How to write a decent Cv?

How do I write my grad school CV?

• How do I write a CV for my grad school applications? I have a good idea of WHAT to put on the CV I'm just utterly mystified as to HOW I format the damn thing, what comes first, second, third... Also, I have Word on a Mac OS but there don't seem to be any templates. Obviously if they don't exist I'll just format the damn thing myself but if there are some out there, it would be good to know...

• Answer:

  I guess I was just put off by the fact that I really only have my undergrad education plus one or two academic awards and then my retail work experience. I'm only two years out of undergrad... This isn't so uncommon. Unlike in the world of business, where a resume is ONE COMPLETELY FULL PAGE AND NOT A LINE MORE, academic CVs vary enormously in length. After two years of grad school, mine is finally pushing up towards a full page. At the start of grad school, it was a half page, which felt not-so-great but didn't keep me from getting admitted. My advisor's is ten pages and growing. If you're looking for things to add, though, bear in mind that there's stuff that would look lame or desperate on a business resume that might be appropriate here. Leadership roles in clubs, especially ones related to your field? Any sort of volunteer service you did for your undergrad department? (The last line on my CV is an official-sounding title that boils down to "Organized that one potluck last year." A little higher up there's one that means "Folded a whole assload of conference programs.") Small roles in relevant projects? (Another line on mine is resume-speak for "Helped a friend debug some software.") Publications, even if they're just in student journals or But seriously — don't sweat the length. If you've included everything and it's still short, that's not a sign you're doing something wrong writing it, it's just a sign that you're new in your field. No shame in that.