not a leader

Applying to College
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<p>Instead of running for office, how about suggesting -- and doing the hard work of organizing -- some projects for your clubs. Another option would be to volunteer to do the hard work that all organizations require, and many members and even officers don't want to bother to do.</p>

<p>If you, for instance, organize a fundraiser or other service project or create and coordinate a new way of recruiting members, you are demonstrating leadership, and can include those activities on your college apps. Example: Created and organized a NHS fundraiser that raised $1,000 for victims of the China earthquake. Another example: Designed and maintained a web page for the organization.</p>

<p>"Leadership" isn't a title, it's taking actions that make a positive difference.</p>

22

<p>You don't need to hold office in a school club to exhibit leadership that is attractive to colleges. Being active and pursuing your interests in or out of school shows leadership. What are you passionate about. Pursue that and you will have great ECs and great essay topics. You just need to follow your interests. Colleges do like to see that you have contributed to your high school in some manner because they want students who will contribute to their campuses. Again this does not mean you need to hold an office. Being part of a project that helps your school or brings it recognition will work. And if you absolutely feel you must have an actual leadership position, do as another poster suggested: start your own club and make it one that actually does something.</p>

23

<p>A girl at my school lost every election she ran for, and ran for multiple positions every year. She got into Georgetown, GWU, and American, and is studying political science so she can become a politician. Ironic, eh?</p>

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<p>yeah, its funny how that happens sometimes... especially when colleges place so much emphasis on leadership. i know from reading these posts that its definitely not everything though and that there are other types of leadeship too..</p>

25

<p>
[quote]
Example: Created and organized a NHS fundraiser that raised $1,000 for victims of the China earthquake.

[/quote]
</p>

<p>It would be impossible for a non-leader to do this at our local h.s., as students are not eligible to become members of NHS unless they can demonstrate sufficient leadership experience! </p>

<p>I have a D who is exactly like you, OP. She never wins or gets picked for leadership positions. It is heartbreaking. But, she is the most amazing "worker-bee." She is loyal, dependable and hard-working, and will always show up with a positive attitude to help others. I am hopeful that this type of applicant is just as valuable to a colleges as "leaders" are. Thank you to all non-leaders who have shared their experiences.</p>

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<p>"It would be impossible for a non-leader to do this at our local h.s., as students are not eligible to become members of NHS unless they can demonstrate sufficient leadership experience!"</p>

<p>That's too bad about the NHS at your D's school. My S, who was very shy, actually co-created a similar project via his NHS. It was his first time ever demonstrating that kind of leadership. </p>

<p>He was watching TV on the day that a major international disaster occurred. To my surprise, he got on the phone to one of his friends and started talking about raising funds to help out. S, who was not an officer, ended up creating the project with the help of the NHS president. </p>

<p>S ended up running for NHS presidency and lost to another student who was very assertive about running for office. S had been too shy to line up supporters or practice his speech.</p>

<p>Still, what S learned through the NHS project and other projects that he played major role in have helped him make a big difference in some organizations, and have the skills and experience to be perceived as a leader in college, where he just finished freshman year.</p>

<p>While S did his fundraising through NHS, he selected that organization only because he was a member of it. One doesn't need to be in NHS to do that kind of thing. All sorts of organizations -- including sports teams-- do service projects. The key is to be willing to bring up and work hard to put into place one's own ideas. </p>

<p>And don't back off when what's typical happens: Only you and a couple of other people are willing to do the hard work. That's normal for virtually all organizations that are based on volunteers.</p>

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<p>i'm beginning to think that volunteer leadership where you actually do stuff (ie. organizing the fundraisers) is more impressive than office, and probably more hard work and more beneficial too. leadership positions in offices are, essentially, figurehead positions.</p>

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<p>When it comes to high school, bluewatermelon, you are right. Unfortunately, it seems that most high school students run for office only to dress up their college apps. Often the advisors of clubs are who really do the work.</p>

<p>It takes far more leadership, creativity, and hard work to create a fundraiser or organize a successful membership drive or training program for new members than it takes to successfully run for office in many high school organizations.</p>

<p>Unfortunately, many students think that running for office is the goal instead of viewing it as only the beginning of a year long process of working hard to accomplish things to improve or strengthen the organization or community.</p>

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<p>agreed northstarmom! as long as colleges are AWARE that the people who have leadership are not necessarily leaders, and that people who do not have leadership are not necessarily useless, then i feel a lot better about admission chances..</p>

30

<p>The colleges where leadership and nonathletic ECs count for admission are the top colleges in the country -- places like HPY. They know that leadership is far more than having a title. That's a reason why they interview their applicants -- to find out the real person behind the application. At best at most other colleges, ECs count for merit aid consideration.</p>

