Writing your Curriculum Vita

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Writing your Curriculum Vita

• Career Development
• IDM December 2007

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Purpose of a Curriculum Vita (CV)

• Provide a succinct, formal, yet positive
  overview of your background
• academic
• professional
• co-curricular

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When to use a CV

• Preparing residency application through ERAS
  system
• Non-ERAS residency applications
• Requesting electives at outside programs
• Requesting letters of recommendation
• Applying for scholarships, honors and awards
• Interviewing for residency

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Formatting Tips

• White space
• One inch margins and a consistent, parallel
  format
• Avoid splitting a section when going onto a
  second page
• Use a 12 point font
• Stick with one font style
• Times New Roman is the best.
• Headings should be consistent
• Style, size and formatting

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Formatting Tips (cont)

• Organize using bold or bullet points, italics, or
  capital letters
• Use sparingly and consistently
• Use proofreaders
• Check for misspellings and poor grammar
• Use left alignment
• Remember, most people read from left to right
• Use high quality, bond paper
• Conservative colors work best (white/ivory/gray).

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Headings to be used on a CV

• Education
• Honors
• Research
• Publications
• Presentations
• Work Experience
• Co-curricular Experience
• Memberships
• Personal

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Other headings that might be used

• Licenses and Certifications
• Teaching Experience
• Military Experience
• International Experience

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Things to remember

• Be concise and to the point
• Put your namely on EACH page
• Be positive and highlight the most
  important/impressive points based on your
  objective
• Use active and parallel language in your
  descriptions
• As a general rule, your CV should not be longer
  than two pages
• Create a professional looking CV that is easy to
  read

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Things to remember (cont)

• A time gap in your history may look suspicious
• account for time from your undergraduate
  experience to your current medical school
  experience
• Have others review your CV before submitting
• Be honest under no circumstances should you lie
  or submit misleading information on your CV
• Follow guidelines suggested by your specialty
  advisor/mentor

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Heading

• Include your first and last name, street address,
  home phone number and e-mail address
• Make sure your name is clearly visible. Consider
  using a larger font or bold format

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Education

• List most recent first
• List dates of attendance
• Include Medical School (Feinberg School of
  Medicine, Northwestern University), Graduate and
  Undergraduate Institution

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Honors

• Include awards and/or scholarships received
  during medical school. Include a description of
  the award. (Julius Conn Award for best
  performance of a third year medical student on
  the surgery clerkship)
• Graduation with distinction (Magna Cum Laude)
• Clerkship honors ?

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Research

• List any research activities and projects
• Include your role (Research Assistant, Primary
  Investigator, etc) and any skills gained
• List the Primary Investigator (Jane Smith, MD),
  research institution, and date. Give a one
  sentence description of your duties.

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Publications and Presentations

• List, in APA style, any abstracts, papers, or
  articles. Only list those which have been
  accepted for publication, not manuscripts in
  preparation. Ex. Kernis, M. H., Cornell, D. P.,
  Sun, C. R., Berry, A., Harlow, T. (1993).
  There's more to self-esteem than whether it is
  high or low The importance of stability of
  self-esteem. Journal of Personality and Social
  Psychology, 65, 1190-1204.
• Include research, professional, or poster
  presentations conducted at conferences, lecture
  or symposiums. List date and place presented.

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Work Experience

• Position title, begin and end date, name of
  employer, city, state
• Brief description of your responsibilities,
  achievements and competencies
• List all major or medically related work
  experiences, whether paid or volunteer

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Co-curricular Activities

• Include the most important long-term activities
  in which you participated in medical school,
  including committee work, community service
  projects, and student organization involvement
• List frequency of activity (volunteered weekly at
  a community health clinic)
• Include activities prior to medical school only
  if they are extraordinary or applicable to health
  care

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Memberships and Affiliations

• List any professional organizations of which you
  are a member and the year you joined
• Include any leadership positions you may have held

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Personal

• Can highlight any special skills (sign language,
  computer skills, etc)
• May include hobbies, special interests, other
  activities that define you personally.

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• Look at the example CV posted on the SP website
• Write the first draft of your CV. Put it away
  for a week or two and then edit it again.
• Print out a copy and look at the formatting
  before submitting it for review.