Special Concerns
At the CWS, we recognize that international students face particular challenges in writing their resumes, and we want to ensure that these are sufficiently addressed. Many students also have questions about GPA and various other conventions for a resume, some of which are clarified below. If questions still remain regarding your resume, please speak to a career counselor during drop-in hours or at a private appointment.
International Students
There are several issues for international students to consider when writing resumes. Do you include your international home address at the top of the document, or leave it off? If you are looking for a job or internship in your home country, in a country with a reciprocal work/visa status with the U.S., or with an American company that would value your knowledge of your country's culture or language, then it may be advisable to include your international address.
Alternatively, in some cases, it may be advantageous to omit your international address. If none of the above reasons are true, then the potential employer is unlikely to contact you in your home country, thus the space on the resume could be better used for other information. In addition, if you have relatives or friends in the American city where you wish to work or intern, you can use that contact information instead of your own home address.
Occasionally, a student will have multiple citizenship. If one of these is U.S. citizenship and you wish to work in this country, it should be notated. A category called "background" or "additional information" can be placed at the end of the resume to include your citizenship status and travel experience. For example,
- Dual US/UK citizenship. Raised in Asia for twelve years. Travel includes Western Europe, Russia, Japan and China.
- US permanent resident. Korean national. Lived in Korea until age 14. Attended high school in US. Travel throughout Asia and Latin America.
Many international students may have difficulty finding internships at home, since the concept of doing internships is very American. We invite you to meet with a CWS counselor to discuss how to find internships in the U.S. and abroad. It is also a good idea to talk with Sylvia Hiestand in the Slater International Center to learn about Practical Training rules and regulations concerning work in the US for those on international student visas.
For more information, please refer to the International Career Consortium's guide Career Planning for International Students ,located in the CWS library, on the fourth floor of Green Hall.
GPA (Grade Point Average) and Major
According to several members of the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), if your overall GPA is above a 3.00, it should be included on your resume. Some employers have reported that when a student's GPA does not appear on her resume, they presume it to be below a 3.00. Regardless of your GPA, remember that Wellesley's reputation as a rigorous academic institution will serve you well. If you have questions, please speak with a CWS counselor.
Student GPAs should be reported exactly as they appear on the Wellesley College transcript, to the hundredth decimal place (e.g., 3.32/4.00). GPAs should not be rounded off, up or down. However, in an online application such as MonsterTRAK, where space for the GPA is only allotted to the tenth decimal place, rounding is appropriate.
Wellesley College does not officially compute a separate GPA within the major. A student may list her "major GPA" in addition to her overall GPA if the major GPA is higher. To calculate your major GPA, see the Registrar's guideline at http://www.wellesley.edu/Registrar/calculateGPA.html.
The Wellesley College GPA consists exclusively of grades from Wellesley and MIT courses, as listed on a student's transcript; courses from other institutions are not factored into this GPA. Resumes may indicate Wellesley courses in progress, but projected grades cannot be included in the GPA. Any GPA from another institution should be listed separately from the Wellesley GPA.
Grammatical Conventions
The following are a few standard conventions for a resume:
- For American states, use the abbreviation convention of two capitalized letters (MA, CT, NY, etc.)
- Cities in countries other than the U.S. should be listed as "city, country."
- Job titles should be written out entirely, if possible. Otherwise, adhere to conventional abbreviations such as "Asst." and "Assoc." and employ a period after each.
- In general, write the full names of acronyms, followed by the acronym in parentheses. Well-known acronyms (e.g., UNICEF) may stand alone and/or be followed by the full name in parentheses.
- Use the symbol "&" only when it's an official part of an employer name (i.e., law firm, accounting firm, etc.), or when necessary due to space concerns.
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