We’ve all been there: when rattling off skills in a resume, we go down the list: Microsoft Word, Microsoft Powerpoint, and the infamous… Microsoft Excel. The truth is, many of us are not the experts we can claim to be, and if you see all that Excel has to offer, you might be inclined to agree. Utilizing Excel in its entirety can make painstaking tasks easier and much more convenient. 

  1. Organization 

Excel is excellent for budgeting, computing, or any task that involves numbers, really. It computes numbers while keeping it organized, and you can color-code it if you’re a colorful-list sort of person. Additionally, it keeps lists looking long, plentiful, and endless. With different columns, you can organize your list in a variety of ways. Personally, I found it particularly helpful in making a scholarship application list. When you’re applying to multiple things, it’s nice to see your progress and you can mark as you go. As an example, here’s my [very simple] spreadsheet heading so I know what I’m applying to, if the deadline is coming up, and most importantly when the results will be announced. It can be easy to lose track of results, especially if they’re not happening in the near future and you’re applying to multiple. 

2. Career Prospects

In the age that we live in, knowing how to create a spreadsheet is a crucial skill in nearly every career. It is especially utilized in management and business. If you’re a student right now, it would be good practice to use it in your classes, such as labs where you can report data. Excel is not just for business majors, as some may think, and it can be used in any class where you have to compile data. It’s a very universal skill!  

Excel has a fee, but if you have an email address that ends in “.edu,” or, in other words, you’re a student at a college or university, you can get it for free. If not, Google Spreadsheets is an excellent alternative and something that I personally use more, since it’s connected to my email. 

Excel is a skill, which means it takes practice to perfect. Fortunately, there are thousands of tutorials on the internet, whether that means watching Youtube videos or reading tech blogs. If you have free time over the summer, I would encourage you to spend a few hours learning the basics, so that when you inevitably have to use it one day, you’re already a step ahead.