a set number of categories with a set number of entries to list for each category. In my June workshop, we are working on the University of California application. This application allows five categories with five entries per category. Since most of my students have more than five entries per category, they are required to think strategically about which activities to include and which to discard. Or, in the actual language of the UC application, “So think carefully about what you want to highlight.”

To help my students in this process, I print each of their draft applications. Then, I ask them to place their hand over the right side of the application (where the descriptions are listed). I only want them to focus on the names of the organizations they listed in each of the five categories. In visually focusing on the left hand column of their application they are better able to “see” patterns, gaps, and themes. Looking at the contents this way, my students can trouble-shoot which activities they may want to focus on during the summer so that their fall application can be augmented.

Next, we cover up the left hand side and focus on the right hand side (the descriptions). We look at the actual language they use to describe their involvement. I want them to use language that quantifies the activity and qualifies their impact. For example, if they volunteered at a food pantry for elderly low-income adults, I want them to describe what they did: did they serve 2 adults, or 200 adults? For impact, I want to see what their involvement yielded. Did tutoring 3^rd grade students result in a grade increase for the student? It’s all about quantifying and qualifying.

As a recap, here are some strategies students might consider when creating their college applications using Quetzal Mama’s “Resume Builder” concept:

Find the Mission Statement online

Describe your involvement in 150 characters or less

Prioritize your entries

Consolidate activities if possible, when space is limited

Review and edit language to quantify and qualify

Print the document and use the “left side/right side” technique

Look for patterns; Look for gaps.

Troubleshoot activities for summer to augment what’s missing.

Not only is this a powerful technique for high school students, but is extremely helpful for middle school students. I present my “Resume Builder” workshop to middle school students to help them visualize what’s coming up ahead and how to strategize their high school years. It’s part of the Quetzal Mama “Thinking Backwards” strategy. If you enjoyed these tips, please "like" this!