<p>Our son just got an invitation to apply to an Emerging Leader Program. I suspect that all incoming freshmen received the invite. The brochure says they pick 50 students from the applicant pool to be in the program. The program involves a Retreat, weekly workshops, guest speakers, and community service. The question I have, is this considered a worthwhile program? Any thoughts would be appreciated.</p>
<p>I don’t know too much about it, but i have a friend who was in elp this year and it was probably her favorite thing about freshman year. The group gets really close. She’s rooming with elp kids next year. It’s only a program for freshmen. It’s a good way to get involved on campus. They do a lot of things to help run campus event and stuff</p>
<p>I know a guy who did it and he loved it, it is all he talks about! I’ve heard that it’s competitive to get into</p>
<p>The Emerging Leader Program at Boston College, in my opinion, is one of the best student organizations on campus. It is remarkable how many UGBC (student government) presidents, academic superstars, campus journal editors, service group leaders etc. have come out of that program. </p>
<p>You get to go campus early and make friends prior to when everyone else gets there, which is HUGE for freshmen. ELPers that I know have stayed friends freshman-straight through graduation and beyond (there are even a number of ELP marriages that I know of; the program is over 20 years old now I believe)</p>
<p>The program itself is an extremely close community in most years. ELP emphasizes leadership, service, and academic achievement through the weekly seminars, and introduces students to all of the important BC administrators (both academic and otherwise) in addition to leaders in the community and beyond. The program also has a number of older students (10) who are involved as mentors to the freshmen. In past years, these 10 older students have weekly small group lunches in pairs, so you will always have a big group of friends to eat with during the week! These students also arrange monthly and weekly fun activities for the freshmen. </p>
<p>In short, definitely worth the application! I know a number of students who have commented that applying to ELP was the best decision they made in terms of shaping their phenomenal BC experience.</p>
<p>Thanks for the comments, sounds like a good program. My son’s challenge will be getting motivated to write 4 more essays, when he thought he was done with college essays until the fall. ;-)</p>
<p>If accepted, are you bound to the program? Can I decline the offer if need be? </p>
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