<p>Ok, so I've seen these profiles of Harvard students and most of them were officers of NHS or student council. What if you never got interested in those 2 thingss but had like a leadership position in another extracurricular you did and like you contributed A LOT (like you exceeded, yada yada yada). I mean, I heard Harvard likes students who describe a particular activity especially instead of a whole bunch. I still have years of high school but I mean, do you think I should just run for an officer or continue like this? I'm doing 2 sports activity, and 10 other. But, like is it convinient for me to continue like this? It's just everyone runs for an officer...any commments?</p>
<p>You do not have to be an officer of NHS or student council. Leadership in an EC is excellent, but you seek to become a leader in an activity that you are passionate about.</p>
<p>You do not need 10 ECs! You need to do a few things, and do them well. Leadership really is about excellence. You can excel in academic ECs (eg. science or math or writing competitions) or sports, or arts. Or you can work or do community service. If serving on the student council does not interest you, don't get involved.</p>
<p>i agree with marite. do what you love, and do it with a passion.</p>
<p>"I still have years of high school but I mean, do you think I should just run for an officer or continue like this? I'm doing 2 sports activity, and 10 other."</p>
<p>It's not the length of the list that the most selective colleges are looking for: It's the depth of the commitment and the extent of the impact of the activity on the student and of the student on the activity.</p>
<p>It's very hard for me to imagine that you could be deeply involved in 12 activities. It looks like you're compiling a laundry list in a vain effort to try to impress colleges. You'd be better off pursuing a few things that deeply interest you -- whatever those activities are -- and pursuing those things in depth and with creativity and real leadership or impact -- meaning that your presence made a difference in the activity, and the activity affected you. You weren't just using it for resume dressing.</p>
<p>Interesting thread. I have few ECs that I am passionate about but I am not captain or president of any. Sounds like it won't hurt me too much as long as I prove how much I enjoy these?</p>
<p>You want to show dedication. If you're on 5 teams that all are really good, it doesn't really matter if you're a leader or not. You just have to show that you dedicate to some of the ECs</p>
<br>
<p>I am not captain or president of any.</p>
<br>
<p>There are plenty of great EC's where there's no such thing as being captain or president. If you're an actor, you generally do not get elected to lead other students, but plenty of aspiring actors get into Harvard.</p>
<p>People say you need to excel in one or two activities - do Harvard not like all-rounders?</p>
<p>you're comparing apples and oranges. course there are lots of people here who were "well rounded" in high school.</p>
<p>What does it mean to compare apples and oranges?</p>
<p>It means you can't compare one to the other.</p>
<p>Just wondering if these count as leadership
Captain of two teams on a five subjects. I truly did lead the whole team to victory and recieved many regional awards for this. But is this leadership?
Also should I put this. Treasuere for Spanish National honor society. It seems kind of you know... but i almost got VP.</p>
<p>ah... I wonder if the adcoms realize that almost all club positions are popularity contests. Do they?</p>
<p>They don't put that much stock into long lists of your positions in various clubs. They put the most stock in the essay where you talk about the activity that means the most to you. This is your chance to show what leadership role you actually have in the club, and what it means to you. This means infinitely more to them than a laundry list of titles.</p>
<p>That's not to say that they don't care about your list of activities- it absolutely matters. I'm saying that they don't expect you to be president or officer of everything.</p>
<p>Is it absolutely necessary to have leadership positions? I'm in a few clubs and are pretty active in them, but I don't have a position or anything.</p>
<p>Admiral - are you talking about the 150-word essay? Do you happen to know if they want more an explanation of what you do, or more what it means to you (or just an even mix of both)?</p>
<p>Most of my extracurriculars focused on different aspects of my fondness for computers and movie making (which my friends got me into). I think having a passion for something will resonate more with the committee than having leadership positions in myriad clubs.</p>
<p>^^I just talked about why I love the activity and what it has taught me in my Short Answer. It's kind of obvious what most Presidents of run-of-the-mill clubs do so listing your responsibilities is probably unneccessary, unless you're doing something special with a community service organization or something.</p>