2 page resume? Forum

[staroftony]

I tried hard to keep it as 1 page but it seems damn hard task. What do you guys think?

and when you attach your files, do you guys do with pdf or MS word?

thanks!

[bk1]

Cut out unimportant crap.

It is highly unlikely that you have enough noteworthy accomplishments to merit 2 pages.

[iamsinistar]

Depends - If you have been out of school for a while and have some solid WE, put it on there. I wouldn't fill it with crap, but if it's work experience, education or publications, why sell yourself short?

[URMdan]

Adcomms don't care that you flipped burgers for the summer 3 years ago.

[vaperera]

Also, if you are submitting your apps through LSAC, they don't take PDF format. I did mine with Word.

[Oban]

Honestly, you should try to get it down to one page, however that said, imo, lawl school app is the one time you can have a longer resume, because you are really trying to show everything you've done to the school, as long as it's relevant. IE dont put the summer you were a dishwasher or your interest playing wow. When you are applying to a job, your resume should be a page and targeted. You remove any experience not relevant to the job, etc

As far as post app. You should have like 4 resumes, one for applying to pub interest, one for firms, one for clerkship etc. All highlighting the things most relevant to each field.

[r6_philly]

Honestly, you should try to get it down to one page, however that said, imo, lawl school app is the one time you can have a longer resume, because you are really trying to show everything you've done to the school, as long as it's relevant. IE dont put the summer you were a dishwasher or your interest playing wow. When you are applying to a job, your resume should be a page and targeted. You remove any experience not relevant to the job, etc

As far as post app. You should have like 4 resumes, one for applying to pub interest, one for firms, one for clerkship etc. All highlighting the things most relevant to each field.

Don't generalize, depends on the job/profession. The objective, summary and skills sections in my professional resume take up 3/4 of a page for me.

[kwais]

I could be wrong, but every admissions committee member I have talked to (from UF to Yale) seems to laugh at this idea that your resume needs to be 1 page. Why? If you worked flipping burgers throughout UG, you're not trying to impress them, just give them a full picture. They have a big stack of papers in front of them. Most schools encourage multiple addendum. Do you really think they are having a stroke over an extra page of involvement and WE?

[r6_philly]

I will post it once again:

Harvard Law School's admission page has 3 sample resumes listed for your reference. The third one has 2 pages.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/ ... urces.html

I don't know who decides to spread this idea of 1 page resume around. If they want a page limit on something, they will put that on the instructions (like the PS).

[CMDantes]

My personal statement is THREE pages long, to convey the idea that I've spent my entire life working in some form or another.

I think it really depends on what you're trying to do with your application. I was told by multiple people that I should 'throw in the kitchen sink' or some similar phrase. A law school resume is completely different from your typical job application, I think they value the ability to get a more complete picture of what you've done in your life.

I mean if they don't want to read the minor stuff they can simply move onto another document in your application.

[r6_philly]

My personal statement is THREE pages long, to convey the idea that I've spent my entire life working in some form or another.

I think it really depends on what you're trying to do with your application. I was told by multiple people that I should 'throw in the kitchen sink' or some similar phrase. A law school resume is completely different from your typical job application, I think they value the ability to get a more complete picture of what you've done in your life.

I mean if they don't want to read the minor stuff they can simply move onto another document in your application.

Many schools' application instructions actually mention 2 pages. I was also told by 2 admission deans in person that "I should be able to fit it in 2 pages". So it's a soft limit, but you have to justify it. I can't justify it even though my life can fill 4 pages or more.

Resume is different, seldom is length mentioned in instructions. The only one I can recall states something like "a one or two page resume ..."

[CMDantes]

My personal statement is THREE pages long, to convey the idea that I've spent my entire life working in some form or another.

I think it really depends on what you're trying to do with your application. I was told by multiple people that I should 'throw in the kitchen sink' or some similar phrase. A law school resume is completely different from your typical job application, I think they value the ability to get a more complete picture of what you've done in your life.

I mean if they don't want to read the minor stuff they can simply move onto another document in your application.

Many schools' application instructions actually mention 2 pages. I was also told by 2 admission deans in person that "I should be able to fit it in 2 pages". So it's a soft limit, but you have to justify it. I can't justify it even though my life can fill 4 pages or more.

Resume is different, seldom is length mentioned in instructions. The only one I can recall states something like "a one or two page resume ..."

If there is a soft limit (and I believe you) I definitely overlooked it. I tried to structure my application around a certain theme and having a resume full of work experiences seemed appropriate considering that end.

Looking back on my (already submitted) applications though, I do wish I had used a more space-saving format and tried to make it more concise. Ah well, do you think it will be much of a negative factor?

To the OP and people wondering, I would probably abide by the 2 page soft limit.

[1Levening2013]

i really dont understand the rash of posts asking about 2 page resumes. the standard, not only for law school, but for the corporate world in general is 1 page (unless of course you have substantial work experience/several graduate schools). althought this is not specifically applicable to the law school application, generally, you do not want an interviewer to have to continue to flip back and forth b/w page 1 and page 2

i have 6 years of work experience, and just as many (if not more) college activities as most other college students, and i easily fit mine onto 1 page. 1 page is the standard, you have no reason to elaborate as much as you are stretching it onto two pages--you dont look more important, trust me

and even with that being said, i dont understand why there is so much stress about resumes this year--some schools do not even require them

[r6_philly]

i really dont understand the rash of posts asking about 2 page resumes. the standard, not only for law school, but for the corporate world in general is 1 page (unless of course you have substantial work experience/several graduate schools). althought this is not specifically applicable to the law school application, generally, you do not want an interviewer to have to continue to flip back and forth b/w page 1 and page 2

i have 6 years of work experience, and just as many (if not more) college activities as most other college students, and i easily fit mine onto 1 page. 1 page is the standard, you have no reason to elaborate as much as you are stretching it onto two pages--you dont look more important, trust me

and even with that being said, i dont understand why there is so much stress about resumes this year--some schools do not even require them

Standard != requirement.

