In brief
- An academic CV is a full record of your education, research, publications, presentations, teaching and awards; a resume is a short, skills-focused summary for jobs.
- For grad school applications in the sciences, put Education first and Research Experience second.
- List items in reverse chronological order within each section and describe research with methods and outcomes.
- A first CV for a graduate application is typically one to three pages, and its length should come from real substance.
- Use honest status labels for publications: published, in press, under review, submitted or in preparation.
What is an academic CV? ¶
An academic CV (curriculum vitae, Latin for "course of life") is a structured record of your academic career: education, research experience, publications, presentations, teaching, awards and service. Graduate admissions committees, fellowship panels and principal investigators use it to judge your preparation for research, so it emphasizes scholarly activity over general work skills.
In the United States and Canada, "CV" means this academic document, and "resume" means a short document for most other jobs. In the UK, Ireland and much of Europe, "CV" is used for both, so an "academic CV" there means the research-focused version. The content and order below follow North American graduate-school norms, which most international programs also accept.
Academic CV vs resume ¶
Many applicants send a resume when a program asks for a CV. The table shows what changes.
| Feature | Academic CV | Resume |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Graduate admission, fellowships, research and faculty posts | Industry, government and most non-academic jobs |
| Length | 1 to 3 pages for a first CV; grows over a career | Usually 1 to 2 pages |
| Lead section | Education, then research | Summary or work experience |
| Publications and presentations | Listed in full, with citations | Rarely included |
| Tailoring | Order and emphasis adjusted; content stays complete | Heavily cut for each job |
| References | Often listed on the CV or on a matching page | Usually omitted |
Keep a master CV that lists everything you have done, then create a tailored version for each application. It saves time and prevents you from forgetting small but relevant items.
Academic CV sections and the order to use ¶
Admissions readers may spend under a minute on a CV. Page one should answer: can this person do research?
For a graduate school CV in the sciences, use this order. Leave out any section you cannot fill honestly; an empty heading looks worse than a missing one.
- Contact information: full name, university email, phone, city, and optionally ORCID, LinkedIn or a personal site. Omit date of birth, photo, marital status and nationality for US applications.
- Education: degree, major and minor, institution, city and expected graduation date. Add GPA if strong, honors thesis title and advisor.
- Research interests (optional): one line of 3 to 5 specific topics that match the programs you apply to.
- Research experience: lab or project, your role, PI, dates and 2 to 4 bullet points.
- Publications: in a consistent citation style, with your name in bold.
- Presentations and posters: conference or symposium, location and date.
- Honors, awards and funding: scholarships, research grants, dean's list, travel awards.
- Teaching and mentoring: TA roles, tutoring, peer mentoring.
- Technical and laboratory skills: methods, instruments, software and programming languages.
- Relevant work experience: jobs that build research-related skills.
- Service, leadership and outreach: student societies, committees, science outreach.
- Professional memberships and languages.
- References: 3 names with titles, institutions and emails, or a separate page.
If your strongest material is a publication or a major award, it can move higher. The rule is to put your best evidence of research potential on the first page.
Academic Editing
Want a second pair of eyes on your CV? Get field-matched editing with Track Changes and comments that explain every suggestion.
How to write research experience entries ¶
Research experience is the section that carries a science CV. Each entry needs a clear header and bullet points that start with an action verb and show what you did, with which methods, and what came of it.
Weak
- Helped in a microbiology lab.
- Did experiments and data analysis.
- Responsible for various tasks.
Strong
- Designed and ran biofilm assays on 24 clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates to test tolerance to three antibiotics.
- Quantified biofilm biomass with crystal-violet staining and analyzed results in R (mixed-effects models).
- Presented findings at the university research symposium; data contributed to a manuscript in preparation.
Useful verbs include designed, conducted, optimized, analyzed, modeled, coded, validated, synthesized, trained and presented. Be precise about your own role. If you assisted with a technique, say so; interviewers often ask you to explain every method listed.
Publications and presentations: formatting and honesty ¶
Use one citation style throughout, usually the style of your field (APA, ACS, AMA or Vancouver). Our APA format guide covers APA 7 reference rules. Bold your own name so readers see your position in the author list.
Label every item accurately. These are the accepted status terms, from most to least advanced:
- Published: full citation with DOI.
- In press: formally accepted, not yet published.
- Under review: submitted to a named journal and with reviewers.
- Submitted: sent to a journal, decision pending.
- In preparation: a real draft exists.
Never list a paper as accepted before you have the acceptance letter, and do not add authors or reorder them. Committees check, and an inflated CV can end an application. Posters and talks go in a separate Presentations section, listed with the meeting name, location and month. If you have presented a poster, our guide to the research poster explains how to describe it well.
