How to List Education on a Resume (Format + Examples)

The standard format:

Education [Degree], [Major] [University Name], [City, State] [Graduation Year] [GPA if 3.5+, optional] [Relevant honors, scholarships, leadership, optional]

Examples

Recent grad:

Education Bachelor of Science, Computer Science Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA May 2025 GPA: 3.8 / 4.0 Relevant coursework: Distributed Systems, Machine Learning

Mid-career:

Education MBA, University of Michigan Ross School of Business, 2018 BA, Economics, University of California Berkeley, 2014

Senior:

Education MS, Computer Science, Stanford, 2008 BS, Electrical Engineering, MIT, 2006

(Senior resumes can compress education to one or two lines.)

What to include

• Degree (Bachelor's, Master's, MBA, JD, etc.)
• Major
• University name
• City, state (or country if international)
• Graduation year (or "expected" + year if still enrolled)
• GPA if 3.5+ and you're early-career
• Relevant honors, scholarships, leadership

What to skip

• High school once you have a degree
• GPA below 3.5
• GPA once you have 5+ years of experience
• Coursework once you're past entry-level
• Clubs and activities once you're past entry-level

Where to put it

• Current student / recent grad (0-1 years experience): Education at the top.
• Early-career (1-3 years): Education near the top, but below experience.
• Mid-career and beyond: Education at the bottom of the resume, compressed.

Special cases

• Incomplete degree: "Attended 2018-2020, did not complete." Don't claim a degree you didn't earn.
• Bootcamp or non-traditional: List as "Education" with the bootcamp name, certificate, and year. If credible (Hack Reactor, Recurse Center), it carries weight.
• In-progress degree: "Bachelor's in [Major], expected May 2026."
• PhD: List with degree status, advisor name, dissertation topic if relevant. Academic CVs follow different conventions.

Common mistakes

• Listing your GPA in 9pt italics. Either include it or don't.
• Listing every course you took. Pick 3-5 most relevant if any.
• Writing "Bachelor of Arts in Liberal Arts" when you mean a specific major. Use your actual degree name.

The bigger pattern

Education is one section. Recruiters scan it in 5-10 seconds. Make it clean, accurate, and appropriately scoped to your career stage.

Sorce auto-tailors your resume per application, including education emphasis. Free swipes every day, AI agent applies.

For more: how long should a resume be, what skills to put on resume, resume margins.