You’ve worked and worked and worked on your application. You’ve slaved over your personal statement. Transcripts, recommendations and LSAT scores are on their way. All that’s left is to attach your resume. Make sure you’ve thought good and hard about it. As with the rest of your application, you want to submit your best possible resume. We’ve got a new Law School Podcaster show titled Building the Best Law School Application Resume: Resumes To Get You Accepted. In the podcast, admissions deans and leading authors/consultants give you solid advice on putting together your resume. Some of the issues they’ll address include writing style, format, what categories to include, and how to to highlight your strengths.
Rita Jones, Assistant Dean, Admissions and Financial Aid at Boston College Law School explains that the resume is one of the most important parts of the application and should provide background information in a clear and organized way. It can include information not provided elsewhere in the file. It’s also an example of a candidate being concise in getting one’s point across, says Dean Jones. “I think a résumé should give the reader and anyone on the admissions committee greater knowledge of an applicant’s experience and potential to succeed in law school. For example, a résumé could reflect one’s level of responsibility, motivation and success in a particular endeavor. These are attributes that I think are transferable to law studies. In a way, it expands on the profile.”
Dean Jones has some simple advice to make your resume stand out and to help you avoid the more common mistakes. Some of these will be familiar. “Like the application in general, I think typos, misspellings on the résumé, gaps in employment history. That’s a tough one. We would actually consider that a discrepancy. If there’s a gap in employment you better describe it, explain it; that sort of thing. And also, sometimes [you need to provide] just minimal substance in the descriptions of position responsibilities, for instance. Sometimes it’s just such a brief listing that it doesn’t tell you too much more.”
Dean Jones and our other guests have lots more of good advice on what to do and what not to do in crafting your resume. Learn more about the best way to organize your resume, what to include and what not to include and some definite don’t do’s in our upcoming show. Other guests on the show include:
- Bill Hoye, Associate Dean for Admissions and Student Affairs, Duke Law School
- Richard Montauk, admissions consultant and author of How to Get Into the Top Law Schools
- Ann Levine, admissions consultant and author of The Law School Admission Game: Play Like an Expert
Don’t send off your resume until you listen to the full show!