Hello everyone! I feel like, overall, my profile seems pretty good when thinking about college admissions except for one thing: leadership experience. I had already tried gaining it at my school, but it doesn’t seem like it will happen. What are some good, hopefully impressive, ways to gain leadership experience outside of school?
Thanks.
Not everyone needs leadership experience. Spend time on things you find valuable not on things you think colleges want to see.
@lostaccount I agree with that, but I honestly don’t know what I think is valuable except studying. Also, I think gaining this type of experience would be a good thing both for me as a person and for college admissions.
Then maybe the issue is becoming more involved in activities so that you can better define what is important to you. That isn’t necessarily “leadership” but finding activities you value.
My sons all got leadership experience in Boy Scouts/venturing. None of them ever held a leadership position in school. By the same token, they were not gunning for Ivy.
@lostaccount Well, I guess I wasn’t completely truthful; I do enjoy mathematics quite a bit. But I feel like math activities are scarce, with the exception of a math club at my school. Do you happen to have any suggestions?
@techmom99 Thanks for the suggestions, I have heard many good things from my friends who were in Boy Scouts. But I think it might be too late in the game for me to start something like that.
Define “leadership” a little more broadly. It can be more than getting elected to an officer position in a club. It can mean tutoring or mentoring. It can be increased responsibilities at a volunteer job or a promotion at work. It can be organizing or running a project at work, for the school or for the community. Show colleges that you are a person who will “step up” when there is a need.
Seems to me you’re putting the cart before the horse. Find something that interests you, join a relevant club/volunteer in a relevant organization etc, and then figure out whether and how any leadership role might work.
Venturing is a co-ed scouting program which is open to young people aged 14 - 21. My H and I ran a crew for about 7 years and a number of our members were girls who had not been in Boy Scouts before since it hadn’t gone fully co-ed yet and boys who had either never been in scouting or had dropped out after a year or two in Cub Scouts.
You could also join an outside group in an area that interests you. Some that come to mind are the Red Cross, a local fire or ambulance department (several of my former crew members have earned their EMT’s), Habitat for Humanity, League of Women Voter;s, local food banks and the like. Many local groups welcome the involvement of young people.
Here are some ideas: be a junior docent at one of your local science museums, join your church youth group and work up to a leadership position, youth conservation corps, organize runs for charity or drives in whatever sport you play, offer to tutor math at your local elementary school and organize some buddies to help, join civil air patrol, or, basically, pick whatever activity sounds good to you, volunteer and move up to organizing.
I have a son who also likes math, does a few ECs, tutors math at his school, but no stand out leadership roles either. His twin, meanwhile, is in student gov, on board of paper, leading a group at a shelter, has set up her own booth to sell produce at growers market, etc. So, I think some kids gravitate to “leadership” positions and others don’t. That said, I think it is really important to try to put yourself out there to gain leadership skills that may come more naturally to others. Trying to help our son with this.
Do things you care about, do them with passion, and let your leadership skills shine though. It is more about what you do then any titles you get along the way.
Thanks for everyone’s advice, this has given me a lot of food for thought.