If you're a recent graduate, you'll probably want to explain your level of education on your resume in detail. If you already have a professional career under your belt, you may keep it shorter, putting more focus on your work experience instead. One way or another, no resume is complete without listing your educational history, and you can really make your resume stand out by highlighting your educational accomplishments you achieved at college or university. So, let's take a look at how to list your education on your resume.
Where Do I Put the Education Section on My Resume?
As a hard-and-fast rule, you should always put the education section of your resume after your contact information and resume objective / resume summary. That is, unless you already have a couple of years of work experience in a field relevant to the job listing. In that case, you should put your work experience before your educational development, as hands-on experience is typically more valuable to most employers. Here's what the structure of your resume could look like:
- Contact information
- Resume objective or resume summary
- Work experience / educational history
- Skills and abilities, language skills, certificates etc.
Always list your educational history in reverse chronological order. That means listing your most recent educational achievement on top and then moving backwards in time all the way to your elementary school education. This ensures that your recruiter can see your most recent educational achievement at a glance. In many cases, this will also be the highest level of education you've achieved, such as finishing your Master's degree at a university or college.
Adjust Your Resume's Education Section According to the Requirements of the Job
While the above structure is generally accepted, you should absolutely tailor your education history section to the job you're applying for. If the job listing specifies that you need to have a certain level of education, and your multiple years of work experience aren't directly relevant to the job, then you may still want to put your educational achievements before your work history section.
How Much Information Do I Need to Put Into the Education History Section?
The education section of your resume should always include your entire educational history, from elementary school to college degrees, as well as any additional training you've had afterwards. You can adjust the amount of detail you provide, however. If you're new to the workforce, you'll want to include as much information as possible, such as your majors and minors, projects you've worked on, internships, or semesters abroad. If you have enough space for it, you can additionally include a few sentences describing what you did during internships and so on. Keep in mind though, that a resume shouldn't be longer than two pages. Very few recent graduates have a resume longer than a single page.
Make sure all entries in the education history section of your resume include the name of the school, the city and state it's located in, the time frame during which you went there and the degree you received, if any. If you've switched schools, include the names and locations of each school you visited to receive your degree, with the final school that awarded you the degree at the top of the list.
If you have multiple decades of work experience already, it's a good idea to open up more space for your work experience section by not going into too much detail when it comes to your formal education. If you've been working as a biochemist for 20 years, your high school major is probably irrelevant to your recruiter. Below are two examples on how to list your education on your resume:
With decades of relevant work history on your resume, you can keep your education section brief, focusing only on essential details.
Master of Science in Aeronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology|Cambridge, MA 2001–2004
And here's an example for how you may add more detail if you've recently graduated or you only have a few years of work experience after graduating:
Master of Science in Aeronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA 2022–2025
Note that you should only add your GPA if it's above 3.5. If you need to come up with additional bullet points to add more detail, you can also mention any accolades you've won in association with your studies or describe the focus of your studies in greater detail. The goal is to give the recruiter a clearer understanding of what you actually did during your studies, since degrees like "Master of Science in Aeronautics" can cover a wide range of specializations.
What About Awards and Certificates I’ve Received?
If you've received any accolades for a project, a paper or a similar achievement during your studies, you should first determine whether these awards are relevant to the job for which you're applying and whether you have enough space on your resume. You can then add these awards as bullet points in the relevant entry in your education history section.
Certificates, however, are much more important, and they should be listed separately from your overall educational history to allow your recruiter to find them quickly. When creating a structure for your resume, you may want to make space to list your certificates in a separate box that's visually distinct from the rest of your resume (using a colored background, for example). Doing so will shine an additional spotlight on your certifications. If a job listing specifies you need to have a specific certificate to be eligible for the job, you can add a descriptor to your contact information section, such as "Certified AWS Cloud Solutions Architect" or "NABCEP-Certified Engineer". This will catch your recruiter's eye and help your qualifications stand out on your resume.
How to Handle Incomplete Education Histories
Having followed an unorthodox path of education is nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, some employers are likely to be impressed by how you managed to get your high school diploma through an adult high school program, after having dropped out of high school as a teenager, for example.
If you've dropped out of high school or college without earning a degree, you should still list the time you spent in those institutions normally, to avoid creating a gap in your resume. Importantly, you should avoid using terms like "failed", "unfinished" or "dropped out" when describing your education experience. Instead, focus on what you managed to achieve during your time in the institution, such as "two years of high school experience" or "completed 25 credits towards a Bachelor of Science degree in Aeronautics". Your recruiter will still understand that this means you didn't earn a degree, but describing your experiences in this way helps avoid creating an overly negative impression.
How to List Your Education on a Resume When You Haven’t Graduated Yet
Most jobseekers will want to apply for a job even before they've graduated, as getting your resume out there early can limit the time you spend hunting for jobs after graduation. If this is the case with you, simply write down the necessary information as usual (degree program, school/college, and location), and add an expected graduation date to the time frame, like this:
Master of Science in Aeronautics
Massachusetts Institute of Technology | Cambridge, MA 2022–exp. 2025
Listing Your Education History on Your Resume
While there are some rules on how to structure the educational history section of your resume, such as going in reverse chronological order and not leaving out any schools you've attended, you should always try to tailor this section to the job for which you're applying. As a rule of thumb, try to put yourself in your recruiter's shoes. They typically have a specific set of requirements for applicants, and they want to be able to tick those boxes as quickly as possible. Keep your resume short and succinct, emphasizing the educational achievements that align with the requirements of the job.