<p>I am a senior in high school. So I came from China in fifth grade and I have this really thick accent that I can't seem to get rid of. I tried to run for officer positions last year but every time I ran, it seems that either my accent just made sure that people won't vote for me since they can't take me seriously or can't understand me, or that the club's officer or the whole club was BFF with the guy running even though he did almost nothing and barely showed up to any meetings. However, I did manage to become the President of my school's Astronomy Club since there were three people running and the other two was like friends with each other, which pretty much split the vote of the club and let me win. I feel like I am at a disadvantage and I feel like it's just unfair since it's pretty much a popularity contest. Am I screwed with my extracurriculars since I have no officer positions while I am committed to them? Is there anyway to explain this to colleges?</p>
<p>Leadership is not simply titles. Leadership is the ability to influence others. Plus, “leadership” and extracurriculars are only important for a handful of schools.</p>
<p>But I am applying to those schools where leadership ARE important. That’s what everyone on CC is</p>
<p>Here’s the simple question: are you a leader? Do you influence others? Outside of school – in your community, your place of worship, in you neighborhood, in your place of employment, volunteer efforst – do you lead? Is this a natural strength of yours? Or do you lead by other ways? Are you excelling in certain fields which make you an example for others? Research? Music? Arts? Sports? </p>
<p>I’ll be frank with you. Very few people are natural leaders. Those that are, usually are not asking how to highlight this fact.</p>
<p>You think colleges care about titles? They don’t. Those popularity contests? Do you think college admissions officers didn’t go to HS and don’t read the ACTUAL value on those positions? Of course they do. You’re skeptical about their real importance, aren’t you? Can you imagine how colleges view Bobby’s resume where he’s the president and founder of 10 clubs at his HS? They see right through it.</p>
<p>@An1100345: I wonder if YOU have any responsibility for your situation, rather than it all being unfair, nothing but “BFF popularity contests,” your classmates’ fault, the result of your fellow students’ poor judgements and questionable integrity, and more of this same genre? In addition, you comment concerning your difficult English accent – have you worked HARD, perhaps taking additional classes, to improve it? – but what about your grammar? In your very brief, initial post to this thread, you erred by having: (1) a few near unintelligible run-on sentences; (2) a misuse of the past tense; (3) a misemployment of a plural and singular noun; and (4) a sentence concluding with a preposition.</p>
<p>My point isn’t to be critical – and I DEEPLY admire immigrants of all generations, they have been, and they continue to be, the engine that powers America’s innovation, energy and success – but instead to point out that your initial post provides some insight into why your classmates probably selected others for leadership positions. Specifically:
- You cannot expect to lead if you communicate ineffectively.
- Similarly, you cannot expect to lead if you disrespect your peers.
- Further, you cannot expect to lead if you fail to assume responsibility for your actions and your deficiencies.
- Finally, you cannot expect to lead if your primary concern obviously is to enhance your college application, not to work with other teammates to increase the organization’s effectiveness and goal-achievements.</p>
<p>I’ll conclude by directly responding to your question. You could, of course, utilize your essays to discuss this situation and to provide excuses that essentially blame your fellow students and ignore your own responsibility. In my opinion, however, that would guarantee your rejection by essentially every highly competitive university and LAC. </p>
<p>One of my kids got into U of Chicago and Swarthmore with no “classic” leadership positions. She was the top player on an academic team at her school, and it is possible her recommendations may have said she leads by example. </p>
<p>I agree with TopTier that for the long term (not just college admissions), you should figure out more ways to work on your accent. Possibly a speech coach or even speech therapist might be in order. You don’t have to go to a tippy top college to succeed, but being able to effectively communicate will help you succeed for the rest of your life.</p>
<p>Titles really don’t matter for leadership. Compare the organizations you joined before and after you became a member- how have you made them better? That is much more important.</p>
<p>My daughter is currently at an Ivy and she never had a “leadership position” at any club, etc. But I am told that all of her recommendations talked about her natural leadership skills. She also made sure that in the Common App, the language she used to list her ECs highlighted the individual initiative that she had to undertake to achieve that EC. She used to joke to me that she leads by example not by “ruling” – she told us early on that there were too many kids in her class that were obsessed with needing to have those specific leadership roles and they just weren’t that important to her. I truly believe that when you become obsessed with having a certain “thing” for your application, that the inauthenticity shines through your application and the reps can see it. Be yourself, involve yourself in the things you enjoy.</p>
<p>i have 2-3 leadership positions in my school, but trust me, they are just overrated popularity contests. When it came down to the ‘election’(if you want to call it that), people just vote for friends. Everything said above is so true, you can lead by example, or by other initiatives, these titles of President, vice president, dont really mean anything. </p>
<p>@TopTier I am sorry, but I talk informally and I never proofread when I talk in forums. First off, I hate whenever people question whether I have worked hard to improve my English accent. I went to speech therapy for three years and it never worked for me. I actually was enrolled in English workshop from fifth grade to the time when I got to high school in order to improve my English skills, in addition to ESL. In fact, I am currently enrolled in AP Lit and was enrolled in AP Lang last year. When you say I am not working hard enough, you don’t know how much I actually did in order to seek help with my accent.</p>
<p>Second, I wasn’t disrespecting anyone. I actually give my inputs to the club to consider and always commit to my club 100%. I love what I do in each of my clubs and I intend to keep it this way. I understand that this accent might hinder me from communicating effectively but I believe that in my school, relations play a bigger role in elections rather than what you actually did. People who don’t actually care know that I can lead but they are just minorities in the club.</p>
<p>My goal is to not run for college applications and stuff. Yes, they look good on college apps but I actually want to change the club rather than do nothing like the people who are actually elected, and they run because they look good on their resumes. I am just very disappointed in how officer positions work in my school. I just feel like I am at a disadvantage, that’s all, and there’s nothing I can do about it.</p>
<p>@An1100345 dont stress over the things you cant change, im sure your application will look stellar even without leadership positions(which dont even show leadership)! </p>
<p>I know a Chinese friend of mine, who has a thick Mandarin accent as you do. I had the pleasure of meeting him in Boy’s State program, and he served with me side by side in the General Assembly and we passed bills together. He was the president of the DECA chapter of his school, and he is now studying in Duke. </p>
<p>I think you need to get out of the victim’s mentality. If we can blame our weaknesses for our failures, we would never ever succeed in any definition possible. Make your weakness your strength. </p>
<p>@An1100345: With respect, I believe poor grammar and inarticulate communications are very dangerous habits to develop, especially when one is about to enter undergraduate school and then begin a career. Factually, you are not “talking” in forums, you are “writing.” Further and without question, learning to write unfailingly, in a compellingly and grammatically correct manner, is simply a VITAL lifelong skill. Given the substantial and frequent grammatical errors in your initial post, I sincerely recommend you consider the wisdom of your current approach. I can assure you that, in my 40+ years of post-college professional work, any writing that was so ill-formed and so incoherent – even in the most informal communications – would soon be fatal to one’s credibility and, therefore, to his future. I offer this observation ONLY to assist you; after all, I’ve already succeeded in undergraduate and professional schools, in a lengthy career, and in constant volunteer leadership roles. My hope is youngsters can benefit from the experiences I – and many others, as well – bring to CC. </p>