For Ivy Leagues specifically columbia is it ok to have other extra curricular activities but no leadership positions. I have research positions. However, I am not a leader in anything. I am asking because in the result thread I noticed that most people had some sort of leadership positions.
I had asked this question when we visited several Ivy League schools when S was visiting schools before his sophomore year in HS. The admin directors at Pomona and Columbia gave the crowd the best answers - they stressed that while so many people try to plan EC activities and she said quote leadership unquote positions because they are trying to find out what will make themselves look appealing to them as the admissions committee. In reality, what they are looking for are kids who are doing things that interest themselves. You don’t have to be a leader to show commitment to something you are passionate about, but of course it depends on what your passion is about.
Every year they accept hundreds of kids who are not “leaders” but they have shown, through their essays and application, that they are capable, and confident of their given role, whatever it has been. They, as an example, commonly accept lots of kids who’s EC is a part-time job, or caring for younger siblings - these kids should not be excluded from having a chance just because their family or local school situation does not permit them the same opportunities that other kids have. There may be kids who never got the lead role in any of the school plays, but chose to participate in most of the performances in co-starring roles or behind the scenes in production - these are vital roles, too.
This made S feel much more confident about his HS career at that point - and even though he went on to be asked to be Secretary of NHS when he was a senior, he didn’t have that roles at the time he was preparing his applications.
Best of luck to you.
Hey, I also worried about this a lot this past year. I technically had/have two leadership positions, as junior coach for my summer league swim team and as a founder of a tutoring program. Sure, they’re leadership positions, but they are far from (what I feel) is the average number of leadership positions other admits/applicants have.
I remember seeing in some article that admissions officers know that some titled leadership positions (e.g. president of this or that) require little-to-no leadership. Rather than look for the titles you have, admissions officers want to see how you contributed to an organization as a leader, with a title or without one.
Thanks for the advice I currently have no leadership roles but I do have research work that Im working on so I will try to be dedicated to that and possible publish research
Yes, schools are becoming aware of the fact that some HS leadership positions are in fact jokes. Does the high school community service organization need co-presidents, co-secretaries, co-treasurers, so 6 or more kids can have leadership positions instead of only 3? Then factor in chairperson of all of the various committees for each fundraising event - instead of a single fundraising committee chair - and six more kids have leadership roles instead of one. The sad thing is that this doesn’t happen at every school, but because it happens at some, the admission committees are likely starting to think less of the genuine good that many kids are doing.