High School Resume for College
This resume example for a college application will show you how to market your academic experience and experience.
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| By Corissa Peterson | Reviewed by Conrad Benz
Struggling to write a resume as a high school student? Whether you're applying for your first job or putting together college applications, our high school resume templates and writing tips will help you make an impressive resume (even if you have no work experience).
This resume example for a college application will show you how to market your academic experience and experience.
Applying for your first job can be scary, but don't worry – this resume template will help you make a good impression on employers.
This high school resume example is made just for students who need to show they're qualified but don't have work experience to back it up just yet. Copy this Google Doc template to your drive to get started.
This resume for a high school graduate will help you highlight your academic accomplishments and relevant experience so employers know you're equipped to do the job.
To help you write your high school resume, here’s a template with proper resume formatting you can copy and paste:
High School Resume Example
FIRST AND LAST NAME
Email: your.email@gmail.com
Phone: (123) 456-7891
Address: Street, City, State
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/yourprofile
Resume Objective
Driven and compassionate student with a 3.8/4.0 GPA and excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. Seeking to apply my tutoring and mentorship skills to the Youth Development summer internship at [Company]. Possess proven communication skills and passion for advocacy that will support your organization’s cause.
Education
West Ashley High School
Chicago, IL
Class of 2025
3.8 GPA, made Honor Roll Fall of 2022 & Spring of 2023
National Merit Scholarship Finalist
Relevant Coursework
Calculus
AP English
Extracurriculars
Mu Alpha Theta: Math Honor Society
Poetry Club
Volunteer Experience
Key Skills
If you’re like most high school students, you’re in the tough situation of writing a resume without any work experience.
We’ll explain exactly how to make a high school student resume for your first job, internship, or college that highlights your strengths even if you have no work experience.
Whether you’re applying for summer jobs or need a resume for college, here are some additional resources that you can use depending on your situation:
To start off, check out the following video where our resident career expert Chloe explains how to write a resume with no experience, step-by-step:
If you’re writing a resume for your first job, then you’re probably not sure where to start. So we’ll break it down for you.
Start by using the standard chronological resume format. This format places your most recent experience at the top of the page (just below your resume’s header section and introduction), and older experience underneath it. Note that this experience doesn’t need to be work experience, and can be things like internships, volunteer work, and class projects.
You should then include the following information on your resume:
A resume objective is one type of introduction for a resume you can use to summarize who you are to employers. This intro is great for high school students or anyone with little job experience because it emphasizes your future career goals and passion (rather than your current accomplishments).
However, if you’ve achieved a lot as a student so far in your life, you could try generating a professional resume summary.
Before you write your resume objective, read the job ad to see what qualifications the employer is looking for. Then, write a 2–3 sentence paragraph that highlights your:
Employers appreciate seeing a resume introduction because it lets them know that you’re passionate about getting a job and whether or not you’re qualified.
Here are two student resume summary examples that emphasize the applicant’s strengths:
Student resume summary example for an internship Driven high school student with a 3.8/4.0 GPA and excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. Seeking to apply my tutoring and mentorship skills to the Youth Development summer internship at your company. Possess proven communication skills and passion for advocacy that will support your organization’s cause.
Here’s why this resume objective works: in the first sentence of this example, the student establishes several key skills, and includes their GPA to demonstrate a capacity for high achievement.
The second sentence clearly explains where the student wants to work, and the third sentence tells the hiring manager what skills they have to bring to the position.
Student resume summary example for a first job Motivated high school student with a strong work ethic looking to gain valuable real-world experience and contribute to a team-oriented environment. Demonstrated ability to provide exceptional service through previous volunteer serving experience at school events, showcasing excellent communication skills, attention to detail, and a friendly demeanor. Eager to apply my knowledge, learn new skills, and contribute to creating memorable dining experiences for customers at your establishment.
Here’s why this resume objective works: In the opening and closing sentences, the candidate clearly expresses how they hope to contribute to the company, and in the second sentence they highlight their relevant experience and skills.
There’s no need to panic if you’re writing a resume with no experience. You can simply replace the work experience section of your resume with a section describing details like your:
Here’s an example of how to include volunteer work on your resume:
If you still have gaps in your resume, you can expand on the extracurricular activities you’ve been involved in. Include noteworthy information, like leadership roles you held, or major projects you led and organized, like this:
Heritage High School Student Council
Secretary, 2021 – Present
You should also include your hobbies and interests on your resume if they showcase some sort of soft skill such as teamwork skills or leadership skills.
Your interests are especially important to mention if they’re related to the position in some way. For example, reading is a good hobby to put on a library page resume because it shows you enjoy being around books.
If you have received any academic or job-related awards you can list them in a special section or under your education section.
