My daughter has struggled to gain any “official” leadership roles in high school. It seems the same favorites are picked for everything, leaving little room for others to stand out. I suppose something could come up senior year, but for now, any ideas if these activities/positions be considered leadership for college application purposes? Or do they look for things like “President” or “Secretary”?
Camp staff assistant/counselor at two different music camps
Voted by fellow students to emcee their school’s end of year class production
Leading roles in the school musicals every year since freshman year
Serving as a peer in the school’s special needs group every year since freshman year
Created and manged high school music department’s Facebook page
A couple of comments:
–I think college admission officers look beyond the titles – many of those are voted on and are more of a popularity contest than anything else. It is more about what the applicant has been involved in and what the applicant has accomplished.
–In the end your D should present what she has done in the most positive light possible. There is no use worrying about something that can’t be changed.
Even without the “titles” your daughter can show leadership. I agree that some of the titles are popularity contests. I think you can view leadership as a position of responsibility. There are many positions of responsibility where leadership is demonstrated. The camp counselor who led and had responsibility for a group of students shows leadership. Probably even more so than the student who was voted VP of a club and never did anything in that role. Webmaster for the music department’s facebook page is a position of responsibility too. It sounds like your daughter has done some things and will continue to do so.
I think several of those roles suggest leadership qualities. It all depends on how you describe them on the Common App activities section or on your daughter’s resume.
Thanks for the feedback. YES! So much seems like a popularity contest, this is very true. There are students with titles like Ambassador yada yada who have a D average and get drunk on the weekends but they are charming and get picked for everything. Meanwhile, the responsible students who work hard but are perhaps not as high in the social circles get passed up for everything. At least that is how it is in our school.