Undergraduate Resume: 2+ Examples for Students and Recent Grads

Whether you’re a college freshman or a recent graduate, having a polished and professional resume prepared gives you an advantage over other students once you start applying for internships and entry-level jobs.

Even if you have zero work experience, you can still create an undergraduate resume that helps you at least land internships (and even better — paying jobs).

Check out these two undergraduate resume examples, then we’ll walk you through the process of how to write your own undergraduate student resume so you’re best prepared for professional success during (and after) college.

Undergraduate resume examples

What you put on a resume depends on 1.) your degree, and 2.) how much work experience you have (if any). Check out these two undergraduate resume samples — one resume with work experience, and one without — to get an idea of what your resume should look like:

1. Undergraduate resume example (with experience)

2. Undergraduate resume example (no experience)

Download These Free Examples

Also, check out these other examples if they apply to you:

• College graduate resume
• College freshman resume
• Internship resume example
• Internship cover letter sample
• Scholarship cover letter example

How to write an undergraduate resume

Getting hired isn’t easy for most people, and finding a good job is especially difficult for recent college graduates.

As of December 2020, the unemployment rate for recent college graduates was the highest it’s been in a decade. What’s more, 40% of recent graduates in the workforce are employed in positions that don’t require a college degree.

Being able to write a great resume as an undergraduate student has never been so essential to landing the job you want out of college.

Here’s everything you need to know about writing each section on your undergraduate resume:

1. Clearly state your contact information

Put your name, email, phone number, address, and relevant social media profiles in the header of your resume.

Adding contact information may seem self-explanatory, but here are some tips to help you avoid common mistakes:

• Your name should be readable at the top of the page (use a bigger font).
• Use a professional email address. If you don’t have one yet, make a new Gmail with your first and last name, or initials, with periods or hyphens mixed in.
• Adjust your social media privacy settings in the event you have any less-than-professional photos or videos floating around.

Here’s how the top of your undergraduate resume should look:

2. Open with a convincing resume objective

A resume objective is a brief 2–4 sentence resume introduction that provides an overview of your most notable qualifications, skills, and goals. Your objective is an essential part of your undergraduate resume, because it lets you explain why you’re qualified despite having limited work experience.

Here are some points to remember when you’re writing a resume objective for your undergrad resume:

• Keep your objective short. Hiring managers read resumes quickly, so it’s important to communicate your qualifications concisely.
• Write (or at least adjust) your objective each time you send out a resume.  Target your objective to the job you’re applying for, referencing the job requirements the hiring manager wrote in the job ad.
• In the last sentence, state your interest in the job and note how your skills and career goals make you a good fit.

Here’s an example of a resume objective for an undergrad resume that would impress any hiring manager:

3. Write a detailed education section

As a recent college graduate, you probably don’t have a long work history to include on your resume. To impress employers, you need to draw their attention to the accomplishments you do have.

To highlight your most important achievements, list your resume education section before your work experience (you’ll switch the two sections on resumes later in your career).

Your education section includes the following information:

• The name of your school
• Your area of study
• Your graduation date (or expected graduation date)
• Any honors you received
• Your GPA — but only if it’s 3.5 or higher.

Also, use your education section to highlight any relevant coursework you completed that showcases valuable hard or soft skills. If possible, use hard numbers to demonstrate your value, like in the example below:

4. Add relevant work experience

You may not have a laundry list of jobs to put on your resume, but you’ve probably worked summer jobs or part-time gigs when you were in high school. Put any jobs you’ve held in your resume’s work experience section, as long as they’re relevant to your target job.

For instance, if you’re applying to an entry-level sales position, mention your upselling success rate when you were a waiter. If you’re going into graphic design, write about the time you designed posters that grew your babysitting business by 80%.

Your work experience section is also where you can list your internships or volunteer experience. Here’s an example of a strong work experience section for an undergraduate:

5. Include job or field-related skills

The late-night study sessions, presentations, and group projects from your college days are about to pay off. Whether you know it or not, all that work has given you a valuable set of hard and soft skills that employers want to see on your resume.

Some soft skills you likely developed while at college and should add to your resume include the following:

• Teamwork
• Time management
• Communication skills
• Organizational skills
• Interpersonal skills
• Written communication
• Open-Mindedness
• Self-motivation
• Brainstorming
• Critical thinking

Hard skills picked up in college vary depending on your area of study. For example, a software engineering major exits school with technical skills like fluency in multiple coding languages, while a graphic design major would list Adobe Photoshop as a hard skill.

But even if you received a bachelor’s in general studies, chances are you have a few of the following hard skills:

• Computer skills
• Microsoft Office
• Google Docs
• Google Sheets
• Google Calendar
• Language skills
• Research skills
• Writing and editing
• Research
• Presentation

Additionally, including the skills mentioned in the job description is critical to your application’s success.

Many companies use application tracking systems (ATS) to review applications. ATS software automatically deletes applications that don’t include the skills the employer requires. So even if you wrote a creative masterpiece of a resume, it won’t reach the hiring manager’s inbox unless you include the skill-related keywords they’re looking for.

6. List related extracurricular activities

If your undergraduate resume has too much blank space at the bottom, fill it with relevant extracurricular activities.

Joining optional groups like fraternities or sororities, and taking part in various events indicates you’re self-motivated and work well with others. Also, if slam poetry or comedy open mics are where your passions lie, list them — performing arts require creativity and public speaking, skills that employers love to see on a resume.

If you can use hard numbers to quantify your extracurriculars, do it. Writing “performed in annual talent shows” is much less impressive than “performed for crowds of 2,000+ students in annual talent shows.”

To get an idea of how you’d format your extracurricular activities section on your resume, check out this example:

Submit your resume to potential employers

The hard work of formatting, arranging, and writing your undergraduate resume isn’t over yet. You should alter each resume you make on Word every time you apply to a new job, highlighting your education, work experience, and extracurriculars to best match that job’s unique requirements.

And before you turn your resume into a PDF and send it off, remember to proofread it. Submitting a resume with a typo or spelling mistake could mean the difference between getting hired and being rejected. So proofread your resume, send it to a friend for a second opinion, and then proofread again before submitting it.

Follow these tips for writing a flawless undergraduate resume, and you’ll start your post-college career in no time.