If you don’t have many volunteer or extracurricular activities to put on your high school resume, that’s okay.
Instead, highlight what you do have by including coursework related to the position you’re applying for in the resume’s education section.
Including your school coursework shows that you have some relevant unpaid experience and that you can handle projects efficiently.
Here’s an example of how to include relevant coursework in your own resume:
RELEVANT COURSEWORK
Intro to Business
If you’re unsure what classes relate to different jobs, here are some ideas:
If you’re wondering what to put for skills on a high school resume, we’ve got you covered with our lists below.
While you may not have many examples of hard skills for your resume because they often take years of experience or education to learn, you may still have some and not realize it. For instance, you’ve probably developed skills through your life that are valuable to a variety of different jobs, like typing and other various computer skills.
Plus you’ve likely built a range of soft skills during your time as a high school student (and in life in general), and these skills are highly transferable and valuable for all kinds of work.
Soft skills are the personal qualities that determine how you interact with others, such as basic communication skills or your ability to collaborate. These skills are very useful because they’re hard to teach and help you excel naturally in pretty much any environment.
Here are some soft skills to highlight on your resume:
High school resume soft skills
Verbal/Written communication | Active listening |
Digital communication | Empathy |
Mutual respect | Collaboration |
Self-management | Organizational skills |
Self-motivation | Adaptability |
Problem-solving | Responsible |
Multitasking | Strong work ethic |
However, soft skills aren’t the type of skills you can just list in the skills section of your resume. After all, what does it really mean to have strong communication skills?
To convey your top transferable skills to employers, you’ll need to provide real-life examples of how you’ve applied them in your experience section and resume’s introduction.
Notice all of the soft skills (in bold) mentioned in this resume objective example:
Driven and compassionate student with a 3.8/4.0 GPA and excellent organizational and interpersonal skills. Seeking to apply my tutoring and mentorship skills to the Youth Development summer internship at your company. Possess proven communication skills and passion for advocacy that will support your organization’s cause.
Including skills in your introduction like this can help hiring managers see that you’re a good fit for the position and want to work with them specifically.
Try to pick out skills relevant to the position you’re applying for, and then include examples of how you demonstrated them in your experience section.
Here are some additional skills to include in your high school student resume that you’ve likely picked up through school or your social life:
High school resume hard skills
Foreign language | Microsoft 365 |
Google Workspace | Google Meet |
Google Classroom | Zoom |
Public speaking | Presenting |
Research | Mathematics |
Social media platforms | Computer skills |
Proofreading | Slack |
And remember: a well-balanced skills section can make your resume stand out amongst other job applicants and help you land an interview for a high-paying teen job. So why not spend a little extra time to write a great one?
Expert Tip
When you’re writing a resume, you need to articulate what makes you a valuable and qualified candidate in as concise and engaging a way as possible.
To make the best impression possible, omit bland and passive phrases like “was responsible for” or “was tasked with” – they don’t tell employers anything meaningful about your performance. Opt instead for vibrant action verbs that describe how you did things and what you accomplished.
As a general rule, start each bullet point of your experience section with an action verb, like this:
- Organized and maintained library resources, including cataloging new books, shelving materials, and ensuring a neat and accessible library environment
Here are some useful action verbs for your high school resume:
Designed | Lead | Summarized | Presented |
Created | Monitored | Researched | Facilitated |
Wrote | Contributed | Measured | Participated |
Planned | Collaborated | Calculated | Corresponded |
Developed | Supported | Collected | Provided |
Streamlined | Reorganized | Classified | Documented |
If you’re writing about a particular experience you’re still participating in, use present tense. For all previous experiences, use past tense.
Resume Insight
Here are some answers to some of the most commonly asked questions about writing a high school resume.
A high school diploma is called a high school diploma or a GED on a resume.
You should include your high school diploma on your resume if you’re a recent graduate. Here’s an example:
Hill Valley High School
Hill Valley, KS
High School Diploma
2023
A high school resume should be no longer than one page. If it doesn’t fill a whole page and looks sparse, try to find ways to spread it out evenly and make good use of white space.
Choosing a pre-designed resume template can make it easier to create a well-organized resume.
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You should put your high school diploma under the education section of a resume in high school. Here’s an example:
Arapahoe Ridge High School
Boulder, CO
High School Diploma
2022
If you have any relevant coursework or honors you want to show off, you can include those as well. Here’s an adjusted example:
Arapahoe Ridge High School
Boulder, CO
High School Diploma
2022
GPA: 3.8/4.0Relevant Coursework: AP English Language and Composition, Creative Writing
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Corissa Peterson
A dedicated member of the Resume Genius team with a passion for the career space, Corissa is always looking for ways to create useful resources for job seekers, from...
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