Medical Student CV — Template, Examples & Complete Guide
Download ICOM’s Medical Student CV Template
A first year student applied for 1 research position and sent in their 1 page resume from undergrad. The lab coordinator asked for a CV in academic format and the student did not have 1 of those made yet.
ICOM’s Career Writing Service made a template for this situation. The template uses the same format that gets used for research positions, scholarships, conference presentations, honor society nominations, and residency applications later in medical school. The template is editable, so a student can download it, replace the placeholder text with their own information, and that becomes the starting point for their own CV. The template can be downloaded here.
Every section in the template is in reverse chronological order, which means the most recent entry is listed first in each section. This is the format and order that admissions committees, scholarship reviewers, and residency programs are already used to seeing.
Most sections will be empty when a student first starts using the template, and this is normal. A first year student will usually have nothing under the Publications section yet. This section, along with others, gets filled in over the next 4 years of medical school. The most important thing right now is becoming familiar with the format itself, since this is 1 document that a student will keep updating again and again throughout medical school, rather than something written once and finished.
ICOM students who want feedback on their CV can email the Career Writing Service at careerwriting@icom.edu or the Learning Specialists at learningspecialist@icom.edu.
What Goes Into a Medical Student CV
The template is organized into sections, and each section has a specific purpose. Here is what each one covers and what should go into it.
Education comes first. Once a student is enrolled in medical school, the medical school is listed first, with the expected graduation date, for example Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, anticipated May 20XX. Undergraduate education is listed below that, with the degree, school, location, and dates attended. Academic honors from undergrad, such as summa cum laude, are listed here too. High school information should not be included anywhere in the CV.
Honors and Awards covers academic honors such as Dean’s List, merit-based scholarships, fellowships, and professional awards including travel awards and research presentation awards. If a student has a meaningful number of awards from both undergrad and medical school, the awards can be split into 2 subheadings, 1 for medical school and 1 for undergrad, so the list is easier to read.
Research Experience lists the institution, department, location, and dates, along with the name of the research advisor. This section should describe what was actually done in the lab using a short bullet list, not a paragraph. If the research led to a publication or presentation, that gets listed separately in those sections. If the research did not lead to a publication, a brief description of the lab’s focus and the student’s specific role is enough. Each research experience should be kept to about 2 to 3 lines.
Publications lists peer-reviewed work using full citation format, including the authors with the student’s own name in bold, the year, the title, the journal, and the volume, issue, and page numbers. If something has not been published yet, it can still be listed with a note such as In Press, Under Review, or In Prep.
Presentations covers posters and oral presentations given at conferences or meetings, also using full citation format, including whether it was a poster or an oral presentation.
Leadership Experience includes roles held within ICOM, such as student council or interest groups, as well as roles in outside professional organizations such as the American Medical Association or the Student National Medical Association. This section should mention what was actually accomplished in each role, not just the title.
Volunteer Experience covers community-based volunteer work, including clinics, food banks, shelters, religious organizations, schools, and special events such as Special Olympics or medical support at races.
Teaching Experience includes formal teaching such as being a teaching assistant or CPR instructor, as well as informal teaching such as mentoring or tutoring. If a student does not have much in the way of teaching, leadership, or volunteer experience, these 3 sections can be combined into 1 section.
Work Experience includes any paid work, including part-time jobs held during college, with a short description of responsibilities and accomplishments for each one.
Interests comes last and should stay short. This is where a student can list languages they are proficient in, along with 3 to 4 hobbies or interests, and a notable accomplishment for each if there is 1, for example finishing 15 marathons across 5 states.
Building Toward This CV — What to Start Now if You’re Still Pre-Med
A pre-med student found this page by searching for a medical student CV. They are not enrolled in medical school yet, and they are wondering whether they need to build 1 of these now, before applying.
The answer is no, not in this exact format. AACOMAS does not ask for a CV. AACOMAS has its own Experiences section, where activities get entered 1 at a time with categories and hours, not formatted into a document like the 1 in the template above. A CV in this format becomes relevant once a student is enrolled in medical school and needs it for things like research positions, scholarships, and eventually residency applications.
That said, the categories in this CV and the categories in the AACOMAS Experiences section overlap almost completely. Clinical experience, research, volunteering, leadership, teaching, and work experience are all things that get tracked in both places. A pre-med student who is building these experiences now is building the same foundation that will eventually go into a CV like this one, just in a different format for now.
One thing worth mentioning here specifically. For students applying through AACOMAS, shadowing a DO physician is something that gets noticed. It is not part of the CV format, but it is part of the application, and it connects to the kind of whole-person, hands-on care that osteopathic medicine emphasizes. A student who has shadowed a DO and can speak to that experience has something that not every applicant has.
For pre-med students who want to know what ICOM specifically looks for during the application process, the Requirements page and the AACOMAS application guide cover that in more detail.
CV Format Tips
A few formatting rules apply across the entire CV. These come directly from the template guidelines.
Use Arial or Calibri, 11 to 12 point font. The student’s name at the top can be larger and bold. The rest of the document should stay at 1 consistent size.
Margins should be between .5 and 1 inch. Margins smaller than this make the page look cramped. Margins larger than this waste space that could be used for content.
Every section should be in reverse chronological order. This means the most recent entry comes first in each section, not just at the top of the document overall.
There is no fixed page length. A first or second year student might have 1 page. A fourth year student applying to residency, with research, presentations, and leadership experience, might have 2 or 3 pages. The goal is not a specific number of pages. The goal is including everything relevant without padding.
Research experience, leadership roles, and work experience should be written as short bullet points, not paragraphs. The template recommends keeping each research experience to about 2 to 3 lines. A block of dense text is harder to read, and it makes it harder for a reviewer to find what they are looking for.
