Outstanding Medical School Resume Samples [Writing Guide & Tips]

medical school resume templates
Created by CakeResume

If you are preparing to apply for a medical school, a good medical school resume can help you stand out from other candidates. It’s one of the main documents that medical school's admission values, so make sure to give your resume extensive care. 

In a medical school resume, the admission committee examines your professional and academic profile to determine whether to accept you into their medical program. As a result, the way you format and present past experience is essential when crafting the resume for a medical school application. 

Besides strong academic performance, work experience, and extracurricular activities, this article will help you with your medical school resume section by section.

📝 Note: The difference between a CV and a resume in the US, is their purposes. However, since a medical school resume or CV serves the same role, which is to get you into an academic institute, you can take notice of the resume tips for your medical school CV as well.

How to write a successful resume for medical school

Step 1: Research your desired medical school and curriculum.

Before you start working on your medical school resume or CV, you should collect information about the schools of application. You need to know:

  • Medical school requirements: such as prerequisites, letters of recommendation, GPA/medical test scores, and clinical or research experience
  • Medical school curriculum and strengths

💡 Tips: These will help you determine how to write and prepare for your medical school resume.

Step 2: Choose the right format for the medical school resume.

Since you are applying for a medical school, you should check if there are document requirements for the medical school resume. List your education before work experience, and add sections to highlight extracurricular activities. 

To format your medical school resume correctly, first, determine the structure and organize your content to distribute for each section.  The reverse-chronological format is the most commonly used and accepted one.  

Step 3: Look up online medical school resume templates & examples as references.

Don’t hesitate to look up online med school resume examples to see how others write an accepted resume. When referring to templates and examples, take notice of:

  • How they connect content with the medical school ethos or spirit. 
  • How they describe their achievements and responsibilities.
  • How does their medical school resume represent themselves.

🔍  By observing these details, you can get a better idea of how to write your medical school application resume.

Step 4: Tailor your resume according to the school and curriculum.

The reason for doing thorough research is for you to craft a medical school resume that presents you as a right fit. Study the school curriculum and experience from real students. 

💡 Tips: Tailor your medical school resume to show your understanding of the school or department’s culture, or even the professor’s expertise.

Step 5: Proofread.

Always proofread before you upload your medical school resume.

Get rid of any grammatical mistakes or typos, and find someone reliable to read it through. Rigorous examiners will interpret these mistakes as serious negligence.

What to include in a medical school resume

    Resume header

In the medical school resume’s first section, simply include:

  • Full name
  • Professional email
  • Telephone number
  • Address (optional)
  • Personal website URL (optional)

Under your name, a professional resume title should be placed along with contact information. Adding an online personal profile provides additional insight besides the medical school resume to admission officers.

Example:

Sondra J. White

[email protected]
507-202-0215
New Orleans, LA 70113
www.linkedin.com/in/sondrawhite

Resume objective or summary

In a medical school resume, you can use an objective (1-2 sentences) or a summary (3-4 sentences) section to shortly introduce yourself. It has to be strong, concise, and relevant to your application. Highlight your most impressive achievements, your job or internship title, years of experience, basically the best side of you.

Example:

Engaged, organized medical researcher seeking admission into Johns Hopkins University. Dean’s list graduate from Stanford Medical School with a BS in Biomedical Informatics Research. GPA of 3.8/4 with a focus on pathology. MCAT Score: 517/521.

    Education

Since you are applying for a medical school, the education section in your resume needs to be written with extra attention. On the medical school application resume, make sure you include:

  • School name and Location
  • Type of Degree, Major/Minor
  • Graduation year
  • GPA (if above 3.5) or Dean’s list
  • MCAT scores
  • Publications 
  • Relevant Coursework

❗ The gist is to list important indicators to prove you’re competent enough for medical school studies.

Example:

Duke University, Durham
BSc. in Biology      2017-2020
GPA 3.85/4, Dean’s list 2018,2019
MCAT 518/521

Publications:

White, S. and Steward, M. “The Use of Anabolic Steroids Among Athletes” American Journal of Public Health. 2019 Nov; 203(1):50-9.

Work Experience

In this section of the medical school resume, showcase your professional, clinical, intern, volunteer, or any other field experience. This background indicates your familiarity with medical practice, and whether you are capable of handling bigger responsibilities.

Your work experience in the medical school resume should be formatted this way:

Template:

Job or Volunteer Title

Hospital/Organization/Company      Work Date

  • Use 2-6 bullet points to further explain related achievements and responsibilities. 
  • Use active verbs and quantified results to support your abilities and skills.

💡 Tips: Adopt a reversed chronological outline for the entire medical school resume. List your most recent experience upfront, and focus on the major tasks or challenges you have accomplished and overcame. 

Publications or research projects

There’s no need to freak out if you don’t have any academic research experience. 

However, if you do have some published papers, or the school emphasizes medical research studies, be sure to create a section in your medical school resume. Use MLA, APA, or Chicago citation format to list your publications. 

Research experience is crucial for those who are pursuing an MD-PhD program and work for medical research.

Skills

In a medical school resume or CV, a skills section is not exactly a requirement. Nevertheless, if you include a skills section, choose those delicately selected and can be proven with achievements. 

🚫  Don’t just use skills to stuff your medical school resume. For example, listing “problem-solving skills” implies you had encountered an issue and worked out a solution, and asked to elaborate more on the subject in an interview.

Extracurricular activities

Besides work experience, extracurricular activities provide a great chance to express your passion and commitment to the medical field in the application resume. 

📝  If you have ever shadowed a doctor, provided community services, or taught as a tutor, you can list these activities in this section.

