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Applying to study for a PhD in psychology
Applying to study for a PhD in psychology

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5.2 The CV

A CV is a summary of your qualifications and experience, written in the form of a list, with notes. Like any document, a CV is selective and shaped to its purpose. For your PhD application, the CV should be quite short (probably 2-3 pages) and include:

  • full details of your educational qualifications. In addition to the final results (with the class of your Bachelor’s degree), you can list previous research projects and dissertations, and also the modules or courses that are most relevant to your proposed research, with the grades or marks you obtained
  • any academic work you have done, paid or unpaid, such as teaching or working as a research assistant
  • work experience that evidences skills relevant to the PhD, such as record keeping, digital skills, presenting to groups etc. (Look back to Session 1, Section 2 [Tip: hold Ctrl and click a link to open it in a new tab. (Hide tip)] ).
A digital illustration of a CV.

Writing a new CV might seem a mundane task but it is worth spending time on. At a later point you will have to provide evidence of the details of your previous study so check that you have the documentation.