CV – Curriculum Vita
Also called the curriculum vitae, CV or vita, this document is the academic equivalent of a resume and is a summary of your educational and professional history. The CV is used when applying for teaching and administrative positions in academia or for a fellowship or grant. Your CV is an important document in your search. An initial decision about your appropriateness for a position is based upon a review of your CV.
Presentation
Although there is no limit to the length of a CV, it is usually 2-3 pages for most Ph.D. students, and 3-4 for graduate alumni with experience. There are guidelines in each field for CV formatting, so check with your department to review samples of CVs of former students. Consider modifying your CV to specific positions, emphasizing areas of teaching or research.
CVs are the committee's first contact with you, and should represent you in the best light. The goal of the CV is to capture the attention of the reader. Be sure to have it critiqued and revised by your advisor, your peers, and other department members. Career Services would be happy to assist you in preparing your CV, or in critiquing it.
When printing it, use a laser printer and use white or cream-colored bond paper. Be sure that your name appears on each page. Choose a font size and type that is fairly standard, usually size 10 or larger. You may use bold type or italic for emphasis, but do not make many stylistic changes which could distract from the content.
Include the most important information on the first page such as your educational background and most recent experience (if you will be a new graduate). If you are a graduate alumna/us and have several years of experience, then you may want to include your educational background later in the document.
Decide how you would like your formatting, and be consistent throughout your document. If you use capitalization for your headings such as EDUCATION, then use lower case for the name of the institution, etc. Keep your dates to the right, since the reader will read the most important information first, and dates, since they are less important, will be read last.
Read more about what to include in your CV.