Parcolumns: Matching height of two adjacent columns

Question

I am using parcolumns package for my resume. I have following section in it:

The LaTeX code corresponding to this section is as follows:

\begin{parcolumns}[nofirstindent, colwidths={1=.15\linewidth}]{2}
  \colchunk[1]{%
  \fontsize{8pt}{8pt}\selectfont{}%
  EDUCATION\\*
  \\*
  \\*
  \\*
  [.5\baselineskip]
  }
  \colchunk[2]{%
  \textbf{University of California, XYZ}\hfill 2011 - 2013 (Expected)\\*
  Master of Science, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0\\*
  [0.5\baselineskip]
  \textbf{University of California, ABC}\hfill 2007 - 2011\\*
  Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0
  }
\end{parcolumns}

As you can see, I am having trouble aligning heights of two columns, 'EDUCATION' doesn't start from the top of the column. How do I achieve that?

Answer 1

You can use a tabular or a tabularx, depending on your preferences:

\documentclass{article}

\usepackage{array,calc}
\usepackage{tabularx} % needed only for the second example

\newcolumntype{L}[1]{@{}>{\raggedright}p{#1\linewidth-\tabcolsep}}
%%% for the first example you need also these
\newcolumntype{C}[1]{>{\raggedright}p{#1\linewidth-2\tabcolsep}}
\newcolumntype{R}[1]{>{\raggedright\arraybackslash}p{#1\linewidth-\tabcolsep}@{}}

\textwidth=420pt% just for the example
\parindent=0pt
\renewcommand{\arraystretch}{1.8}

\begin{document}

\hrule

\bigskip

\begin{tabular}{L{.15}C{.5}R{.35}}
\textsc{Education}
&
\textbf{University of California, XYZ}\newline
Master of Science, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0
&
2011 - 2013 (Expected)
\\
&
\textbf{University of California, ABC}\newline
Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0
&
2007 - 2011
\\
\end{tabular}

\bigskip

\hrule

\bigskip

\begin{tabularx}{\textwidth}{L{.15}>{\raggedright}Xl@{}}
\textsc{Education}
&
\textbf{University of California, XYZ}\newline
Master of Science, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0
&
2011 - 2013 (Expected)
\\
&
\textbf{University of California, ABC}\newline
Bachelor of Science, Computer Science, 4.0/4.0
&
2007 - 2011
\\
\end{tabularx}

\end{document}

The \hrule commands are just to show the full line width.