CV for US graduate school: what programmes ask for and how to build it

Open the programme page before you open a template

In the US the words CV and résumé name two different documents, and the CV vs resume guide covers that difference. For an admissions file the label matters less than the programme's own instruction, which usually sits on an application-instructions page next to the statement of purpose and letters. Read that page first and copy three things into a note: the document name it uses, any page limit, and the file format.

The University of Michigan's robotics department says either format is usually accepted unless your programme asks for one, and suggests checking the admissions page or contacting the department when unsure. That is the rule to work from: the programme's wording wins over any general advice, including this page.

Why the upload is not a job résumé

California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) separates three documents: the long academic CV that professors use, the job résumé, and what it calls a grad school CV. It says applications that ask for a CV or résumé usually want the third: two to three pages at most, minimal formatting with no photos, but with bullet points that explain each experience.

What four US programmes ask for

Read on 13 October 2026. Two are research-oriented graduate schools, one is a university graduate centre advising its applicants, and one is an MBA, which follows business-school habits.

What the table tells you

• Page limits differ by a factor of four across these four programmes, so a single file cannot serve every application.
• Research programmes ask for research, teaching and publications; the MBA asks for results at work and dates.
• Michigan locks the CV after submission, so proofreading happens before you press the button, not after.

How to build a grad school CV, section by section

CSULB orders headings by how much they matter for admission and puts Education first almost always, because graduate school is education. Michigan's list is similar. Combined, the order below works for most master's and PhD programmes in science, engineering and the social sciences.

1. Contact information: full name, email, phone and address (Michigan).
2. Education: every post-secondary institution, degree, major and minor, and graduation or expected date.
3. Research interests, in one or two lines, if the programme is research-based (CSULB).
4. Research experience: project, your role, the methods or techniques you used, and the outcome (Michigan).
5. Publications and conference presentations, if you have them; posters count.
6. Teaching experience: teaching assistant, tutor or instructor roles and the courses.
7. Work experience, newest first, with relevant skills gained.
8. Skills and certifications: lab techniques, programming languages, statistical methods, languages.
9. Honours and awards, service and professional organisations, lower down.

What moves up and what moves down

CSULB's test is blunt: would this heading change the admission decision? For clinical psychology, research and clinical experience move up. Being on the dean's list moves down, because, as CSULB puts it, nobody reconsiders an applicant over two semesters on that list. Empty headings are removed, not filled.

Wording that Michigan asks for

Michigan asks for numbers where possible, with examples such as a team of five or two peer-reviewed papers, verbs like developed, analysed and designed at the start of each line, and an honest account of what you did. It names one more check: have someone else read it before you submit.

Sample: grad school CV for an engineering graduate from Türkiye

The applicant is invented: Mert Yılmaz, a mechanical engineering graduate applying for a robotics master's that sets a four-page limit. The lines are short on purpose; each one can be expanded in the statement of purpose.

Turning this into an MBA résumé

For MIT Sloan the same person would cut to one page under three headings, Education, Work Experience and Additional Information, and replace the research detail with results at work. The thesis becomes one line. Languages, technical skills and interests go into Additional Information, which Sloan names explicitly.

Sources, read on 13 October 2026

• Duke University, The Graduate School: Resume / C.V. application instruction.
• University of Michigan, Michigan Robotics: Graduate Application, Resumé or Curriculum Vitae.
• California State University, Long Beach, Graduate Center: Writing a CV or Résumé for Graduate School.
• MIT Sloan School of Management: How to apply, MBA (Round 1 deadline 29 September 2026; Round 2, 12 January 2027).

Each programme can change its instructions between admission cycles. Check the application page of the programme you apply to before you upload.

When this guide does not fit

• Faculty, postdoc and research jobs: these use the long academic CV that CSULB says you would not send with a graduate application.
• Medical, law and other professional schools with their own application services: follow their forms.
• Graduate programmes outside the US: the master's and PhD application guides compare other countries, and the UK and Dutch master's guides go deeper.
• The statement of purpose: it is a separate document with its own instructions.

Next steps

1. List each programme's document name, page limit and format in one table.
2. Write one master CV with everything, then cut a copy for each limit.
3. Ask a professor in your field to read the research section; CSULB recommends trusted mentors in your discipline.
4. Upload a PDF named the way the programme asks.

CitedCV can build the English version from the facts you enter and keeps every number as you gave it; it writes single-column files that suit an upload field, but it does not produce the long faculty-style CV.

Questions people ask

Sources

1. Duke University, The Graduate School: Resume / C.V.gradschool.duke.edu/admissions/application-instructions/resume-cv/
2. University of Michigan, Michigan Robotics: Graduate Application, Resumé or Curriculum Vitaerobotics.umich.edu/academics/graduate/admissions/resume-curriculum-vitae/
3. California State University, Long Beach, Graduate Center: Writing a CV or Résumé for Graduate Schoolwww.csulb.edu/graduate-center/writing-a-cv-or-resume-for-graduate-school
4. MIT Sloan School of Management: How to apply, MBAmitsloan.mit.edu/mba/admissions/how-to-apply