Many of my friends are becoming highly successful in high school and I am starting to feel the pressure. My GPA is pretty bad and I only have a couple of extracurriculars. With this being said, I have a question. Some of my friends created their own club while others are leadership or president of an already established club like BETA or Model UN. Which of the two should I aim for? Being leadership or president of an already established club or creating my own club? What do colleges respect or like better?
Colleges want you to choose an EC that you enjoy and allows you to grow your leadership skills/maturity/team skills/intellectual curiosity/pick any other attribute.
If you want to start a club that fills a niche, fine. If you want to start a club simply to start a club, colleges will see right through that.
There is an idea that I am really passionate about, but I in my case I would have to drop leadership in a well-established club to start my club because it’ll be hard to balance both
and I really love the club that I’m in right now as well
So at this point its what the colleges like because I love both of them
One should not choose an EC/class/etc with an eye as to what a college “likes;” in general, they will not care. Perhaps AOs “liked” Malala’s ECs, but she set the bar high.
If your GPA is “pretty bad”, then you shouldn’t be worrying about EC’s at all, because the great majority of colleges don’t give much consideration to extracurriculars. The only colleges that care a lot about EC’s are using them to differentiate between applicants with great grades.
Most colleges don’t consider ex’s, only GPA, curriculum rigor, and test scores.
What are these? (Are we talking 2.7 or 3.5?)
Can you stay in your current leadership position while improving your grades?
Yes I can @MYOS1634 . Should I just do that then?
@sherpa but i heard extracurriculars is still weighted a good bit on apps
ok thanks! @skieurope
Yes I would do that.
Ec’s matter once you’ve met the baseline. That means a good GPA, strong curriculum rigor, and the highest test scores you can get (give yourself 3-4 tries and prep for each).
Bc apparently my course rigor is bad as well. 
In terms of ECs if you are doing something you love and have an established leadership position I would stick with that. As they say a bird in hand is worth two in the bush. Colleges won’t care at all if the club is new or if it is established.
Please recognize that the most important thing in admissions will be your academics including GPA, course rigor, standardized tests etc. When the time comes (junior year) honestly asses your academic stats (including GPA, standardized tests, course rigor) as well as your financial needs and apply to a wide range of reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (you will have to run a net price calculator for each school you consider) and that you would be happy to attend.
Don’t compare yourself and your achievements to those of your friends – be the best “you” you can be and when the time comes seek out colleges that will fit your academics and interests. FWIW many of my D’s friends went to Ivy and equivalent colleges and she went to a really nice (but not at that “level” of prestige/competitiveness) LAC. And my D had among the happiest and most fulfilling colleges experiences of all of her friends and is now at an Ivy school for her Masters degree.
Quick side note: whats a D @happy1
and whats LAC
D = daughter. LAC = Liberal arts college
Do the ECs you like. They can be outside school, too. What is your unweighted GPA? If it is low, no EC you pick up now could get you into a highly ranked school. Buckle down academically and do the ECs you enjoy.
D= daughter. Also DD; S or DS or DC are the equivalent for son and child. A number after generally indicates year of graduation, but sometimes age.
LAC = liberal arts college, an undergraduate-only school focused on “the liberal arts,” a term which includes sciences, social sciences, and humanities. Universities have a graduate school; non-LAC undergraduate programs might have a focus on engineering / applied science, health professions, or business, for example. If you think of your state flagship (the main / most prestigious public university), it might have multiple “schools;” the school of arts and sciences would be most analogous to an LAC.
D=daughter
LAC = liberal arts college
I think somewhere on CC is a list of commonly used abbreviations if you want to look for it.
D = daughter
LAC = Liberal arts college