Most student CVs read like a list of things you did. Nobody cares what you did — they care what you achieved.

Here's the difference:

❌ "Assisted with data collection for a research project"

✅ "Collected and cleaned 2,000+ survey responses for a published study on consumer behavior (Smith et al., 2025)"

The second one tells me scale, outcome, and credibility. The first one tells me nothing.

Three quick fixes you can make right now:

1. Add numbers everywhere. Hours per week, team size, sample sizes, grades, rankings — anything quantifiable.

2. Lead with the result, not the task. "Increased engagement by 40%" hits harder than "Managed social media accounts."

3. Cut the objectives section. It's 2026. Use that space for a 2-line professional summary that actually says something.

I've been helping students rewrite their CVs for PhD programs and grad jobs. So far 3 of my clients have landed PhD interviews from cold applications.

If your CV isn't getting callbacks, it's probably not a "you" problem — it's a formatting problem.