<p>just curious, how important is leadership in the college app process? what's a good number of club officer positions to have?</p>
<p>Leadership positions are very important.</p>
<p>Various positions for random clubs are not very strong leadership positions.</p>
<p>If you're applying to places like HPYS, leadership is very important: and that means being president or VP of important activities, not things like Board Games Club. The students who truly stand out for leadership are on local school boards, were their state represenatives to Boys or Girls State or are national officers in an organization like NHS or Mu Alpha Theta.</p>
<p>For most colleges, however, leadership is mainly important when it comes to merit aid. It's not a big factor in admission nor are one's ECs in general big factors in admissions.</p>
<p>its always good to have leadership on your application. as mentioned before, club positions aren't very storng, unless it's like key club or something specific that you're passionate about. it's best to have things like student council positions.</p>
<p>I have a few questions...</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Does being an officer position in a nationally recognized club matter? Like does being Activities Director matter, as opposed to being President?</p></li>
<li><p>How can you explain your lack of leadership positions if there arent any clubs in your school (that really interest you) to be leaders of? For example, I am interested in politics, international politics, history, etc. But there are no clubs even remotely related to those subjects in my school... and I doubt that students in my school would be interested in such clubs. So what should one do about leadership positions then?</p></li>
</ol>
<p>And finally, to Northstarmom, how do you get on local school boards? :O</p>
<p>Some local school boards have one student member who is either voted in by high school students or appointed through the superintendent's office.</p>
<p>Some town councils even have one youth representative.</p>
<p>It could be quite an impressive EC to lead a campaign to get one's city to institute one of those leadership positions.</p>
<p>"1. Does being an officer position in a nationally recognized club matter? Like does being Activities Director matter, as opposed to being President?"</p>
<p>The higher the position, the more it will stand out in admissions, but any national position would be impressive.</p>
<p>"2. How can you explain your lack of leadership positions if there arent any clubs in your school (that really interest you) to be leaders of?"</p>
<p>You can't. A person with strong leadership skills would start an organization to meet their needs, and would be able to attract members. Another option would be that the student could join community organizations in their fields of interest or could create leadership opportunities in their community for themselves such as helping out on local political campaigns and rising to the level of precinct captain or other leadership position.</p>
<p>Ok, well its not a national position, its a position in our school's chapter, though the club is nationally recognized club, as in it's not just any "Chess club".</p>
<p>As for #2, interesting thought. Too bad I'm a junior already though, dont you think its too late to consider starting a club? Not to mention, several past history clubs I hear have failed in my school, and I am not sure how many would be interested in a politics club. Ugg, quite unsure what to do...</p>
<p>I started one at the end (like, literally, the last few days of school) of junior year and a friend of mine is starting one in the first two weeks of senior year. It's never too late.</p>
<p>Honestly, there will be interest from some people in your school to be involved in just about any kind of club (unless if you have like less than 200 students or if you're starting a Young Republicans Club in a Boston school). They just need an incentive to come to meetings - because they're fun, or you publicize it really well, or you get all your friends to join, and they get all their friends to join. That's your job. In my opinion, the hardest part of running a club is keeping the members interested so that they keep coming back and the club doesn't die.</p>
<p>Well it seems just as hard as you said... :P Young Republicans in Connecticut seems very similar. I wonder if a bi-partisan club would work. Though I wonder what activities we would do, especially since the 2006 elections will be over by the time I get anything started, if anything.</p>
<p>Being an officer in a school club will not differentiate you at a top college.</p>
<p>Eh. suze tends to oversimplify things and add a pessimistic spin on top of that. I wouldn't listen to that advice.</p>
<p>Start a JSA club. Or Debate. Or MUN or Model Congress or National History Day. Or a political issue-related-club like Amnesty International. Get involved in the Newspaper or Radio if your school has it.</p>
<p>If one has other excellent ECs, will a lack of important officer positions in clubs still hurt as much? I've really devoted myself to other areas that are not really related to what most kids my age do (research, business, etc.), so I haven't really devoted as much time to clubs. I can see how leadership would be important on an app focused towards leadership, but how about on an app focused towards research/starting businesses?</p>
<p>bump**</p>
<p>And also, how are senior year activities judged (i.e. starting a club senior year)?</p>
<p>finding out how many president positions are available at a school is easy: multiply the # of activities by 1.
with leadership, i disagree with whomever it was that said that you're expected to be VP or Pres. I think you need to recognize that there are a finite number of activities in a school. I ended up losing for Pres/VP for a few clubs, and had to "settle" for Treasurer and Secretary and Assistant Editor. In all honesty, I doubt the distinction here will be high. There are numerous legitimate positions in most activities: President, VP, Secretary, etc. Also, some clubs I was fortunate to be appointed by a teacher, instead of being subject to a cruel popularity contest. The idea that everyone is expected to be a "president" is ludicrous.</p>
<p>ah, popularity contest, so true.</p>
<p>Yes, leadership positions might be a popularity contest, but if one truly has the skills needed to be a leader, they should have no problem getting votes.</p>
<p>This thread is 4 years old, but i disagree^, most club elections are a popularity contest and thats a fact.</p>