<p>Of course, all colleges know that people who lack leadership positions aren't useless. In fact, most colleges are filled with students who didn't have formal leadership positions in h.s. After all, most students lack leadership offices, yet about 60% of applicants get into their first choice college.</p>

<p>At some point in your life, it will be important to get some experience as a leader --- heading committees, organizing projects, etc. If you don't, it will be hard to advance in your career because except for entry level jobs, in most fields, promotion will entail some supervisory responsibilities. </p>

<p>You'll also learn a lot about yourself and others by getting yourself in a position in which you help organize something. As I've indicated before, you don't need an office to get that kind of leadership position: You need ideas, and a willingness to work hard. </p>

<p>When you were running for office did you have a plan for how you'd function in those positions, and did you have ideas to better the organization? If so, did you let the other students know about your plans? Had you been an active, hard working member before you ran? After you lost, were you still an active, hard working member, and did you also try to implement any ideas you'd had when you ran? </p>

<p>If after you lost, you basically faded into the woodwork, that indicates that you ran only to decorate your resume.</p>

<p>One of the most impressive applicants I ever saw was a student who had unsuccessfully ran for a position in marching band, an EC that she was passionate about. After she lost, the advisor offered her the position of being in charge of the uniforms, which meant keeping track of hundreds of items of clothing and making sure they were cleaned and repaired after every performance. </p>

<p>Many people would have turned up their noses at such a lowly position, but because she truly loved the band, she happily took it, becoming the first student to hold that position that normally an adult volunteer held.</p>

<p>Not only did she do the position well (which required hours each week of thankless work), she also started a program to help freshmen and other new members learn about the band and feel welcomed by it.</p>

<p>That was the only leadership position that she had. She got into Stanford.</p>

31

<p>Actually many top colleges do not offer interviews and most of them only provide the optional opportunity to interview with a local alum. Stanford does not interview at all. In addition, ECs are considered at even State schools. Our state flagship looks at ECs.<br>
OP: Look at the common app or other college applications. Most require not only a listing of the activities but also how many hours you spend on the activity per week. At college information sessions, we have repeatedly heard that they do not want a mere list of activities. Colleges rather see 2 or 3 activities in which the student actively contributes. Also they are most interested in your most recent activities. So it is never too late to start. But don't waste your time running for meaningless offices just to get a leadership position on your resume.</p>

<p>Below is from Wired on pre-med students but I find the items also apply to high school students trying to pad their resumes. Particularly note number 3.
"5 Things to Hate about Pre-Med Students :
5. They haggle with their teachers for extra points.
As a teaching assistant, I would have been rich if my pre-med students gave me a dime every time they nagged me for partial credit on questions that they had gotten completely wrong.
4. They use questionable tactics to get good grades.
Some of them may turn to study drugs like adderall, dexedrine, provigil, and ritalin. Others will beg upperclassmen for copies of old exams, which give them an unfair advantage over their classmates.
3. They horde leadership positions and then run organizations into the ground.
To pad their r</p>

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<p>Info about leadership also can be reflected in recommendations and essays.</p>

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<p>this is very encouraging. thank you!</p>

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<p>Running for a club office positions aren't the only opportunities for leadership demonstration. I was student director/backstage manager for my school's musical this year and it was one of the best experiences I've ever had. </p>

<p>If you're in marching band you can try out for field commander, you can be a mentor, tutor children, organize a canned food drive, volunteer, etc. All of those activities show leadership and responsibility.</p>

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<p>Yes, being a leader doesn't necessarily just mean having a leadership title (president, vp, treasurer, secretary, etc.).</p>

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<p>just a side note... i know many people who are leaders in their groups of friends and have leadership-like personalities, and yet they do not hold leadership positions. i just don't get how colleges can miraculously see if you ACT like a leader if you don't have a position to show it. anyone can tutor children or volunteer. only a few can get elected.</p>

37

<p>here's some solutions to help you pad your resume:</p>

<p>-make up clubs
-do impressive sounding things. organize a small get-together for a local walk-a-thon with your family and some friends; you can then call yourself the "Support Breast Cancer Team Captain" or something like that.
-get involved in activities that have their leaders chosen by teachers. be the most active participant, and teachers will naturally chose you to be the president!
-get involved with activities that don't HAVE captain/leader. Some academic events like science or math competitions? Then, ask your teacher if you could be the "Senior advisor" or something along those lines</p>

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<p>grade inflation!! that's a great idea!! i mean, the part about being "senior advisor" b/c my HS just formed the first sci oly team and will start a new one this fall and i'm planning to join it. They already went to competition spring but i didn't join it b/c of time conflict. but that team was mostly made up of underclassmen and very few upperclassmen (me). so i could advise them in science stuff b/c upperclassmen usually know more science and take more sci classes than their underclassmen counterparts.</p>