Please degrade my CV! LDN SA '27
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Hey everyone, I’m a first-year undergrad (graduating 2028) at a European target uni. I’ll be applying for SA27, primarily for IB/PE roles, in London. I’m also planning to cold email a bunch of boutique IB/PE firms in London and wanted to check if my resume is okay.
I had a few specific questions, do answer if possible. As each is answered, I’ll edit the post to remove it to indicate that it's been answered
Should I:
1. Include month or just year for education dates? Eg. Sep 2025 – June 2028 vs 2025-2028 vs Class of 2028
2. Write International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme, International Baccalaureate, or IBDP? It’s an equivalent to A-Levels, for reference
3. Cut down the high school extracurriculars? I could maybe combine them or just list them as “Activities & Socities: Student Council, Basketball Team Captain, Economics Club President” under my education section. CV should look fine – I can reduce the margins somewhat (with 0.65 inches as an infimum). Would that work? Or do I cut my high school completely from my CV, given my mid grades. On that note, Is 4 high school extracurriculars + 1 university one disproportionate at this stage, or normal for a first-year CV?
4. Add my middle name to the header of my CV – I ask because my email includes my middle name, which might be confusing. However, my linkedin page also lists my name as “Maynard Keenan” not Maynard James Keenan
5. Remove Insight Programmes – theyre all virtual, so no actual springs unfortunately
6. Remove courses – main reason was to show Cap IQ/Bloomberg proficiency, and Yale Fin markets was to fill up space. Should I replace Yale with something else? Did it like 3 years ago.
7. Reorder my boutique IB bullets? Maybe valuation up higher? Is 5 bullets too many?
8. Enterprise Software (2023, pre-university) be cut now that I have a more relevant IB internship, or still worth keeping for tenure/breadth? Will likely cut after the summer though.
9. Cut the interest section entirely? Reword maybe?
Does:
10. The ~5% undervaluation s in one bullet read as believable for a 2-month internship, or does it look inflated? I did do the work, and my supervisors gave me this figure, but I’m wondering if it looks a bit odd.
11. The university association bullet (TLB equitization, term lender recoveries) read as complete fluff or not. Again, these are things I have actually done, just tried to word it a bit nicely.
12. The long single-sentence bullet style (e.g. comps/DCF bullet) read as too long/dense, or is it okay as is?
Lastly, any opinion on the template/font? I’ve done mine in LaTeX because I think it looks so much better than anything on word (it is ATS friendly). The font is Garamond adjacent, but I can switch to the WSO template if necessary (would need to cut out quite a bit though, as the margins are much wider).
Made a mistake while anonymising: "Company Name (Firm Name)"
Should be "Firm's Name (Enterprise Software)"
2. International Baccalaureate is good. IB is fine in a pinch
3. You could compress your high school activities, but I don’t see much reason to if it wouldn’t allow you to show off your bigger wins more
4. Stylistic choice. I am sure your screener will be able to figure out you have a middle name, unless it’s genuinely confusing.
5. Insights can still be valuable but be careful about what they signal. Morgan Stanley vs Susq are different worlds. I leave it with you to manage your story.
6. As with 3, I don’t see why you wouldn’t keep them.
7. I haven’t read in great detail (which is also going to be true of your screener, probably). My only note was that you buried the lead on your last bullet point, consider leading with the 40% result closer to the start of the sentence/BP/line. I wouldn’t be afraid to show off your internship, don’t do anything ridiculous but it’s your best asset so use it
8. Eh
9. Keep it, no question. No-one likes a robot with no hobbies. I read your interests and assumed you were on the geekier side if that means anything, but colleagues of mine would probably love that stuff. Inherently subjective, but keep the interests section for sure.
10. Claim it so long as you can back it up in an interview.
11. Eh. The main thing that stuck out to me as fluff was that first bullet point under house captain, not the association stuff. Different people read CVs differently though, I’ll let consensus speak
12. It’s workable. For bullet points I’d say (1) never more than 2 lines, (2) 2 lines where breaking into 2x1 is actively worse, (3) 1 line is ideal where possible. Feels like you’ve already achieved that
Props for using LaTeX, I’m a nerd for that stuff. However *make sure you do not cause any formatting or compatibility issues*. If your CV can’t be opened properly it’s getting thrown away, but you’ll be submitting as PDF so should be fine
Caution on all of the above: this is just one opinion, and it’s relatively rushed/casual. Don’t take any of this too strictly, and speak to multiple people
I’d also dig through the CV board for past sets of feedback, often transferable
Thank you so much for the detailed answer, I really do appreciate the feedback.
I did ensure that the PDF generated is machine readable/ATS parsable, as that was one of the primary concerns with using LaTeX. Nice to find someone else that enjoys this ahaha. Off topic, but, for the IB, we had to an internal assessment - essentially a short research paper. The moment I found out about LaTeX, I redid my entire maths paper, and I'm so glad I did. Came out looking beautiful. I intend to my bachelor's thesis with LaTeX as well.
Once again, thank you!!
Target uni with a 36/45? In econ??
I'm just that guy
Did bro really have to use the world degrade 😭
Happy to give you an honest read. Overall this is a strong first-year CV — the IB summer experience is real and well-written, and the RX extracurricular shows genuine interest beyond the generic finance club. But there are a few things holding it back for competitive LDN SA ’27 processes.
What’s working
The IB bullet points are specific and quantified — deal size, pages drafted, number of parties, DCF horizon, outreach improvement. That’s the right instinct and most first-years get this wrong. The restructuring case study bullet (TLB equitization, recovery rate) is also a good signal that you can engage with technical material beyond surface level.
What needs fixing
The work experience ordering is fine but the enterprise software internship from June–July 2023 is doing very little for you at this point. One month, pre-university, sales support work. Consider cutting it entirely and using the space to expand the IB bullets or add a deal outcome if available.
The extracurriculars section is too long and the high school content should be compressed aggressively. Basketball captain and student council are fine signals of character but they’re eating real estate. Combine them into two lines max. Recruiters at BB/EB spending 30 seconds on this page will not read past the university content.
“Degraded my CV” as a phrasing — avoid that framing in actual mentor conversations or cover letters. Minor point but WSO culture rewards directness without self-deprecation.
One structural issue
You’re a first-year with one real IB stint. That’s actually fine for SA ’27. But the CV currently tries to compensate for thin experience with volume. Tighter and more confident will outperform longer and padded. Cut the high school sports to one line, cut the software internship, and let the IB experience and RX work breathe.
The bones are good. Clean it up and you’re competitive.
Might be better to remove high school grades, relatively weak. Ideally, you also include a third work experience
Above average CV, I would say top 40%. But being on a student visa with no DEI will be a disadvantage.
Am a British Citizen so no visa required - should I indicate that on my CV? I answer accordingly on applications, but only if asked about sponsorship.
Have a search fund internship starting in July and something else on the side (credit related). Will add by end of summer or at least once I start.
I thought the same about high school grades, but does that mean I completely remove the education section?
Others commented on the content, but formatting-wise, the parentheses in your interests/spacing between them aren't consistent with the rest.
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