<p>I'm only wondering because I've accumulated a lot of leadership training over my four years of highschool and I was really hoping this would balance out my average gpa.</p>
<p>When i say leadership i mean attending leadership conferences (I've been to ones in Washington D.C, Boise ID, and Nashville) also being the President of clubs, lettering on varsity teams, being involved in community projects and leadership within school.</p>
<p>Does public speaking play a factor?</p>
<p>Those certainly help, but unless if the leadership positions are competitive, they are not that great of an EC. Leadership positions in most clubs are generally seen as fairly mediocre ECs unless if the clubs are involved in competitions or high visibility events proving high activity levels.</p>
<p>We have a State and National competition, 1100 kids attended our State competition and i ran the competition did the opening cermemony and closing. Our national competition was much larger but as a state president i wasn’t required to do as much.
I also have to give presentations to schools throughout my home state and at a leadership conference. Would that look like a good EC?</p>
<p>ECs do not “balance out” your GPA. Most colleges don’t really care about ECs. So clearly its not going to matter there. For colleges that do care about ECs, and we’re talking the top 150 colleges or so, they use ECs to choose between candidates that all have strong scores and grades. If your GPA is not in the competitive range at one of those schools, you are not a strong candidate.</p>
<p>Colleges are actually in the business of education, so they care a lot about whether applicants are ready for school and have shown it with their record. If you got a candid evaluation from an adcom, they would probably tell you that you should have spent fewer time on those ECs and more on studying (assuming by “average GPA” you mean something not competitive at a selective college, instead of the false modesty of talking about your 4.2 weighted as “average”).</p>
<p>When colleges say they are interested in leaders, many students assume they are looking for captains of athletic teams, or presidents of student councils, or editors of newspapers. And sometimes they are. But more often than not, as colleges are academic institutions, they are looking for leaders in the classroom. They are looking for students who not only contribute to the classroom conversation, but dynamically lead the discussion. They are looking for students who constantly raise their hands and have thoughtful opinions. Colleges are looking for your teachers to confirm your leadership qualities in their recommendation letters with concrete examples. It’s not about leadership in EC’s, it’s leadership in the classroom.</p>
<p>depends on the way you express it. Getting in is not about trying to be impressive and saying WHAT you have done. It is more about IMPACT and showing that you had a role/made a difference. If you can illustrate that it will mean so much more than just showing up to things.</p>