UT Austin Expanded Resume’: What is it and How to Write It

Updated: Jun 16

When applying to the University of Texas at Austin, providing concise, relevant and insightful information is always a winning strategy. The Expanded Resume’ is a beautiful opportunity for students to showcase their fit to major, intellectual curiosity and community engagement. Unlike the Activities List section of the Common Application, the Expanded Resume’ breaks many of the traditional formatting and organizational rules, and occupies prime real estate in the UT application neighborhood.

From this Expanded Resume’, UT Austin hopes to understand what contributions you have made to communities that are important to you, and that you have taken initiative toward satisfying some of your intellectual curiosity within your intended field of study.

In the last application cycle, UT received over 90K applications which was up 24%, even though test scores are now required. They also saw a groundbreaking 48% increase in out of state applications. I dare say that UT Austin has some difficult decisions to make about who has the chance to study at their esteemed university. Though they removed the short answer question with this theme, UT prioritizes students who want to “Transform lives for the benefit of society.” The Expanded Resume’ is the perfect way for students to demonstrate their initiative to do just that.

What To Include

The Expanded Resume’ is not the traditional one-page summary of accomplishments in reverse chronological order, as most tend to be. It is an extensive catalog of every activity and accomplishment from the summer before the 9th grade until graduation. This post is not intended to tell you which activities to choose (more on that HERE), but rather to help you create a version that will resonate with the application reader.

Students should begin by creating a list of every club, internship, volunteer activity, paid employment, self-taught activity, homegrown project, research initiative, or hobby that has taken their time outside of the classroom. From this master list, categorize these activities by theme such as Leadership, Community Service, Athletics, Work Based Learning, etc.

Category Order

Now, look at your broad themes and categories. Which have the most items that are relevant to your intended major? These will be listed at the top. In our EXAMPLE (insert link), this STEM major categorized “Stem Focused Projects and Research.” UT does not, on their website, give students a template that they require, so the category titles are up to the writer. That said, keep it very simple, easy to understand, and simply formatted.

Writing the Details

Within each category, begin with the most impactful/major related activity and the one(s) in which you spent the most time. The heading line should always include the grade level(s) in which the student participated, the name of the activity, and the hours per week/weeks per year. The bullet points beneath (of which there may be many), should list exactly what you did (all the things!) and what impact you made within your community (school, family, neighborhood, county, state) while doing them. Just like the Activities List on the Common App, students should lead with action verbs and provide as much quantifiable data as possible (elected 1 of 30, raised <$4,000.00). Recall the purpose statement of the university, “Transform lives for the benefit of society.” If you can connect to that, do so.

This resume’ is not only about what you did, it is about taking initiative and making an impact on others wherever you can!

Formatting Advice

The best Expanded Resume’ heading will include the student’s:

High School and Grad Year

Intended Major

UT EID

List these at the top of the resume’ (you will receive the UT EID once your application to UT is submitted). You will use your application portal to upload this resume’ as there is nowhere to include it in your Common Application.

Use a simple, bold heading, with bold letters for Category Titles. Activity headings that include grade levels participated, activity title and hours per week/weeks per year is all you need. (see example)

Keep the descriptive bullet points uniform and simple. No need to use italics, underlining or different fonts, as these can be distracting. Focus on readability and simplicity. Period. Have several sets of eyes on this Expanded Resume’ before you consider it finished, as it needs to be uniformly formatted, easily understandable and basic.

Your editors should be sure that your resume’ highlights your major-related activities and that your personal initiative and contributions clearly shine through!

Submitting the Resume’

As stated above, you may not submit the Expanded Resume’ through the Common App, it must be added through your application portal with your UT EID.

Do not, however, wait until you submit your application to begin working on your Expanded Resume’! Keeping a running list of your activities and details throughout your high school career will not only allow you to see where there may be gaps or room for improvement, but will also help you to recall all the awesome, quantifiable things you have accomplished! The Expanded Resume’ should be edited and added to periodically, so that once your application is submitted, it is ready to go right away.

For assistance and professional editing of your own Expanded Resume’ - contact Access College America today. We are experts in all of the writing tasks that go into a successful UT Austin application, and can assist with building a balanced college list that is not limited to UT. Click HERE to schedule your free Discovery Call today!