成功的申请可以帮助你按自己的条件进入最合适的学校，是不可忽视的一项。个人简历是反映一个申请者自身情况的材料。国外绝大多数的学校都要求申请者提供，并作为审查批准入学的重要依据之一。
个人简历的英译很多，如"Personnel Vita"、"Autobiographical Statement"、"Personal Statement"、"Autobiography"、"Resume"。其中"Resume"写法稍有不同。个人简历一般应简要写明本人所受教育、专业兴趣、工作经历、所取得的成绩及家庭背景。
有关个人的注意要点。综合各校的要求，特做如下分析：
1.个人简历的结构可分为三或四个段落。第一段落简单交待自己的个人情况，如姓名、出生时间及地点、家庭背景等。良好的家庭教育对你的成才当然有利。但美国对此不很重视，一般可以不写。第二段可以围绕你的求学经过来展开，但不要用流水帐式的写法使叙述过于生硬刻板。第三段以你的大学生活为主，你为何选此学科，可以与前面的叙述相呼应。第四段要说明你个人的能力、性格。
2. 内容要着重在你留学的动机，目前所取得的成绩，你终生的目标。
3. 个人简历避免过多的形容词，例如，想象力十分丰富、创造力超群等，宜举小小的例子来说明。
4. 个人简历约200－300字为可，不宜写得太长。
范例:计算机系毕业生个人简历
I have the honor to present a brief introduction of myself to you in compliance with the requirements of your graduate admission.
I was born in November 7th, 1966, at the town of ChangPing, Beijing. My parents are doing business and farming. I have one elder sister, one younger sister, and two younger brothers. The family is in a well-to-do country with harmonized atmosphere.
After my elementary and junior high school education at my hometown, I went on my senior high school education at a public vocational technical high school at the neighboring county Fangshan. Courses I have taken there include: mechanical structure, applied mechanical dynamics, material strength, heat treatment analysis, and electrical engineering. I also had practice courses on lathe work, bench work, casting, engineering drawing, and electronic television repair skill. After graduation from this technical school, I found a job at the Evergreen Traffic Corp. When I had worked one year in mechanical design and heat treatment analysis, I was admitted to the Computer Science Department of Beijing Institute of Technologies. Computer science education was an extension of my pursuit in electronic knowledge, it had led me into the world of applied electronics. Courses I had taken are: Calculus, Computer Programming (FORTRAN, COBOL, ASSEMBLY, and BASIC), Computer architecture, algorithm, maintenance, system analysis, and some related courses in Accounting, Statistics, Operating research, Digital value analysis. Beginning at the second year of college, I participated in a work study program and was assigned to the computer center of Far East Textile Corp. as night-shift computer operator, The computers I dealt with were CDC 3300 MSOS and IBM 370-115 DOS/VS system. The major work I had done was the system transference of CDC 3300: MSOS to IBM 370-115 DOS/VS.