Header that a program can act on
Name, city and state, one phone number, one professional email, and your LinkedIn. No full street address, no photo, no graphic banners. If your email is not firstname.lastname, make a new one today.
Specialization: resume strategy
How to build a resume as a student aiming for a dental or medical program
This is the framework I used to get into a dual-admission dental program, an oral surgery operatory, and two peer-reviewed publications before finishing my first year of college.
The structure
Six sections, in this order
Education with the detail that matters
School, program name, expected graduation, and honors. If you're in a dual-admission, IB, or honors track, say it explicitly — that single line tells an admissions reader how rigorous your coursework is.
Clinical exposure goes above everything else
Shadowing, assisting, volunteering in a clinical setting. Include the setting, your weekly hours, the date range, and what you were trusted to do. Hours prove commitment; specificity proves you were actually paying attention.
Research and publications
List the title, the journal or program, your role, and the method — databases searched, sample size, software used. If it's in review or in progress, label it honestly. Never inflate authorship.
Leadership and service
Two to four entries with outcomes, not duties. Programs are reading for reliability and initiative: did the thing you led get bigger, better, or funded because you were there?
Skills, languages, and certifications
Languages with honest proficiency levels, lab and software skills, CPR/BLS, HIPAA training, instrument sterilization. Skip 'Microsoft Word' and 'hard worker'.
The bullet formula
Action verb + what you did + scope + outcome
Before
Helped out at an oral surgeon's office.
After
Assisted an oral surgeon 13 hrs/week across implant, extraction, and biopsy procedures; prepared and sterilized surgical instruments and delivered post-operative instructions to patients.
Before
Did research on periodontal disease.
After
Screened 700+ records across PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science for a systematic review on oral microbiome shifts in periodontal disease; co-authored the resulting peer-reviewed publication.
Before
Was captain of the fencing team.
After
Captained a varsity fencing team to two county championships while mentoring six underclassmen on technique and competition preparation.
Avoid these
Six mistakes I see constantly
- Listing duties instead of outcomes — every bullet should end in a result, a number, or a skill.
- Burying clinical hours under high school clubs.
- Two pages as a high school or early college student. One page, always.
- Using the same resume for a dental office, a research lab, and a scholarship.
- No dates or hours — a reader cannot verify commitment they cannot see.
- Sending a PDF named 'resume_final_v3.pdf' instead of 'Firstname-Lastname-Resume.pdf'.
Common questions
Want me to actually rebuild your resume with you? Bring it to a 1:1 session — we edit it live, line by line.