Awards, honors, license & certificates

You can add an extra section if you have tons of awards, honors, and certificates to demonstrate in your med school resume. Collecting these all together in a section portrays you as a persevere medical student. Or, you can use these as solid evidence in the medical school resume skills section.

Hobbies & interests

In a professional medical school resume, hobbies and interests can demonstrate that you are multitalented, or have strong leadership. Sports, music, art, or student government experience can demonstrate you’re not just a dull bookworm.

💡 Tips: These hobbies should leave a positive impression on the admission professors or have a great impact on your medical perspective.

Tips for writing the best CV for medical students

  • Tip 1: Customize the resume for the school.

Ideally, there will be customized medical school resume versions to submit for each school of application. 

To target your dream schools, writing a customized medical school resume takes more time, but is absolutely necessary. “Targeting” means to focus on the differences between each medical school, and fuse their “‘language” into your resume. By implementing corresponding keywords in the school description into your medical school resume, you’re more likely to be seen as one of them.

  • Tip 2: Highlight what makes you unique.

Besides customizing your medical school resume, add features to make you memorable. Pinpoint 1-2 unique or impressive experiences, use it as an opportunity to make you stand out. This aspect of you should connect to your perception or personal growth in the medical field.

  • Tip 3: Quantify results and achievements in your medical school resume.

Whenever possible, use numbers and data to quantify your experience and achievements in the medical school resume. Numbers give the admission officers a better sense of the event and your scientific spirit.

  • Tip 4: Adopt resume action words (verbs).

Here’s a little technique to make you look proactive, passionate, and diligent. In your medical school resume, the sentences that describe your experience should start with active verbs such as “Conducted” or ”Analyzed”. 

  • Tip 5: Focus on delivering the “quality” of your activities.

Although you should describe your achievements with precision, quality matters much more when listing your experience, extracurricular activities, skills, or volunteer work in the medical school resume. Those you have maintained a long-term commitment and devoted to with heart should always come first. 

🌟 In this highly competitive field, the admission officers are seeking not only a perfect mold, cliched medical school applicant.  They would also like to see in a resume applicants’ characteristics like leadership, altruism, creativity, or critical thinking.

How to pick the best resume template for medical students

🔍 How long should a medical school resume be?

Keep your medical school resume or CV 1-2 pages long. Only include related content that shows your competence to the admission committee. 

🔍 What is the best font to use in a resume for medical school admission? 

Selecting a font with readability for your medical school resume is crucial. Caslon, Cambria, Garamond, Helvetica, Times New Roman, and will be suitable enough to look professional. Keep your description texts between 10-12pt, and Heading text around 12-14pt, and line spacing 1-1.5. 

🔍 What format should a resume for medical school applications be in, Word or PDF?

First and foremost, your resume file type depends on the application requirements. Most applications specify which to upload or submit. 

One of the pros of sending your medical school resume in a PDF file is that it keeps your layout and font style intact. PDF files can also be opened from all devices. Nevertheless, MS Word is accepted in the academic field, and the admission office may require a medical school resume in a word file.

💡 Tips: One of the pros of sending your medical school resume in a PDF file is that it keeps your layout and font style intact. PDF files can also be opened from all devices.

CakeResume provides the best Medical School resume templates & examples for talents to demonstrate your qualifications. Let us help you land the dream studying in a Medical School with a strong resume (free download)!

Medical School Resume Sample

Sharron C Perry 

Detail-oriented medical researcher with strong clinical care experience

[email protected]
202-555-0152
Oakland, CA 94601 

Professional Summary

Analysis-driven, detail-oriented medical research graduate and applicant to Yale School of Medicine. Dedicated 3 years of experience in clinical service and medical research. 

Work Experience

Clinical Research Intern
XYZ Hospital  

2018 Sep. - 2019 Sep.

  • Assisted doctors and principal investigators with high-risk obstetrics preparation and communicate with 15 patients regarding research details
  • Collected and organized patient profiles to analyze clinical research data 
  • Operationalized standard operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure organization and replicability of research workflows.

Undergraduate Researcher
Season Lab

2017 Sep.- 2018 Jun.

  • Collaborated with professors to develop new topics and gather research information on Femoral Stem Fixation in Cemented Total Hip Replacements

Education

Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore
B.S., Medical Biology   2015 - 2019
GPA: 3.8/4.0
Dean’s Honor List; magna cum laude graduate

Relevant Coursework: Biochemistry, Immunology, Microbiology, Organic Chemistry, Microbiology

Publication: Kurtz, C. and Perry, S. "An Analysis of the Nasal NPPV for the Dyspneic Patients" The American Journal of Medicine. 2018 Sep; 122(1):47-9.

Skills

  • Academic Writing
  • Adaptability
  • Critical thinking
  • Colleague and Patient Communication
  • Computer skills
  • Collaboration
  • Data Analysis 
  • Negotiating
  • Organizational skills
  • Observation
  • Problem-solving
  • Work Ethic

Extracurricular activities

Surgery Ambassador Volunteer
Ruby Children’s Hospital Foundation, Baltimore, 2018
100-hour commitment

  • Served as a liaison between families and surgery operators to keep families informed of the child’s status. 

Awards & honors

  • MCAT: 520/528 2019 
  • University Outstanding Leadership and Service Award

Hobbies & interests

  • Swimming - Red Cross Lifeguard Certification
  • Pencil & charcoal portrait sketch
  • Public speaking and speech writing
  • Spanish, French (Intermediate)
  • USA Boxing Green Coach Certification

--- Originally written by Wu Chao Min ---

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