CV

There is truly no one way of doing a CV. There are plenty of ways and you just have to pick and chose what you are going to put on yours. You can start of by using one of the CV/Resume templates on a Word program and change what you want. Never have someone or an agency do a CV for you; only you know best what should go in there or not.
Medical education, Undergraduate education, research experience, publications, work experience, honors/awards would make up a nice CV. If you want to have two versions of your CV you can add volunteer experience, USMLE scores, or something else.

I am sure someone may disagree with me, but it's all relative.

What I found helpful was going to a bookstore like Barnes and Noble and taking a look at their resume section. There are hundreds of books with thousands of sample cv's. Most are geared towards business but there are a few medical ones-of course there are none specifically for med students/residents. You'll get an idea what to include and how to jazz it up a little bit so it doesn't end up looking like your ERAS profile. Mine ended up looking really professional, so I asked the student affairs people to scan it in to ERAS right after my transcript. So far on interviews a lot of people skip right to it because it's easy to read and has everything on 2 pages. And I also don't have to schlep extra copies around with me. (Although most of the guys on the trail say they never had to pull extra copies of their cv out anyway.)

Good Luck.

Just keep the point in mind. This is a summary to be read by orthopaedic surgeons, so keep it as brief as possible.

The only possible reason I can think of to let it go longer than 1 front of 1 page is if you have a long list of publications. Unless you have over 30 publications, you should not go over 2 pages. Otherwise, it should have your contact info, your educational stints (Not highschool), honors or awards either with each stint of school/work or as a separate section, pertinent work experience (if not medically related, then you should only include it if you need to account for years between school), research experience (only list actual time spent in laboratories; if you have no publications from time you spent on clinical projects, then and only then list that time), a two line personal section about what you do for fun, and then references clearly delineated as peer-reviewed papers, abstracts/presentations, submitted papers, or works in progress (If you put all these together, people will think that you are padding.) You may or may not add a line toward the top about goals or purpose; it should be no more than two lines.

The two keys are brevity and honesty. Surgeons will get annoyed with too many words on the page and very annoyed if they think you are trying to toot your horn louder than you ought to. Be very judicious on sections such as submitted papers and works in progress.

just my thoughts.

what if your biggest high school accomplishment, which you cannot achieve once you turn 18, is being an eagle scout?

I pretty much agree with what has been posted.
My CV reads:
Education
Professional Experience
Awards Received
Extracurricular Activities
Publications
Presentations
Research

I agree to keep it short and to the point. Take a look at the First Aid for the Match book. It has some advice on CV formatting etc. Also, my school refused to scan my CV at the end of my transcript...so I have been carrying around hard copies. It is definitely worth the effort to produce a professional looking CV. Good luck.

If you are an eagle scout, you should put it in you CV. That shows dedication and hard work. I would put two headings. Medical Honors/Awards and Other Honors/Awards. Under the other heading, you can put undergraduate honors and awards and major awards such as an eagle.

Agree with the ortho 2003. Even when for those applying to the NASA astronaut program, it helps to be an eagle scout.

Here's a couple of books I looked at to help me with my CV and PS:

Resumes and Personal Statements for Health Professionals, by James W. Tysinger. 2nd ed. Tucson: Galen Press, 1999.

Getting Into a Residency: A Guide for Medical Students, by Kenneth V. Iserson. Tucson: Galen Press.

First Aid for the Match, by Tao Le. Stamford, CT: Appleton & Lange, 1997

I don't recommend buying any of these, but hopefully your library might have them. I really liked the first one I mentioned. It goes through a step-by-step process for forming both your CV and PS. When your done, have a couple people (including orthopedic surgery advisor) look over it. Remember also for ERAS, you submit your CV through categories that they determine. So if you spend a lot of time on your CV, you might want to scan it in separately in addition to the ERAS generated CV. :smokin:

Everyone here has given great advice. The only thing I have to add is -- once you have a resume/CV that you're happy with, don't neglect it! Update it every year, so you don't forget any activities/awards that might slip your mind several years down the line. Also, this way, the process won't be so long and painful when you're trying to write another CV for fellowship/job interviews. However, as you update your CV, keep the old ones handy as well, 'cause you'll be deleting and adding things to each update depending on your objective and the space restrictions. Some things that you delete from an old CV may actually prove useful and interesting in a later CV!

(I've kept and updated my resume since high school -- and it made the whole ortho application process SOOOO much better!!!) :tongue:

This is great advice. I have done the same thing. Each new thing that pops up, I put it on my CV. Once or twice a year, someone asks for it. Keep it up to date! I also use it to keep track of my CMEs by listing them in an "Additional Study" category.