Strategies for your Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Strategies for your Curriculum Vitae (CV)

Office of Student Affairs

Adapted from AAMC Careers in Medicine

A curriculum Vitae (CV) is a summary of your background and accomplishments related to your academic and work experience. The document combines work experience with academic accomplishments, such as research, presentations, teaching experience, awards and honors.

Creating a CV takes time and should be a living document that you update frequently. Physicians use it throughout their professional life to present a complete summary of their career and highlight of their qualifications. It is also one of many supporting documents you'll need for the residency application process or to apply to research experiences, scholarships, honor societies, and other opportunities.

  • UNR Med Student CV Template 
    • The attached CV Template is built using a table format. For easy editing:
      • Highlight the table by clicking on the arrows right above "Education".
      • Then, select "Table Layout", "View Gridlines" from the menu. 
      • To add/delete experiences, add/delete rows from the Table Layout menu or hover over the rows and click on the +.
      • Avoid added spaces or hard returns to the rows, as this will cause formatting issues.

Formatting your CV

The document should be easy to read. Don't get fancy with graphics or multiple fonts. Keep things concise and clear.

  • Set margins at a minimum of 0.5 inch
  • Chose the font carefully - 11 or 12 point (Arial, Helvetica, Times New Roman, Calibri)
  • Ensure consistent style, size, and formatting of headings
  • Use bold, italics, capitalization, and bullets to organize your CV - but use sparingly
  • Length - Two pages will be a good start for most students

Components of a CV

  • Contact Information

    • Name
    • Mailing address
    • Phone numbers
    • Professional email address

Make sure to use current information where you can be reached.

  • Education - List all colleges and universities you have attended for your medical school, graduate, and undergraduate education. Include the name and location of each institution, the degree sought or earned, the date of (expected) completion, and major and minor field of study. As you move forward in your professional life, you'll add further achievements such as postgraduate training (residencies and fellowships) and academic or professional appointments.
  • Certifications and Licensures - (if applicable)
    • ACLS, BLS, etc. with expiration dates
    • To hand out to Letter Writers include:
      • USMLE Step Pass
      • USMLE Step 2 Score
  • Honors and Awards - Include any awards and scholarships you received during medical school and criteria, if known. Include only the most important awards and scholarships from undergraduate or other programs. Consider how much each item helps your candidacy and cut any that may not be valued by the reader.
  • Clinical Experience - You should include name of person you worked with and dates, if applicable. You can also add a brief description of your responsibilities and achievements as well as the competencies you gained. This section can be tailored to fit your specialty choice or career path.
  • Teaching Experience - If you engaged in any teaching activities, include the course name and your role. Add a brief description of your responsibilities and achievements, if applicable. This section can be tailored to fit your specialty choice or career path.
  • Extracurricular and Service Activities - List the most important long-term activities and their dates you participated in during medical school including, committee work, community service projects, student organization involvement. You can include your pre-medical school activities only if extraordinary or applicable to health care.
  • Research - List all your major and medically related research projects. You can add a few sentences or title describing each project and your role on the project. Include the research mentor's name and professional title as well as the location and dates where/when you completed your research.
  • Presentations - List any research, professional, or poster presentations from conferences, lectures, symposiums, and specialty association meetings. Include the title of the presentation, authors, audience, and any other relevant details. This section may be easily combined with publications to create a single, more attractive section.
  • Publications - List all published articles in which you are included as an author. If an article has been accepted for publication but not yet published, use the notation "in press" and omit a publication year. Use medical bibliographic reference style and be consistent throughout your CV. Endnote Resources 
  • Professional Memberships
  • Language Skills - include written, verbal, fluency
  • Personal Interests

Resources