If a student does not have much under Teaching, Leadership, or Volunteer Experience individually, these 3 sections can be combined into 1 section instead of having 3 mostly empty headings.
High school activities and awards should not appear anywhere on a medical student CV, even if the activity feels significant, for example 4 years on a varsity sport. Once a student is in medical school, the CV should reflect only undergraduate and medical school experience.
Common CV Mistakes to Avoid
These are the mistakes that show up most often, based on the template’s own guidance.
Writing in paragraphs instead of bullet points. Research experience, work experience, and leadership roles should all be bullet points. A paragraph description is harder to scan, and reviewers are usually looking through many CVs at once.
Including high school information. This applies even to significant accomplishments, like a state championship or a 4 year leadership role. Once a student reaches medical school, high school activities no longer belong on the CV.
Listing publications and presentations in the wrong section. Publications and presentations each get their own section, with their own citation format. They should not be mixed into the Research Experience section as part of a bullet point.
Forgetting reverse chronological order within a section. A student might list their CV entries in chronological order overall, but then list individual entries within a section out of order. Every section needs the most recent entry first, on its own.
Being too vague about what was actually done. A bullet point that says “assisted with research project” does not tell a reviewer much. A bullet point that says what the student actually did, what skills were used, and what the outcome was gives the reviewer something to evaluate. The same applies to leadership roles. A title alone is not enough. What was accomplished in that role matters more than the title itself.
Medical Student CV Example — Annotated
The template uses a placeholder name, Jane Doe, to show the format. Here is what that example looks like, section by section, with notes on each part.
Header
Jane Doe City, State, Zip Phone Email
The name is the only thing that should stand out. Larger font, bold. Everything else stays small. There is no photo, no objective statement, and no skills list at the top. Medical CVs do not use those.
Education
Idaho College of Osteopathic Medicine, Meridian, ID Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, anticipated May 20XX Gold Humanism Honor Society and/or Sigma Sigma Phi (if applicable)
Undergraduate Institution, City, State Abbrev. 20XX–20XX Bachelor of Science, summa cum laude, Biology Minor (if applicable)
Medical school is listed first, even though undergrad came first chronologically in the student’s life. This is because reverse chronological order applies to when the degree was started, not to the student’s overall timeline. Honor societies like Gold Humanism or Sigma Sigma Phi go directly under the medical school entry, if the student is a member of either 1. Latin honors from undergrad, like summa cum laude, go in that same line. There is nothing about high school anywhere in this section.
Honors and Awards
Award, Sponsor, Date
This section includes Dean’s List, scholarships, fellowships, and travel or research awards. If a student has several awards from both medical school and undergrad, this section can be split into 2 subheadings, 1 for Medical School and 1 for Undergrad.
Research Experience
Institution, Department, City, State Abbrev., Dates Advisor: First and Last Name, Degree(s), Title
Below this, a short bullet list describes the work, kept to about 2 to 3 lines. If the work led to a publication or presentation, that gets listed in those sections instead. It does not get repeated here. If there was no publication, a brief note about the lab’s focus and the student’s role is enough. The advisor’s name is included because it shows the student worked under direct supervision.
Publications
Authors (bold the student’s own name) (20XX) Title. Journal. Vol/Issue: pages
This uses the same citation format a journal would use. If something is not published yet, it can be listed with a note like In Press, Under Review, or In Prep. Bolding the student’s own name makes it easy to find in a list with multiple authors.
Presentations
Authors (bold the student’s own name) (20XX) Title. Conference/Meeting, Location (Poster) or (Oral)
Same format as Publications, with 1 addition. Whether it was a poster or an oral presentation gets noted, since these are evaluated differently.
Leadership Experience
Group/Organization, Role, Dates
Each entry should describe what was actually done in the role, not just the title. This includes roles inside ICOM, like Student Council or an interest group, and roles in outside organizations, like the American Medical Association or the Student National Medical Association. If the role took up a meaningful amount of time, an approximate number of hours can be added.
Volunteer Experience
Organization, Location, Dates/Approx. # of Hours
This covers community-based work. Clinics, food banks, shelters, religious organizations, schools, and 1-time events like Special Olympics or medical support at races. Approximate hours are useful here, especially for anything ongoing.
Teaching Experience
Institution/Organization, Role, Dates
This includes formal teaching, like being a TA or a CPR instructor, and informal teaching, like mentoring or tutoring. If a student does not have much under Teaching, Leadership, or Volunteer Experience individually, these 3 sections can be combined into 1 section called Volunteer Activities.
Work Experience
Employer, Job Title, Location, Dates
A short description of responsibilities and accomplishments goes under each entry. This includes part-time jobs from college, not just healthcare-related jobs.
Interests
This section stays short, 3 to 4 items. Languages go here, for example Fluent in Spanish, along with hobbies or interests. A notable accomplishment can be added for each 1, if there is 1. The template gives 2 examples, finishing 15 marathons across 5 states, and completing a 100 mile section of the Appalachian Trail. This section is brief on purpose. It gives a reviewer a sense of who the student is outside of academics.
Download the Medical Student CV Template and Start Building Yours Today
A medical student CV is not something you create once and forget. It is a document that grows with you throughout medical school, helping you apply for research positions, scholarships, leadership opportunities, conference presentations, and residency programs.
If you have not started your CV yet, now is the best time. Even if many sections are still empty, creating the document early makes it easier to track your accomplishments as they happen instead of trying to reconstruct them years later.
Download ICOM’s Medical Student CV Template, replace the placeholder information with your own, and begin building a professional CV that can follow you throughout your medical education and beyond.
Need feedback on your CV? ICOM students can contact the Career Writing Service or Learning Specialists for guidance on formatting, content, and next steps.