<p>I am so afraid that my lack of EC's and my lack of involvement (leadership) will lower my chances profusely to get accepted to CMU. I am currently a junior. I expect high SAT I scores and I do have the usual EC's: Key Club, SADD, Yearbook, Newspaper, French Club, and Hospital Volunteering. The only leadership position I have is an assistant editor on the yearbook. I expect to apply ED. How bad of an affect will the EC's have on my admission, now that more and more "well-rounded" students are applying?</p>
<p>ok. you should have some leadership positions in your student govt. or just leadership in the clubs. well i agree..to tell you the truth EVERYONE does hospital volunteering..but it doesnt matter. JUts bolster your EC's by gettign sum leadership positions</p>
<p>It's not news to me that I need leadership positions. Its just that I can't. I'm not in student council so I wouldn't be able to be in student gov. And as for clubs, the number of people that usually run are very large. I've tried to run before but have failed. I still want to know how the lack will affect my chances. Does any one else have any opinions.</p>
<p>What if some clubs at your school doesn't offer leadership positions?</p>
<p>anyways..if it is possible..try to do sum other volunteering stuff..cuz everyone does hospital volunteering</p>
<p>Personally don't get the leadership thing. Not everyone can be a leader. If the club has 50 kids only a couple are leader types. Theres something to be said for an involved interested student who doesn't need to be in control or the center of attention. Speech over!</p>
<p>This may not be what you want to hear, but you need some other activities, they are a big deal there.</p>
<p>Yeah I don't have much leadership stuff either, I don't think you can let that crush you, as I say, you can always make up EC's... I don't mean lying but helping your mom at her job for free is volunteering at a school or at church. I do the lighting for a show, and boom, I can be the lighting manager, since I am in charge of it, its "creative labeling" that matters, whether or not you want to hear that.</p>
<p>"I do the lighting for a show, and boom, I can be the lighting manager, since I am in charge of it, its "creative labeling" that matters, whether or not you want to hear that.
"</p>
<p>That's not lying, though. That is telling the truth. Lying would be saying you managed the lighting when you had nothing to do with the lighting.</p>
<p>"Creative labeling" makes it sound like students should lie about what they are doing. That's not what they should do. They should make sure to describe in an accurate way what they are doing. For instance, if a student creates a fund raising project for an organization and oversees that project, the student can put on their application "created and managed a fund raising project (a French brunch the students did at the school) for French club that raised $500 that paid students expenses to attend a regional conference."</p>
<p>That accurately shows leadership. It doesn't matter whether the student had an official office or not. What's important is the actions the student took.</p>
<p>Too many students erroneously think that demonstrating leadership is only holding offices. Colleges see things more broadly than that, but the students need to make sure that their applications include not only leadership positions but also other things that they did that demonstrated leadership.</p>
<p>Obviously I agree, and as I said, "I don't mean lying" but I think putting a spin on things isn't a bad thing. Colleges see things broadly, so "founding member" or running a club's website is another type of leadership. That's a good point Northstarmom.</p>
<p>Yes, maniac9, I agree with you. :)
I hope that the really nice, committed students who often don't get elected to leadership positions in popularity-contest types of races, but still end up doing most of the work, will see our posts so they know how to highlight their leadership when they are filling out aplications and doing interviews.</p>
<p>I think some of the engineering schools might be less focused on traditional ECs. What will really help you is some science research, contests, or independent study. Do something unusual, everyone has leadership positions in clubs.</p>
<p>EC's arn't that important at CMU, unless you want to get some sort of scholorship.</p>
<p>manlac9 is completly right, don't lie, but beef things up</p>
<p>Like you babysat for free, you can call that _________________
or taught a child to swim and call that <strong><em>swin instructor</em></strong>
or got an award from your mom <strong><em>Best Son/Daughter of 2005</em></strong>
blah blah blah</p>
<p>Also make sure to write in your essay that you can be a leader in different ways. How you're reliable and always there when the going gets tough.</p>
<p>Are you sure that EC's aren't that important at CMU? What kinds of things do they focus on then?</p>
<p>Unless you apply to one of their fine arts programs (duh), they are most concerned with test scores and school grades. ECs at schools like CMU usually serve to push applicants over the top, but I don't think its common for students with good/great test scores and grades and few ECs to get rejected just because of a lack of good ECs. Writing a killer essay doesn't hurt either, although I don't think CMU cares about essays that much.</p>
<p>CMU, you ARE a leader! You lead by tending to what is most important in your life and letting others see that. You set an example. Do your fellow students respect you? Does the faculty? Yes, I'm sure they do! Have you helped a fellow student understand something in class? Definitely, leading with compassion. Your kind of leadership is far more worthwhile than that of having a title and sitting in front of a group at meetings.</p>
<p>do any of you know anyone's stats that got accepted to CMU?</p>