Many people are not differentiating the two.

[r6_philly]

If there is a soft limit (and I believe you) I definitely overlooked it. I tried to structure my application around a certain theme and having a resume full of work experiences seemed appropriate considering that end.

Looking back on my (already submitted) applications though, I do wish I had used a more space-saving format and tried to make it more concise. Ah well, do you think it will be much of a negative factor?

I don't think it would be much of a negative factor if you didn't stretch it out (and doesn't sound like you did). Especially if the schools you are applying to did not dictate/suggest the length.

However, after going through multiple iterations of my PS, I realized that my 2 pager says as much as my 3 pager, without losing the meaning. Only lost in editing were descriptive language, which was not necessary in legal writing I suppose. So everything was more compact and concise. I can actually cut down more, as I do when I need to fit school specific content in. It was painful editing it, but afterwords I had a "ahhhh" moment.

Working on the Yale 250 has been a great experience BTW. I really enjoyed trimming my drafts. Actually they should put a word count limit on PS instead of page count...

[bk1]

Standard != requirement.

Many people are not differentiating the two.

While this is true, the vast majority of law school applicants do not have enough stuff to justify more than a page.

[r6_philly]

Standard != requirement.

Many people are not differentiating the two.

While this is true, the vast majority of law school applicants do not have enough stuff to justify more than a page.

While that is true, the readers on this site includes those who do have enough stuff. So giving absolute answers may not be wise.

Since OP said it was hard to keep it to one page, people shouldn't tell him that he has to (I infer that he may indeed be one of those who has enough for a 2-pager). It wasn't an open ended question like "Do I need 1 page or 2 page for my resume?"

[r6_philly]

So the better answer should be"

Try to keep to 1 page because it is the standard. However if you need more space, 2 is fine as well. Keep it compact and concise, don't waste unnecessary space.
/end thread?

[bk1]

While that is true, the readers on this site includes those who do have enough stuff. So giving absolute answers may not be wise.

Since OP said it was hard to keep it to one page, people shouldn't tell him that he has to (I infer that he may indeed be one of those who has enough for a 2-pager). It wasn't an open ended question like "Do I need 1 page or 2 page for my resume?"

To be fair most people did not give an absolute. They just said something along the lines of "it should be 1 page" which leaves open the possibility for exceptions, in my mind.

Also, I infer that most people who ask questions here are boneheaded college students who know nothing about law school and admissions.

[r6_philly]

Also, I infer that most people who ask questions here are boneheaded college students who know nothing about law school and admissions.

Damn!

[operaphantom2003]

I have a question about the resume. Not including a job is considered lying by omission (at least from what I have been told) but do they really want every job I have held? On my resume I usually divide my work experience into "Relevant" and "Other Paid Experience" to separate my 15 years of work experience. Many times I held down 2 jobs--1 in retail and 1 in food service so I shift things around as is needed for whatever position I am applying for. I have not had paid work in the past 6 years but have focused on volunteer work, school, and family needs. Do law schools and the bar in the future consider omitting experience as lying? I hate to think that not including every job I have ever had will cause problems in the future.

[bk1]

I have a question about the resume. Not including a job is considered lying by omission (at least from what I have been told) but do they really want every job I have held? On my resume I usually divide my work experience into "Relevant" and "Other Paid Experience" to separate my 15 years of work experience. Many times I held down 2 jobs--1 in retail and 1 in food service so I shift things around as is needed for whatever position I am applying for. I have not had paid work in the past 6 years but have focused on volunteer work, school, and family needs. Do law schools and the bar in the future consider omitting experience as lying? I hate to think that not including every job I have ever had will cause problems in the future.

Unless they specifically require that you list every job you've ever had, there is nothing wrong with not listing jobs on your resume.

[r6_philly]

Resume is not an biographical form. You don't have to disclose everything. It is a marketing instrument. If I had to list every job I have ever held I would need 4-5 pages so clearly that is not the intention.

It's meant to be a highlight/summary of your experiences and qualifications.

[ConMan345]

I will post it once again:

Harvard Law School's admission page has 3 sample resumes listed for your reference. The third one has 2 pages.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/ ... urces.html

I don't know who decides to spread this idea of 1 page resume around. If they want a page limit on something, they will put that on the instructions (like the PS).

Haha, in the picture on that page, the person in the lower right is gchatting. Way to represent!...

[r6_philly]

I will post it once again:

Harvard Law School's admission page has 3 sample resumes listed for your reference. The third one has 2 pages.

http://www.law.harvard.edu/prospective/ ... urces.html

I don't know who decides to spread this idea of 1 page resume around. If they want a page limit on something, they will put that on the instructions (like the PS).

Haha, in the picture on that page, the person in the lower right is gchatting. Way to represent!...

Nice catch! I would expect to see Facebook.