A Leadership Dilemma

Applying to College
1

So I guess in most respects I’m your typical “top” student: 2300 SAT, 800s on Math 2 and Chem, 5s on 6 AP tests and 4.0 UW GPA in a reasonably competitive school. I’m a rising senior and as you might imagine I’m applying to some extremely competitive schools like Columbia (probably my ED school), Harvard, Duke, UChicago, Stanford, etc. Unfortunately, I really don’t have anything in the way of “leadership positions”.

I’m not the president or even vice president of anything and I know that the only student from my school who was accepted to Columbia last year was the president of four different clubs. It’s not like I’m uninvolved or anything - I’m an officer in Mock Trial and an Event Captain in Scioly - but I’m not truly the “leader” anywhere. I know that every school like Columbia really emphasizes leadership so I don’t know what to do at this point. I was pretty sure I was going to become Mock Trial captain but at the last minute the coach decided not to have an election and picked her favorite student instead. I had put so much time into that I didn’t really try to get any other positions.

So what should I do at this point? Start some club and call myself the president? But the thing is I know it looks bad to start stuff in Senior year. So I have no idea what to do. I feel like my talents are going to be wasted because I don’t have this stupid “leadership” thing. Does anyone have any suggestions as to what I could possibly do?

2

Look, to tell you the truth I think you need to stop whining and be honest with yourself. As someone who is the president of multiple clubs, I can tell you that it isn’t as simple as “I wanna be president to have a position.” You can’t expect everyone else to give you a grand title on a silver platter. And if that’s not your forte, maybe Columbia isn’t the right place for you.

3

And you consider these not to be leadership because…?

You’re confusing leadership with leadership positions. Leadership does not always (or even usually) mean “president.”

That will be very apparent to anybody that reads your application that the only purpose was to pad your resume. Don’t do it.

4

Don’t let any posters tell you not to bother applying to Columbia because you are not the president of some little high school clubs. As Skierurope wrote, there is all kind of leadership. GL

5

Being “the president of multiple clubs” sometimes makes readers of the application wonder if there are any members of those clubs other than prez and VP and whether these clubs actually ever do anything. Emphasize what you do rather than your job titles. Good luck!

6

You have “leadership” positions- you don’t need to be the president to be considered a leader. Seriously.
You have a very strong app IMO for top schools, emphasize your personality and your involvement in your ECs and you’ll be fine.