Which name to use first, and what it tells you
The word you use matters. If a scholarship asks for a CV, they expect something different from a resume. A curriculum vitae is a detailed record of your entire education, training, employment and activities. A resume is a selective summary of what is most relevant to a specific role or award. Knowing which one is expected changes what goes in and how long it can be.
In most of the world, CV is the standard term. Resumes are primarily a North American convention. If the scholarship or institution you are applying to is in the US or Canada, they most likely want a resume. Almost everywhere else, the UK, Europe, Australia, most international scholarships, they want a CV. If the application instructions do not specify, CV is the safer choice outside North America.
The most important lesson in choosing a CV or resume for a scholarship application, though, is one you cannot assume your way into: some scholarships do not want either document. Chevening’s own application process, for example, does not include a CV or resume step at all. Always check the specific application’s own instructions before you decide what to prepare.
What you can include and what you must leave out
The rules about what belongs on your CV have hardened in recent years, driven by anti-discrimination law. In the UK, the Equality Act 2010 protects people from discrimination based on age, disability, gender reassignment, marriage and civil partnership, pregnancy and maternity, race, religion or belief, sex, and sexual orientation. As a result, UK employers and universities actively discourage including information that could introduce bias into hiring or admissions decisions.
The University of Manchester’s careers service, advising international students preparing UK-style CVs, puts it plainly: only include your name and contact details, and do not include a photo, date of birth, gender, or marital status. If you are unsure whether a detail belongs, ask yourself: does this tell them something about my ability to do the programme, or does it risk introducing bias? If the answer is the latter, leave it out.
Contact information is the exception. Always include your name, email address, phone number and current location (city and country is sufficient). You can include a LinkedIn URL if you maintain one professionally. Do not include your full home address or personal identification numbers.
Length expectations vary by country and scholarship
The length of your CV or resume depends partly on where it will be read and partly on how much relevant experience you have. In the US, a one-page resume is typical for anyone with less than about five to eight years of professional experience, including new graduates. A two-page resume fits better once you have eight or more years, or a strong record of community service and volunteering. Three pages or more is reserved for academics, government employees and senior executives who need room for speaking engagements, publications, patents or licenses; beyond that, the document is generally a CV rather than a resume.
UK CVs, by contrast, are built around a two-page standard. The University of Manchester’s guidance for international students recommends a two-page reverse-chronological CV as the default (with banking roles as the one common exception, where a one-page CV is often preferred). If you have substantial research publications or a long professional record, some UK and European institutions will accept two to three pages, but two pages is the format to start from.
Australian CVs run longer again. According to Novorésumé’s guide to Australian resumes, professionals should expect three to four pages, while recent graduates or candidates with less experience can use two. The longer length reflects that Australian selection committees expect a more detailed record of your experience than a US-style resume provides.
Individual scholarships set their own rules on top of these general conventions, and those rules do not always match what you would expect from the country a scholarship is based in. The Fulbright Scholar Program requires a CV or resume from every applicant, but its general application instructions do not spell out a universal page limit or font size for it, so check the specific award listing rather than assuming a figure from elsewhere. The Rhodes Scholarship runs its applications by country, not one central rulebook, so CV expectations vary: do not assume a single page count applies everywhere, and check the guidance published for your own country’s process.
The pattern is clear: put in what is relevant and necessary to demonstrate your fit for the award, then stop. Do not add length for its own sake, and do not cut achievements that directly show why you deserve funding.
Structural differences between regions
A US resume typically opens with a professional summary or objective statement, then lists experience in reverse chronological order, followed by education and skills, and sometimes additional sections like publications or volunteer work. It emphasizes results in bullet points: what you accomplished in each role.
A UK or European CV usually starts with personal information and contact details, then a short professional profile of two to four sentences describing who you are and what you are seeking. Education typically comes next, followed by employment history in reverse chronological order, then sections for publications, grants, languages and volunteer experience. The tone is more formal than a US resume, written in full sentences rather than bullet points.
