Generally it is not necessary or advisable to list your high school unless you are an underclassman. Employers are usually much more concerned about your college exploits. However, if your high school achievements are particularly impressive, or if you attended a school with a national or regional reputation, then you might want to include this information.
What's most important to employers is the college from which you graduate. If you're a transfer student, only list the first college if you feel it adds something to your marketability. For example, perhaps you took classes at your first college that are relevant to your career objective, or gained valuable work experience that might enhance your resume. Or perhaps you started out at a community college and then transferred to Yale. In this case you might want to list the community college to show the progress you've made academically. On the other hand, if you started out at a highly competitive school and then transferred into a school with a weaker academic reputation, you're better off not mentioning the first school unless you want employers to ask "what went wrong?"
Study Abroad
Increasingly, many American organizations consider it an asset for their employees to be globally minded and multilingual. They want workers who are sensitive to other cultures and adaptable to new environments. Studying abroad or participating in an international exchange program demonstrates to employers that you are interested in expanding your world view and experience. Those of you who have participated in these activities should list them on your resume. Describe the activities you were engaged in while abroad. Were you studying the host country's language, literature, or history? Were you employed? Did you live with a local family? Did you travel extensively?
Should You List Your GPA?
The answer depends on a number of factors. The first consideration is how employers in your prospective field view grades. In some fields, such as accounting, it is practically mandatory to list one's GPA. Omitting it could mean the employer will just assume it's low.
If you're pursuing a field in which grades are not a major criteria, then the question of whether or not to list your GPA depends on how good it is. Once you've been out of school a few years the whole topic of grades will be moot anyway.
Which GPA Should You List?
List whichever GPA is the most impressive-overall, major, or minor. (By the way, it is permissible to round your GPA up to the nearest tenth of a point.) If your grades are high across the board, just list your overall average. Of course if you graduated with an extraordinary GPA, the odds are that you also received certain academic honors. If this is the case you may want to skip listing GPA, and just list your honors. Phi Beta Kappa has a much nicer ring to it than 3.8.
If You Have a Low GPA
Believe it or not, there are a couple of ways out of this predicament. The most effective method is to improve your performance in the classroom. The next best option is to consider whether your GPA has been improving steadily. For example, perhaps your grades were lousy in your freshman year but have skyrocketed since then. If this is the case, you can calculate your grades from the point at which they began to rise. On your resume this would read something like: "Achieved a 3.3 GPA over the past three semesters."
If this technique doesn't solve your problem of a low GPA, the next alternative is to review your academic record and take note of all the classes in which you received high marks. If these classes are somehow related, you could state a GPA on your resume that pertains to this area of concentration ("Achieved a GPA of 3.4 in Russian history classes").
Of course this is a bit of a stretch, and you may just be better off not mentioning your grades at all.
Honors and Awards
Honors and awards are an objective verification of your abilities and achievements, and thereby give you credibility. This is important because for the most part a resume is a subjective document. When an employer reads that you were honored as the top student in a course or competition, your status is immediately elevated a couple of notches. After all, you have been officially commended by a panel of experts.
When listing honors and awards, try to stress those that are most relevant to the job for which you are applying. Keep your list fairly short, and make sure you describe the honor or award if it is not self-explanatory. For example, if you received the Waldo Watson Award, no one but you will have the slightest idea what it's about unless you explain. If appropriate, try to give the reader a sense of the competitiveness of the selection process. Was it national, regional, or local? How many other students were up for consideration?
