What does an "activity resume" look like?

[Daria]

DS is applying to a summer pre-college program for theater students at Carnegie Mellon.  The application stresses me out!

 

They say over and over again, that it's not competitive, and that they're basically first come first serve, but then they are asking for:

 

transcripts

test scores

a letter of recommendation

an essay

an "activity resume"

and a "theatre resume" which lists all the performances and roles they've been involved in.

 

That seems like a lot for a first come first serve program, don't you think?

 

Anyway, we've got everything figured out but the activity resume.

 

Here is their description of an activity resume:

 

• Activities Resume - Provide a detailed description of your extracurricular activities and/or work experience, or your experiences as they relate to the arts.

 Given that he already has an essay in which he describes his work in the theater, an letter of recommendation from the director he most likes to work with, and a theater resume that lists performances and roles, what does an activity resume look like that adds to that?  Should it just look like a regular resume, with places he's worked/volunteered/done things, dates and a couple lines of description for each?  He already has a regular resume, could he send that?

[justasque]

I would do the regular resume with the volunteer work and so on.  It will give an overview of his experiences outside of the theater world and round out the picture drawn by the theater resume and the transcript.  If he already has a regular resume, you could probably do a quick edit and have what you need.

[Daria]

I would do the regular resume with the volunteer work and so on.  It will give an overview of his experiences outside of the theater world and round out the picture drawn by the theater resume and the transcript.  If he already has a regular resume, you could probably do a quick edit and have what you need.

 

And you'd leave the paid employment on it too?

[Brenda in FL]

Here's an example.

 

 

[justasque]

And you'd leave the paid employment on it too?

Sure.  It gives a full picture of the student's interests, experience, and drive, all of which are at least tangentially relevant theater-class-wise.  

[Sebastian (a lady)]

I would do the regular resume with the volunteer work and so on.  It will give an overview of his experiences outside of the theater world and round out the picture drawn by the theater resume and the transcript.  If he already has a regular resume, you could probably do a quick edit and have what you need.

 

I agree.  DS had a resume that listed all the various things he'd been involved in.  Work would definitely be something that would take up time and give an idea of the student's reliability and maturity.  

 

I would not purge the activity resume of the theater related activities.  I would make the entry on the activity resume more brief.

 

For example:  

Activity Resume:

East Elbonian Players (2012-present): Member of community theater company that performs three plays a year.  Cast member and stage crew.  Intern for stage manager (2014)

 

Theatre Resume:

Here I would go in reverse chronological order (most recent first) and list each production and what role was held.  You could have multiple sections with on stage roles and support roles if applicable.  There could be several entries here for the same time period covered in a couple lines on the Activity Resume.

[Daria]

So, does anyone (besides me) think this is a lot to ask for if they aren't going to use any of it in admissions decisions?  

It just seems odd to me that they ask for more than maybe a transcript to prove the kid really is a HS student.  Obviously, if they were using the information to select candidates, then that would be different, but they say that they aren't.

[justasque]

So, does anyone (besides me) think this is a lot to ask for if they aren't going to use any of it in admissions decisions?  

 

It just seems odd to me that they ask for more than maybe a transcript to prove the kid really is a HS student.  Obviously, if they were using the information to select candidates, then that would be different, but they say that they aren't.

 

It does give them a sense of who will be in the class, what their level of experience is, how driven they are to juggle lots of things, and where they are academically.  It may help them to group kids, or even to quietly suggest that a particular kid might not find it to be a good fit (either too advanced, or not advanced enough).  It may help them to decide how much they are likely to accomplish in the time available, and if any of the kids have special skills that may be useful (for example, sewing or construction work may be useful for costumes or sets).  And it can give them a heads up if a particular student may need a little help to fit in culturally.  If the only criteria for admission is "can pay for it", they may get a very wide range of students.  They can best serve their students if they have some sense in advance of what the students bring with them to the class.  

 

And of course, these pre-college programs are an opportunity for kids to check out the school and for the school to check them out.  It will help them identify highly-qualified potential future applicants, so that they can woo them accordingly.

[Penguin]

The non-competitive summer science program that my son applied to asked for test scores and a letter of recommendation. He did not have to write an essay, but he did have an application with questions like why are you interested in this program. IIRC there were maybe five questions that would require a paragraph to answer.