PhD Applicant, Neuroscience résumé example, in the Plainsong design
An academic CV for a graduate school application: two years at the bench, a first-author preprint, posters and teaching.
Written for United States, at student, in the students & graduates field, shown in the Plainsong design. Every name, employer, address and number below is invented.
Mara Lindqvist — Undergraduate Researcher, Neuroscience
Chapel Hill, NC
Fourth-year neuroscience student at UNC Chapel Hill applying to PhD programs in systems neuroscience for fall 2027. Two years of chronic two-photon imaging in mouse barrel cortex, a first-author methods preprint, and a spine-detection pipeline that cut manual scoring from nine hours a week to one.
Experience
Undergraduate Research Assistant, Synaptic Plasticity Laboratory, UNC Chapel Hill · September 2024 – present
Chronic two-photon imaging in juvenile mouse somatosensory cortex; 15 hours a week during term.
Runs the imaging sessions and spine-tracking analysis for a 14-animal longitudinal study, now in revision at a physiology journal.
Wrote a semi-automated spine detector on 2,400 hand-labeled images that cut manual scoring from nine hours a week to one, with 96% agreement against two blinded scorers.
Designed and built a head-fixation plate for juvenile animals after the commercial part failed on three mice; the design file is now used by three other laboratories.
Trains incoming undergraduates on stereotaxic surgery and perfusion; four of the five have stayed past a year.
Summer Research Fellow, Ridgeline Institute for Brain Science · June 2025 – August 2025
Quantified interneuron density across six cortical layers in 42 sections, reaching the lab reference values within 4% on a first attempt.
Presented the ten-week project to an institute-wide audience of 90 and was one of two fellows invited back for a second summer.
Undergraduate Teaching Assistant, Introductory Neurobiology, Department of Biology, UNC Chapel Hill · August 2025 – May 2026
Led two weekly discussion sections of 24 students and held four office hours; section mean on the final sat 6 points above the course mean both terms.
Education
B.S. Neuroscience, minor in Statistics · University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill · August 2023 – May 2027
The summary names the technique, the preparation and the target field (chronic two-photon imaging in mouse barrel cortex, systems neuroscience for fall 2027), which is how admissions committees match applicants to faculty.
Research contributions are specific about ownership: running imaging and analysis for a 14-animal study and a spine detector with 96% agreement against two blinded scorers show independent work, not just lab hours.
Publications are listed in full with author position, a first-author bioRxiv preprint and a fourth-author Journal of Neurophysiology paper, the format an academic CV is expected to follow.
Teaching and mentoring appear with numbers, two sections of 24 students and incoming undergraduates trained in stereotaxic surgery, signalling readiness for a PhD teaching requirement.
PhD Applicant, Neuroscience résumé: common questions
Should a PhD application use a CV or a resume?
A CV. Graduate programs expect an academic CV with education first, then research experience, publications and preprints, presentations, awards and teaching. It can run past one page, but every entry should be research-relevant.
How to list a preprint or paper in review on a PhD application CV?
List preprints under publications with the server name (bioRxiv) and date, and mark your author position. Papers under review can go in a separate “Manuscripts in review” line without naming the journal if it is not yet accepted.
Should GPA go on a graduate school CV?
Yes. Put the overall GPA beside the degree, and add a major GPA only if it is noticeably higher. Admissions committees read it alongside research experience, so keep it short and let the research sections carry the CV.
