<p>Hi, so my question is:</p>
<p>"Do you really need leadership positions such as President, Vice President etc. to get into good schools?"</p>
<p>I mean let's be honest here, more often than not races for leadership positions are popularity contests. And secondly, there's now way to tell how good a leader you were, whether you increased membership by 200% or revived a dying club, or whether you run down a thriving club and caused membership to drastically decrease, etc. etc. So, if the other parts of your app are good, are leadership roles really necessary?</p>
<p>Finally, don't get me wrong, their are some Presidents, V.P.'s etc. out there who really are diligent and hard workers, and who earned their positions because of their talent and skills. However, from my personal experiences, a good number of leadership positions have been awarded to the person who has the most friends in the club, or who is the most loud and boisterous, etc.</p>
<p>Leadership implies that you were more involved than just being a member for the sake of being a member in order to put it on your ECs. Founder is superior to leader but ultimately it is what you can show you did is what counts, with or without leadership.</p>
<p>Leadership experiences do not necessarily have to require voting to get into. You can try starting something of your own and it could be equally, if not more impressive. Don’t confine yourself to the opportunities in school. Put yourself into your community and the world. Initiative and leadership is needed in so many places.</p>
<p>If other parts of your application are well above average or superb, then they can probably make up for a lack of leadership positions in your extracurricular activities. However, college admissions are so unpredictable, and you never know if your grades or test scores or other criteria are good enough to put you at that level where you don’t exactly “need” leadership positions.</p>
<p>As texaspg noted, leadership shows more involvement, and a role as a leader will be looked upon more favorably than a role as a basic member or participant. However, you need to effectively convey WHAT you did as a leader that is noteworthy or commendable. It goes both ways - you can be a leader and not do much; you can be a normal participant and do good things. The most important thing is conveying what you did to the admissions committee in the proper manner.</p>
<p>I can tell you from personal experience that I basically did not have any leadership positions in my EC’s, and my statistics weren’t exceptional enough that they could override my EC’s…This can probably explain why I was rejected from top schools.</p>