<p>How important are they? If i only had a couple, would HYPSM care too much? Also, next year i plan on starting a computer programming club at my school, but rather than having regular elections with a pres, vice pres, treasurer, secretary, etc. i thought id just declare myself dictator. Will colleges freak out if they see on my resume that i was a dictator of something? Maybe i could use a friendlier term such as "project director", "first consul", or something along those lines?</p>
<p>god...I hope leadership roles aren't that important...because as of yet, I have zero elected positions....
maybe it's more important that you show leadership qualities?? not sure...</p>
<p>I think they are. My daughter held several leadership positions throughout her soph through senior years in high school. I think this factor contributed to her receiving acceptances from "dream" schools. </p>
<p>Freshman year was tough because officers are selected the previous year. However, she joined a few clubs as a freshman to get and idea of where she would focus her energy and she also got involved with student government. She is ecstatic with the colleges that offered her admission. I know of a couple of kids who started clubs in their junior/senior years and they were not accepted to their first choice schools. The leadership quality, not surprisingly, should be present over time and not right before you begin applying for colleges.</p>
<p>As she attended college recruitment presentations, she learned how important it was to show what you did with your time outside of academics.</p>
<p>of the HYPSM, she was accepted by SM (the only two she applied to), Columbia, and UCBerkeley.</p>
<p>Good luck!</p>
<p>bump.......................</p>
<p>of course leadership positions are important</p>
<p>colleges don't care if you're in a bunch of clubs because that doesnt show any commitment</p>
<p>they care if you have leadership positions in those clubs because that shows commitment and leadership</p>
<p>They definitely can't hurt, and don't worry about them as pertaining to them. I know it's hard, but try to live your life right now without thoughts like "will they like that on my app" in your mind. If you are yourself, it must mean so much more, and making yourself into something you're not is not something you should try and do, no matter how bad you want to get into certain schools.</p>
<p>Refer to yourself as "Founder." Or at least that's what I will be doing. And hold elections, unless you HAVE to be president. More than likely if you started the club you will be elected, unless you aren't a very likeable person.</p>
<p>well there is one guy at my school is a computer expert and hed prbly get elected president so thats why id rather just not have elections.</p>
<p>And i dont particularly like being a "leader". But it seems like colleges would prefer a bad leader to a good follower. It ****es my off though. This one guy who is president of my french club has done pretty much nothing for the club. Weve maybe had only 3 meetings the whole year and I think we sold some stuff once, but i dont know what the money was for. Anyway i would like to start a club that would actually do something besides sell crap. So i pretty much need to make myself the head of the club cuz im prbly the only one willing to kick people out if they miss a few meetings. I wish i could become president of the student council, so i could depose lazy officers from clubs and kick out non-committed members. Of course though, teachers would stop me....And SCA elections are more of a popularity contest....damn democracy....</p>
<p>it's so superficial to think of these "leadership positions" as actually showing commitment...in most cases they're just titles to put on a resume.
What's really annoying is that the most committed individuals aren't the ones who always get the positions. I don't know about anyone else, but elections at my school are based on 1 minute speeches prepared 10 seconds before they're given. it just ends up being a popularity contest. Problem being that many many qualified people, sometimes more qualified than the elected, aren't all that popular....</p>
<p>thats why i enjoy my school; its full of nerds
so, if you run for president, its not a popularity contest. people vote based on who would do the best; honestly.</p>
<p>i love my school. haha</p>
<p>I guess the balancing part of leadership positions would be how effective the student was as a leader. I heard of clubs on campus that didn't accomplish anything and the student could list it, but would it be confirmed by a teacher or counselor rec? One of my daughter's pet peeves were students who claimed community involvement or club officer/participation status only for college application purposes. </p>
<p>This could get very subjective because it depends on the quality of the counselors and teachers who write the recs. If the teachers/counselors are reputable, your effectiveness as a leader would be confirmed by what they write in their rec. I think good teacher/counselors can separate effective leadership from popularity contests. Good high schools would want to maintain their reputations and credibility. I felt it particularly so in a private high school situation where their success in sending their students to top tier schools was closely examined.</p>
<p>o0CrazyGlue0o: rufio055 had a great idea. call yourself founder, prove your leadership skills with a successful club and of course you would be re-elected.</p>
<p>is teaching considered a "leadership?"</p>
<p>for example, I teach and prepare middle school kids for auditions for music
also, i'm a private piano accompanist (what is that considered?)
Also, I teach tae kwan doe (is that leadership?)</p>
<p>"Leadership" elections are probably the most superficial resume/college factor at my school. In my math team, one kid randomly brought in 20 of his Korean friends to the election meeting, and got elected President. In the student body election, the candidates kept talking about how their involvement in the Beta Club allowed them to learn more about leading skills, which really means they sold candy bars to raise money for the Beta Convention. They'd win, of course, based solely on their fan base. For this reason, I didn't try to become a president or vice-president in school clubs, but I just worked in the orchestra and activities that I actually enjoyed and ended up having some sort of active role in them. </p>
<p>I think teaching is a significant leadership role; chanman, I also taught at my martial arts school, and it was much more rewarding than being student body vice-pres. or something.</p>