<p>As a mechanical engineering freshman that started in the fall, I choose not to apply for a "junior officer" position for one of my student engineering organizations, after the president explicitly stated that it will be mostly email work. </p>
<p>The other two student engineering organizations that I'm also in don't really have an organized leadership other than "President" and "Vice president".</p>
<p>My sister has been trying to convince me that even with a 3.72 college GPA, my resume would be very weak without the word "Leadership" in any of my college extracurricular activities.</p>
<p>I did have a few managing experiences during high school (running a programming project and co-directing a play that I wrote the script for), but I'm not sure how much weight would my high school activities carry.</p>
<p>When I was reviewing resumes/applications for internship positions in my group, I never placed much emphasis on student engineering organizations no mater what position one held. I was more interested in what classes you had and any project work you had. The internship was, after all, a job doing engineering work.</p>
<p>Good that you have project work. Best that you get real involved in one project than just join several. </p>
<p>BTW, internships between freshman and sophomore years can be hard to come by (but not impossible). You just haven’t enough classwork in engineering to have the skills that a company wants in an intern. The company that I worked for (I am now retired) would only consider rising seniors for internships. But, it was a large aerospace company who had a lot of applications for internships that they could afford to be that choosey. You’d be better to look at smaller companies.</p>
<p>The HR recruiter at Rockwell Collins directly asked for my resume after a few minutes of talking with him, and he warned that Rockwell Collins puts large amount of workload on interns. Also, one of their guru engineers (who played a major role in the development of the GPS) asked for my email at an event.</p>
<p>I should mention that my email conversation with the HR recruiter started informally because I wanted to let him know that I have to wait for my college GPA to be finalized before I could send him my resume.</p>
<p>I concur with earlier responses. Projects you have worked on are more important. However, playing the role of a leader in a student organization will certainly help once you join the work force.</p>
<p>FriendlyFire, your sister is wrong. Simple as that. A 3.72 GPA without “leadership” positions is not weak. Someone with a 3.72 an no “leadership” section on their resume will get a job over someone with a 2.72 GPA with a “leadership” section nine times out of ten. I know some companies will be a little suspicious of a 3.72 GPA if you have nothing else on your resume. They want someone who is balanced in school and in life outside of the lab. </p>
<p>Keep in mind getting an internship as a freshmen is difficult. It’s possible, but quite hard. Companies realize freshmen typically only take intro classes and often aren’t even sure what type of engineering they want to major in.</p>
<p>Clearly GPA and what classes you’ve taken are the most important items. However, internships are very competitive, and if you’re competing with others that have the same GPA and classes, projects and leadership positions can help.</p>
<p>The greatest advantage from “participating in projects” and “student involvement in clubs” is the ability to gain some hands on experience and networking. Don’t limit your college experience to the class room. Take advantage of what’s available at your school (and you may even have some fun…).</p>
<p>Just kicking the hornets nest…does Baja not have leadership positions? Your depth of involvement is more important then a title here. Baja is a great chance to get your hands dirty, and just plain get dirty if you go to competitions. (If you’re not familiar think life sized Mario Cart.)</p>
<p>The Baja at Uni of Iowa has quite an informal culture.</p>
<p>On a side note, I trashed a gearbox for one of our vehicles and stripped one of the gears of all but one teeth at a race in Wisconsin. I’m still trying to get a hang of welding, but my best results are just clumps of metal blobs on the “welded” joints.</p>
<p>There is another freshman in the SAE baja as well, but it seems that the sophomores, juniors and seniors give him priority over me for doing things because he already knows how to work with cars, welding and machining.</p>
Your depth of involvement is more important then a title here. Baja is a great chance to get your hands dirty, and just plain get dirty if you go to competitions. (If you’re not familiar think life sized Mario Cart.)</p>