Resume Examples Library

How to Write an Education Summary on a Resume?

An education summary is the section on a resume where you list your degrees and relevant academic accomplishments.

It can be either the least or the most important thing on your resume.

It all depends on your degree and where you’re in your career.

This guide will show you:

1. How to list high school education on a resume.
2. How to list education on a resume with no degree. (Student / Dropout)
3. How to put your education on a resume when you’re a fresh graduate.
4. How to list education on a resume when you’re a seasoned professional.
5. Example education sections from resumes written by people who scored a job at the world’s top companies.

If you never went to college, your resume’s education section is going to be pretty straightforward:

See? There’s no reason to complicate it any further.

Unless you’re less than three years out of high school. Then you can add anything that shows off your skills and achievements:

• Include awards, extracurricular activities, honors, or any work you had during high school.
• Stay relevant. Only include things that pertain to a specific job opening. Keep an open mind and remember that transferable skills can also matter a lot.
• Tailor your entire resume to the job description. Highlight any activities that illustrate the keyword skills listed there.

In the end, your high school education resume can look a bit like this:

That’s it. This is really the furthest you should go in describing your high school education on a resume.

Before we finish, let’s take a look at least at some uncommon scenarios and see how you can put those on a resume too.

If you’re a student, college dropout, or you’re taking a leave of absence, this part is for you.

You should always include even an unfinished education on a resume. Employment gaps always make hiring managers a bit suspicious. And that’s the last thing you want.

Just because you don’t have a degree yet, it doesn’t mean you can’t put it on your resume. All you have to do is emphasize that you’re still working towards attaining it.

The same holds true if you don’t plan on ever finishing your studies. After all, you put some effort into them. Even more importantly, you paid the tuition.

Yet again, listing even unfinished education is nothing difficult. There are only two ways you can go about it, depending on your situation:

If you’re a fresh graduate, you probably don’t have much work experience to put on a resume yet.

That’s normal. On the other hand, what you DO have is your degree. What’s more, in the past couple of years you’ve learned and achieved more things than you realize.

So don’t make your education section only about the degree. Use this space to include your most notable academic accomplishments. Otherwise, it might look unpleasantly hollow:

If you’re a recent graduate, the education section should dominate your resume. Make it more elaborate than others and put it near the top, right above your work experience section.

• Academic awards: e.g.  AP scholar, Duke of Edinburgh award, National Merit Award, President’s Award, school subject-based awards, etc.
• Scholarships: e.g. athletic scholarships, scholarships for women, creative scholarships, etc.
• Academic conferences and symposia: Don’t forget to mention the scope and name of the paper you presented at a conference.
• Relevant student societies: e.g. debating societies or programming clubs. If you were on the committee of any kind of student society, include that too.
• Dean’s list.
• GPA: Only include if it was higher than 3.0 on a 4.0 scale. If your overall GPA was lower than that, mention your major GPA. Alternatively, mention your summa cum laude or magna cum laude.
• Academic publications: This might not apply to you but if you have a PhD (or working towards it), you’re expected to include at least one publication.

If you worked really hard, your resume’s education section might ultimately look a bit like this:

In a way, this is the easiest scenario to work with.

Once you’ve become a seasoned professional, your education is far less important than at the beginning of your career.

Which means that you can get away with simply listing your degrees in a reverse-chronological order. And leave it at that.

These professional summary examples were written by real people who got hired at the world's top companies. 

They're not exactly based on the how-to described above. At the same time, all these people scored high-profile jobs at their respective companies.