Neither structure is better than the other. What matters is that your CV matches what selection committees expect. If you are applying to a UK university scholarship, a UK CV structure will look professional and familiar. If you use a US resume format for a UK scholarship, it will look unfamiliar and potentially make you appear less aware of professional conventions.
Europass is a standardized CV format created for use across Europe. It uses a fixed template with sections for personal information, employment, education, skills and languages, and it is one of the best-known CV formats in Europe, familiar to employers and education institutions across the continent. If you are applying to multiple European scholarships and are uncertain about local conventions, Europass is a safe choice. You can create one free at europass.europa.eu. The Europass format is one to two pages, clearly structured, and widely recognized.
What scholarship committees actually look for
Different scholarships weight your application documents differently, and some do not want a CV at all. It is worth knowing which kind you are dealing with before you spend hours polishing the wrong document.
Chevening is the clearest example. Its application runs through six steps, checking eligibility, choosing three UK master’s degree courses, preparing references and education documents, submitting the online application, an interview invitation, and securing a university offer, and none of them is a CV or resume upload. Chevening assesses you instead through four short essay questions, on your leadership and influencing skills, your ability to build professional relationships, how your chosen course addresses UK priority areas, and how your career plan supports positive change. If you have been treating your CV as the centerpiece of a Chevening application, redirect that effort: the evidence that matters goes into the essays. Chevening also requires at least 2,800 hours of work experience, roughly two years full-time, acquired after your undergraduate degree.
The Fulbright Scholar Program does require a CV or resume from every applicant, and it expects that document to show your employment history and current roles clearly enough that the rest of your application form can build on it. Because Fulbright’s award listings vary by country and category, check the specific award’s own instructions for any length or format requirement before you finalize the document.
The Rhodes Scholarship evaluates your CV as one part of a country-run selection process rather than through one central rulebook, so expectations differ depending on where you are applying from. What is consistent across the process is the emphasis on accuracy: your CV, personal statement and application form need to match your transcripts and official records exactly, because selection committees check.
In all cases, your CV should be honest and specific. Generic language like “strong organizational skills” or “team player” adds nothing because every applicant writes it. Evidence is specific: “organized and ran a weekly clinic serving 200 patients in four clinics across three districts” cannot be written by anyone who did not do it. Specificity is credibility.
Practical steps before you submit
Find out which format is expected, and whether a CV is expected at all. Check the scholarship’s application page or send an email asking if they prefer a CV, a resume, or neither, and if they have a preferred length or template. Major scholarships specify this in their instructions, but as Chevening shows, the instructions sometimes specify that no CV is wanted.
Research the country conventions for where the scholarship is based. If it is a UK scholarship, follow UK conventions. If it is European, look at the host university’s guidance or use Europass. If it is North American, use a resume format.
Use whichever format you choose consistently across all applications to that country or scholarship programme. Switching between a one-page resume and a three-page CV mid-cycle reads as careless.
Be ruthless about relevance. An achievement that does not relate to the scholarship or the field of study you are pursuing belongs on your CV only if it shows something important about who you are as a person or candidate. Your high school sports participation is probably not relevant for a graduate scholarship. Volunteer work in your field, research experience or publications are.
Before you submit, verify every detail against your official documents. Scholarship selection panels check facts. If your CV says you graduated with a 3.6 GPA and your transcript shows 3.5, that discrepancy will be noticed, and the application may be disqualified. If you list a publication, make sure the title, date and your authorship are exactly as they appear in the published work.
When you’re still choosing what to include
Open the scholarship’s selection criteria in a document. Under each criterion, list the specific examples from your background that address it. If a criterion is not covered, you have found a gap and still have time to close it.
Compare your CV to your personal statement or essay. They should complement each other, not duplicate it. Your CV is a factual record; your essay is an argument built from that record. If you have spent three paragraphs on your CV describing a project, you do not need to spend three more in your essay telling the same story. Use the essay to explain why the work mattered to you and what it changed about your direction.
Give your CV to someone outside your field and ask them to tell you in one sentence what you are proposing to do and why you are applying. If they cannot, your CV is not clear. Selection committees are reading dozens of applications. Clarity and specificity in what you have done and why matter more than length or impressive language.