Hey, I am currently a junior in high school with no leadership skills or position. I just realized that it is too late for me to apply for a leadership position for any of my clubs. As a result, I have one question. How important are leadership positions on the college app? This has been stressing me out recently.
I’m currently in key club (2 years), CSF (3 years), and GATE (3 years) with about 50 service hours combined.
I have been in Cross Country for 2 years and Track&Field for about 3 years.
I have a 3.8 UW GPA and a 4.25 W GPA. I am taking AP Calc AB (calculus 1) as a junior. My other APs are APUSH, AP Bio, and AP World.
My plan during the summer is to volunteer 4 out of 7 days of the week at the library and try to do something related to tutoring. I’m also starting on my major early by learning python before summer begins.
The colleges that I really want to go to is UCI and UCSD. UCLA and UCB would be nice but it’s a reach.
Thanks for taking the time to read my post and have a nice day!
Ok, let me just say that I do not know much about the California system. Perhaps a more informed poster will chime in. For example, Texas (my state) bases acceptances on primarily the school rank of the student. Because of this my D who was auto admit, could have gone to any of the Texas public schools, including UT Austin. Leadership positions did not matter.
So inform yourself regarding the California system. Also are you in state or out of state? That will make a difference as well. Good luck!
I think that schools look at leadership roles as a measure of initiative. So the trick is to demonstrate that you don’t just hang in the back or follow the crowd on everything, you know? Some people are the president of everything and that’s fine – that’s obviously leadership – but that’s not the only way to show that you are engaged and proactive.
With that in mind, yes, it’s too late to get elected to any sort of leadership position for this school year, so that’s out. Can you start an activity/club/event at this point? Would you even want to? Don’t do it “for the resume,” because that doesn’t make sense, either. But is there something you feel moved to do which will show your ability to either lead or bring out leadership in others? Do you have a favorite teacher or activity where you could be an assistant in some capacity? Those are all things where you’d have to go above and beyond and demonstrate some initiative, and that would be viewed in the same category as leadership.
Both of my kids are pretty introverted, and neither of them ever would’ve dreamed of running for president or being in charge of anything requiring public speaking. Instead, both found their passions and ended up being things like equipment managers, event planners, librarians, etc. It’s a less-discussed leadership path – just because it doesn’t involve a spotlight doesn’t mean it’s less important. Schools just want to know that you do more than the bare minimum and you’re considering others, that’s all.
@Minerclawz - Try to think of leadership broadly. Being the VP of a school chess club or Spanish honor society or such is one obvious type of leadership that lots of kids will have. But leadership is also shown through other venues: maybe you can tutor a group of students or mentor a young student or even coach a recreational track team for young runner. Leadership is really using your own skills and knowledge to build others up and creating relationships of respect. It isn’t just a high position in a hierarchical organization.
You do not need to be the secretary of the Key Club to get into college. There are other ways to,show leadership. Did you organize an event, are you in sole charge of something? Have you headed up a group project? Leadership can be shown in lots of differnt ways. Don’t worry, it’s not an issue.
If you go to a public school you will have kids that need help, if your school doesn’t have a peer tutoring club (hard to imagine) then start one. If your school is private, head to your local public title 1 or similar middle school and offer your services (again, if your high school doesn’t have such a group, create one). The library is nice easy volunteering. I think there are better ways to volunteer. Apparently it is so nice and easy the libraries here have waiting lists for kids to do this. Look on the volunteer match websites for opportunities. Your state will have plenty of needy kids summer programs, go find them.