Resume

[Josealga]

Hey everyone,

      This is kind of a dumb question, but in my experiences section, I put all the stuff I have done in college and present, but some programs want a CV/resume to be submitted. I have a long form resume with everything that I have done and copy and edit it for when I need it. Should I send the long form one to these programs, or cut it down? Also, some programs say to explain gaps in the resume that are 6 months to a year. I feel by taking out some stuff, it will appear to have gaps. Thank you. Have a  good one. 

[Anachronist]

All the advice I got was "1 page CV," that is all most adcoms are going to look at (or they will be disinterested when they turn the page), so it's your job to present it succinctly. If you have any significant gaps that require explaining, explain them, if you're in an interview and and someone says "what's this gap?" Just explain it, not a big deal. If you want me to peruse it PM me, I went down the CV rabbit hole and spoke with some former adcomms, career counselors, etc, also read a lot of them belonging to professionals w/graduate degrees. So it's one of the things I feel like I have a pretty good bead on, and some of it is counter intuitive, writing CVs is wholly an art form unless you're just a super amazing student with an overachieving work ethic and didn't get tripped up by random life circumstances at some point.

On a personal note, I was a ship captain, among other things, with an alphabet soup of certifications and commercial licenses that make zero sense to anyone in medicine or academia. Making it presentable and digestible was a challenge. Not to mention after my first cycle when some of the "why we didn't give you an interview" feedback (that I am very grateful I got) included "We'd like to see some more leadership roles..." ummm, did ya miss "Captain?" not like football, but like I gave orders that people's' lives depended on, not to mention 10's of millions of dollars in assets and alone bore the responsibility of any potential loss of life or environmental catastrophe. I lol'd, then was mad for a day, then I figured out how to speak the graduate medical CV language.