President of a club junior vs senior year??

Pre-College Issues High School Life
1

I’m a sophomore and I am planning on running for VP of Technology in my FBLA chapter. Next year, when I’m a junior, I will run for President.

In college admissions is there really a big difference in being President as a junior and being President as a senior??

I’m asking this because of a really unfair situation that happened yesterday. One of the club advisors approached my friend and told him that he should run for President. He’s not even qualified to be President; he only joined FBLA this year, barely goes to any meetings, and didn’t qualify for state in his event (so he had to switch events). He wasn’t even considering running for FBLA exec board until the club advisor approached him.

On the other hand, I’ve been in the club during my freshman and sophomore years. Last year, I placed third at state in my event and qualified for Nationals. I’ve gone to almost every single meeting and have even helped fundraise for the club.

I don’t know, I just find it to be really unfair considering how he has less experience and success in the club and barely knows anything about FBLA, yet he was still asked by a club advisor to run for PRESIDENT.

And asides from all the unfairness, I don’t think he’s fit to be president. He’s told me how he’s cheated multiple times in one of his classes. He barely has any time for anything besides academics and another one of his extracurriculars (I can’t say what it is, but he often spends nearly all his time after school doing it).

He’s not even passionate about FBLA, and has already made up his mind to attend film school.

This year, the club advisors decided to give more power to themselves and the exec board in the voting process for next year’s exec board. If the club advisor picked him to be President, then he’ll obviously just become President.

I don’t know if I’m being too dramatic about this. It just seems incredibly unfair to me (and reaaally sucks), but I guess life is unfair, so I’ll have to get over it.

2

That’s not unfair. If he was underqualified, and he was not passionate, then why didn’t you win the election? Anyways, I do not think there’s a huge difference, but make sure you have other great ECs. Do not wait until senior year to get leadership roles.

3

No. And I think that you are conflating leadership with leadership position. I think the notion of leadership (or commitment or any other noun one wants to highlight) is one that comes across more effectively in the student’s essays and in his/her recs. Personally, listing leadership in one of the EC boxes of the Common App is bit too checklist and one-off, IMO.

IMO, yes, you are being overly dramatic about it.

To quote Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest: “Ah, but nobody ever said life was fair, Tina.”

4

I would try to speak to the club advisor. I wouldn’t bad mouth “her choice,” for Prez, but instead let her/him know how much you are committed to the club. She may not be aware. But in general, it doesn’t matter when you hold a leadership position, but leadership positions themselves are useful when citing EC’s. My daughter founded and was President of a club at her school, but remember its just one piece of the puzzle. Your whole application has to hang together and communicate a few messages, like “I’m the tech guy who loves Art or History and is chomping at the bit to find a way to combine them, so have led this…and served my school community…this way. etc.” Good Luck.

5

Many “president” jobs come down to popularity contests. Make your story about what you actually do for the club as opposed to having any particular title. And to answer your question – being president as a junior or as a senior is not an important distinction.

6

When I was a senior in HS, I was a 4 yr Varsity soccer goalie. The coach picked captains, and it wasn’t me. I was disappointed. In College, they started a Women’s varsity soccer team (this was way back). I helped recruit players, I showed players kicking techniques. Not because I was trying to get anything out of it for myself, but because I wanted our team to succeed. I was named Captain. Then I was ready…I was showing leadership.

One thing you could do is go to the adviser and say You were thinking about running for President. Did they have any feedback on your leadership abilities or anything you need to work on?

7

@bopper Thanks your advice :slight_smile: I just realized how childish my post is, and have moved on from the situation. I am running for VP of Technology this year and will be running for President next year when I am a junior. I believe that going from VP to President will be a much smoother transition than immediately running for President with no previous leadership experience in school clubs. It’s also a bad idea because I would be running against my friend, which always causes tensions, and I would also be running against a very capable junior who has the best chance of getting the position.