College Student Resume Builder
Build a professional resume as a college student. Highlight coursework, projects, internships, and campus involvement.
Key Tips
- Lead with education and relevant coursework
- Include internships, part-time jobs, and campus leadership
- Showcase academic projects and group work
- Highlight technical skills and software proficiency
- Keep it to one page and use a clean format
Building Your College Resume
As a college student, your resume should lead with education — not because you lack experience, but because your current academic program is directly relevant to the roles you're pursuing. List your degree, major, expected graduation date, and GPA if it's 3.5 or higher. Include relevant coursework, especially for technical roles or when applying to positions closely aligned with specific classes you've excelled in. "Relevant Coursework: Data Structures, Machine Learning, Database Systems" immediately signals that you have foundational knowledge for a software engineering internship.
Academic projects are legitimate experience and should be treated as such. That capstone project where you built a mobile app, analyzed survey data from 500 respondents, or created a marketing campaign for a real client? Those are portfolio pieces. Describe them with the same level of detail you'd give to a job: "Developed an Android app using Java and Firebase that achieved 200+ downloads and 4.5-star rating on Google Play." Quantify outcomes whenever possible — lines of code written, users reached, analysis performed, or business impact generated.
Don't undervalue campus involvement and part-time work. Leadership positions in student organizations demonstrate initiative, teamwork, and organizational skills. Treasurer of a club with a $10K budget? That's financial management experience. President of a 50-member organization? You've managed stakeholders and coordinated events. Even part-time jobs in retail, food service, or tutoring provide transferable skills. Frame these experiences in professional terms: "Provided customer service to 100+ daily patrons while managing POS transactions and inventory restocking" sounds more substantial than "worked at Starbucks."
Finally, make your skills section count. List specific programming languages, software tools, data analysis platforms, design applications, and any technical certifications you've earned. Recruiters often search for candidates by keyword, so including "Python, SQL, Excel, Tableau" could be the difference between your resume getting noticed or filtered out. Keep your resume to one page, use a clean and professional format, and proofread ruthlessly — typos on a college resume suggest carelessness, which is particularly damaging when you're trying to prove you're ready for professional work.