Hello, everyone. I am currently a sophomore trying to work to get in to Ivy League (specifically Brown or MIT). Currently, I am doing extremely well with school GPA and prepping for SAT. The only problem is that I do not hold a high leadership position in clubs; I am part of model congress and model un. It is impossible for me to be a president or vice president because of other students running for these positions for two years in a row. As a result, I would really want to start a new club at my school but my school has a lot of clubs already. Could you guys give me a list of some popular academically related/serious club ideas at your school? Thank you so much!
MIT is not an Ivy League school.
You still 2 more years to achieve your goals. Also, being president or vice president is not necessary in any way to getting into your school of choice.
Thank you so much!
You could look at starting a service club, or arts or music or dance clubs. Start something that you care about.
The girl in our school who started the Hip Hop club, and drew in about 30 kids who had never danced before, got admitted to most of her top schools. She also could genuinely say she loved to dance, and submit tapes of her dance
group. It was a compelling story, I would say. She is Chinese American.
Your new club not have to be academic. In fact, I think maybe nonacademic club is possibly more eye catching, as its different, and it may impress or interest your admissions counselor. Also what you do every summer, matters a lot. Find things to do over the summers that you care about and love to do. Good luck.
Thank you so much!! This is really helpful!
Start training now to become at least a State-recognized athlete in some sport – this is always the secret back door to getting into the Ivy League, including MIT (which has sports teams it cherishes, especially rowing!). Failing this, you need to have a club that is intellectual, focusing on some intellectual pursuit that meets on Saturday or Sunday and spends considerable time together learning and exploring (so you have some stories for your college essay).
Be an athlete.
Only Rowing is division 1 at MIT, and follows those rules for recruiting. all other sports are division 3, and carry somewhat less weight with MIT Admissions is my understanding. See other posts, but many athletes are very disappointed to be “recruited” by an MIT coach and rejected by MIT Admissions! Athletes need other hooks, for MIT.
If you are an Ivy Division 1 recruit, thats different, Ivy schools and Stanford, Northwestern etc save seats for athletes.
MIT does not necessarily, but if you are first generation college student, and an athlete, that will get their attention I bet. If you won an international debate contest and a top athlete, that may work. If you are a qualifying AIME math score, an athlete and a girl, that will get their attention. Everyone needs at least two check boxes today to get into MIT, so good at something and good at something else, or in a special category like first generation college student. It probably depends on exactly what you do in starting a club, how much time you take with it, how passionate you are about it, and how you convey that to MIT and whether it makes some sort of difference to students in your high school, and IF you can convey that to MIT and/or your EC.
Leadership in a club at your school carries very little weight with admissions at top schools. Don’t worry about winning a position or about starting a club in order to be a “leader.” Please believe us on this.
If you are a sophomore, you don’t have to be thinking about college yet, but if you insist, try to expand the schools you are thinking about beyond the most selective. Educate yourself. Start, for instance, with Colleges that Change Lives. Look at other universities besides Ivy League and MIT. Why did you choose these two schools?
Try not to live your life in a way that is geared to admissions. That can really distort your high school experience and, ironically, may even hinder your chances.
The main thing in high school is to work hard in order to learn, follow any of your authentic interests, make friends and try to be a good person 
What are your “authentic interests”? Try to develop them in whatever way is available to you, including outside of school.
I disagree with @compmom. I have seen a student who started a hip hop club and really got about 40 kids dancing, in a good way get into Stanford, and enroll. She still dances her heart out!
. She was both an extraordinary dancer, and an extraordinary leader,
who really could demonstrate both to Stanford. Leadership as exemplified by starting something, can mean a lot to both interviewers, and admissions committees, but one must be following one’s bliss to really do well at starting anything from scratch. Its not easy to start a high school club and get a following. One has to do something above and beyond to get into many colleges, today but much of it is geographic chance, being first generation, or being the correct race, so don’t get set on any one school, as you just don’t know in advance if you will fill a bucket they need.
Focus on fit, but wait until you actually have interests and then you will know better. As a sophomore its hard
to know if MIT is even a fit, so don’t worry about it so much.
For fit with MIT, do you really want to take hard biology, chemistry and physics? If not, find a school that fits? Every student at MIT does the same core science, program, even the philosophers and urban planners and architecture majors.
Some students just don’t want to work that hard on the sciences. Find a school that fits what you want to learn.
Focusing on fit will eliminate a lot of schools, and if it eliminates MIT, thats OK too.
My personal view is that the experience of the kid who started the hip hop club is irrelevant to the original poster. She had an extraordinary talent, first of all. Second, she started a club out of genuine passion, not a plan to start a random club to get into college. Clearly she was a dynamic leader since 40 kids joined, and that personal quality would have come through in recommendations. Finally, we can imagine that she danced outside of school, perhaps in summer programs or in a company of some sort.
If you don’t even know what club to start, there is no point in doing it.
I know several kids who went to Ivies or MIT and none of them started a club at school and I don’t think they even participated in clubs at school. Generally speaking they were outstanding in something outside of school.
. There is always a point in trying to do something new, especially for a 10th grader. You don’t know unless you try.
The hip hop girl did not go into this, thinking, this will get me into Stanford, or knowing she could do this. She just plunged in. Might as well encourage a 10th grader! Why be sarcastic and mean about it? A 10th grader has a lot of potential, and trying to figure out what he or she likes to do. Its OK to ask questions about clubs, but since boring parents are on this site, OP needs to ask the same question on other websites to get better answers! . In fact those that ask good questions are more likely to get into top schools than those that give up before they start.
Lots of MIT admits do participate in clubs. Don’t feel discouraged is the main point, go knit, or sew, or do what you like to do. And if its in a club thats just fine. I was a sewer and was in five high school clubs and got into MIT.
I was in both sewing and academic clubs. Clubs are great fun.
The hip hop girl probably did think this will get me into Stanford. Lots of kids are thinking about unique attributes and activities that can separate them from other “like” students.
Leadership is important, but clubs in and of themselves don’t help separate you from the pack. Think about doing independent research or with a teacher or in your community, starting a business or website or solving a problem in your community like with a food pantry or other problem that takes persistence and skill. Good Luck.
IMO the top schools are looking for students who are self-starters, have interests etc. A blog like this is not where you should find an activity. You need to look within yourself and find something you feel passionate about, something you can throw yourself into etc. And you don’t have to start a new club – it can be a club that already exists at the school, it can be something you do outside of school – whatever interests you.