Do Ivy League schools recognize the fact that Class President is only a popularity contest?

<p>Those of you who deny the fact that being class president is based on popularity are obviously lying......
If an Ivy league school had to decide between me and a class president with the same EC's, SAT score, GPA, etc., I don't want to lose because that person was more popular than I was...
Is there anything that can make up for this? Valedictorian, perhaps?
Not trying to offend any senior class presidents at all.</p>

<p>Fortunately, the entire class will not be class presidents or valedictorians! The admissions dept will look for artists, musicians, humanitarians, etc. Don’t worry about things you can’t change at this point. </p>

<p>Class president may be a popularity contest, but people who are popular do better in life. And colleges are looking for students who will do well in life.</p>

<p>You can do extremely well in life with or without an IVY league diploma!</p>

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<p>This.</p>

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<p>Except they wouldn’t, because no two people are actually exactly the same like that, unless they’re doing really cookie-cutter standard stuff, in which case they’d probably both get rejected anyway. </p>

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Well then I guess I’m gonna be a failure.</p>

<p>@dsi411 no you’re not. You’re most definitely going to be a success story wherever you wind up. Keep your head up, my Naija brother!</p>

<p>If it means anything, I came second in the running for class president as a freshman. Which means that I was the second most popular kid to run. And I was hated in 8th grade lol</p>

<p>Popularity (in a high school setting, at least) doesn’t indicate the amount of success you’ll have later in life…
To be honest, I feel like the “prestige” of being class president has plummeted so much over the years, just like NHS. It doesn’t mean anything if you’re president unless you actually DO something; going to student government meetings every week and creating class T-shirts doesn’t qualify as actually making an impact.</p>

<p>They are not looking for popular people, they are looking for future leaders. Just like 30,000 valedictorians across high schools, there might be another 100,000 class presidents if each school elected multiple class presidents.</p>

<p>There is a fine art to finding leaders. They are not always elected.</p>

<p>As others have said, the chance of having the same exact stats and ECs are really slim. But regarding elections being a popularity contest, I think colleges rather have a popular person then a non-popular person. Every election, including president and congressional elections, are popularity contests. The best liked person wins. If Obama hadn’t been so likeable in 2008, do you think he would have even been nominated? I don’t. A college needs people who will learn but contribute to their campus at the same time. </p>

<p>This is not to say that you won’t get in. If you’re grades are good and you show yourself being involved with the community, you have a chance just like a class president does if they have good grades and good extracurricular activities. </p>

<p>I think elections are a little bit of a popularity contest, but if you manage to get your foot in the door early then it doesn’t always have to be. My freshman year, only one person ran for class president, and he was this really apathetic slacker. Same with the other elected positions–only one or two people ran. I think the slacker guy moved away, but the other kids who were elected to positions as freshmen are still on ASB as seniors today, even though they didn’t make much of an impact. Don’t underestimate the incumbency effect. </p>

<p>But to answer your question, I don’t think they’ll necessarily hold it against you. If you have other leadership positions or extracurriculars you’re heavily involved with, then that’s also fine.</p>

<p>Good luck! </p>

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<p>But this is high school we’re talking about. The most popular person in high school is usually the person with the most money and hosts the largest parties…</p>

<p>I don’t think there is a strong correlation between high school popularity and the type of sociable charisma that results in success later on in life. High School popularity can result from merely being better looking than other people - and while I know there are some attractive people at Harvard, I don’t think admissions is ANTM for them.</p>

<p>Student government at my school is honestly a pure popularity contest - but even more than that, its a beauty contest - literally the most attractive people win. All the time. Even if they have no interest in actually accomplishing anything as a student rep, they just love the thrill of winning large scale pseudo-elections. LOL. </p>

<p>You can definitely make up for lack of leadership in Student Government through other things; don’t worry about it too much. </p>

<p>Almost all leadership positions are</p>

<p>Time to rent Romey and Michelle’s High School Reunion, and Election, one of my favorites. Enjoy.</p>

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If you were somehow exactly the same as another applicant except he or she was class president, why would you deserve the spot over them? </p>

<p>I think colleges will be able to distinguish between a person holding a nominal title and a person who has shown that he/she is a true leader through contributions/involvement. </p>