SAMPLE CV: fictional applicant for illustration only MAYA R. OKAFOR maya.okafor@example.edu | (555) 010-0142 | Springfield, IL | ORCID: 0000-0000-0000-0000 EDUCATION B.S. in Biology, Minor in Statistics | Springfield State University | Expected May 2027 GPA: 3.82/4.00 | Honors Thesis: "Antibiotic tolerance in Pseudomonas aeruginosa biofilms from clinical isolates" | Advisor: Dr. Elena Park RESEARCH INTERESTS Bacterial biofilms, antimicrobial tolerance, host-pathogen interactions, quantitative microbiology RESEARCH EXPERIENCE Undergraduate Researcher, Park Microbial Physiology Lab | Springfield State University | Jan 2025 to present - Designed and ran biofilm assays on 24 clinical P. aeruginosa isolates to compare tolerance to three antibiotics - Quantified biofilm biomass with crystal-violet staining and confocal microscopy; analyzed data in R with mixed-effects models - Trained and supervised two first-year students in sterile technique and plate-reader protocols Summer Research Fellow, Microbiology Summer Program | Lakeview University | Jun 2025 to Aug 2025 - Built and tested a gene knockout in E. coli using lambda Red recombineering under the supervision of Dr. Samuel Reyes - Ran growth curves and qPCR to measure expression of stress-response genes - Presented results to program faculty in a 15-minute talk PUBLICATIONS Okafor, M. R., Chen, L., & Park, E. (2026). Biofilm tolerance profiles of clinical Pseudomonas aeruginosa isolates [Manuscript submitted for publication]. Department of Biology, Springfield State University. Lin, D., Okafor, M. R., & Park, E. (in preparation). Imaging-based quantification of early biofilm formation. PRESENTATIONS Okafor, M. R., & Park, E. (2026, April). Antibiotic tolerance in clinical biofilms [Poster presentation]. Springfield State University Undergraduate Research Symposium, Springfield, IL. Okafor, M. R. (2025, August). Stress-response genes in E. coli knockouts [Oral presentation]. Lakeview University Summer Research Showcase, Lakeview, IL. HONORS AND AWARDS Undergraduate Research Grant ($1,500), Springfield State University | 2025 Summer Research Fellowship, Lakeview University | 2025 Dean's List, all semesters | 2023 to present TEACHING AND MENTORING Teaching Assistant, Introductory Biology Laboratory (BIO 110) | Fall 2025 - Led weekly lab sections of 18 students; graded lab reports and held office hours Peer Tutor, Campus Learning Center (Biology and Statistics) | 2024 to 2025 TECHNICAL SKILLS Laboratory: aseptic technique, biofilm assays, confocal microscopy, qPCR, PCR, gel electrophoresis, lambda Red recombineering Computational: R (tidyverse, lme4, ggplot2), Python (pandas), ImageJ/Fiji, GraphPad Prism SERVICE AND LEADERSHIP Vice President, Biology Student Association | 2025 to 2026 Volunteer, Elementary School Science Night | 2024 to present PROFESSIONAL MEMBERSHIPS Student Member, [national microbiology society] | 2025 to present LANGUAGES English (native), Spanish (professional working proficiency) REFERENCES Dr. Elena Park, Associate Professor of Biology, Springfield State University | epark@example.edu Dr. Samuel Reyes, Professor of Microbiology, Lakeview University | sreyes@example.edu Dr. Priya Natarajan, Senior Lecturer in Statistics, Springfield State University | pnatarajan@example.edu
CV formatting tips ¶
- Font and size: a standard font such as Times New Roman, Calibri, Garamond or Arial at 10 to 12 pt, with headings slightly larger or in bold.
- Margins: 0.75 to 1 inch on all sides.
- Layout: institution, degree and role on the left; dates and locations aligned on the right.
- Order: reverse chronological within each section.
- Consistency: one date format (for example, "Sept 2024 to May 2026" or "2024 to 2026"), consistent punctuation, parallel bullet grammar.
- Headers: your name and page numbers on every page after the first.
- No clutter: avoid text boxes, tables, graphics, skill bars and photos, which can confuse admissions software and readers.
- File: save as PDF, named
Lastname_Firstname_CV.pdf.
Proofread the final version slowly, then ask a mentor to read it. Small errors in a document that claims attention to detail are costly. If English is your second language, an academic editing pass with Track Changes and explanatory comments can tighten wording while keeping every claim your own; check your program's rules on outside help in our academic integrity page.
How to write a CV for grad school and PhD applications ¶
A grad school CV and a PhD application CV share the same structure. What changes is emphasis.
- Match the program: mirror the program's research areas in your Research Interests line and lead with the most relevant project.
- Show independence: for PhD applications, point to moments where you designed part of a study, solved a methods problem or wrote up results.
- Connect the documents: the projects on your CV should be the ones your statement of purpose and recommenders discuss.
- Include relevant coursework only if your degree title does not show it, for example advanced statistics for a biology major applying to bioinformatics.
- Undergraduate CV with little research: include capstone projects, lab courses with independent projects, data analysis classwork and relevant jobs. Label them accurately as course projects.
A CV for a master's program can include more coursework and work experience. A CV for a PhD program should foreground research, methods and outputs.
Common academic CV mistakes to avoid ¶
- Sending a resume instead of a CV: a one-page, skills-first resume leaves out the research detail committees want.
- Vague bullets: "assisted with research" tells the reader nothing. Name the organism, technique, software or analysis.
- Mixed citation styles: pick one style and apply it to every publication and presentation.
- Inflated status labels: listing a submitted paper as "in press" or a class project as a publication.
- Personal details: photos, age, marital status and full home address are unnecessary for US and Canadian applications.
- An unprofessional email address: use your university account.
- Out-of-date entries: update expected graduation dates, manuscript statuses and positions before every application.
- Inconsistent formatting: misaligned dates, mixed bullet styles and varying fonts suggest carelessness.
Read the CV once for content and once only for format. Print it, since layout problems are easier to see on paper.
Science curriculum vitae sample ¶
The copy-ready sample below is for a fictional applicant, Maya R. Okafor, a senior biology major applying to PhD programs in microbiology. Every name, institution and publication in it is invented for illustration. Use it as a model of structure, level of detail and formatting, and replace each entry with your own real experience.
Notice how the first page carries education, research and publications, how each research bullet names methods and outcomes, and how the publication statuses are labeled. In your own file, put your name in bold in each citation and align dates to the right margin.
Sources and further reading
- UNC Chapel Hill University Career Services: Writing a Curriculum Vitae (CV)
- Harvard FAS Mignone Center for Career Success: Create a Resume/CV or Cover Letter
- Harvard Griffin GSAS: CVs and Cover Letters guide (2025)
- MIT Career Advising and Professional Development: Application materials for PhDs and postdocs