Hello! I am a freshman, looking to run for my class president next year. I wanted some feedback on if this is worth it for the long term for my college application. This position would take up one of my elective spots (which I could be used for other classes like APs and ECs) but also this is a great leadership position. How important do you think this would be and would it be worth it? Please let me know your thoughts! I would love to talk to someone about this matter 
You should be doing this if YOU want to do it, not because it looks good for college admissions.
If you have a passion for it, yes. If you can make a positive change in your school, yes. And, if you accomplish positive changes, then yes: colleges (and your school) might look at it favorably.
But college admissions is not, IMHO, why you should be doing this.
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Sure, run for class President if it’s something you’re interested in for the right reasons. But you need to be prepared to do a great job.
You’re going to need a rec from your guidance counselor and you want it to be a good one. Sometimes the GC rec isn’t super important, because the GC may not know you that well. But surely you will be known, due to the position. A tepid reaction from a guidance counselor or teacher on your leadership abilities is to be avoided.
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Run for class President if it’s something you want to do. Please don’t do this to pad your college application. It’s a lot of work…so run if you want to do it only.
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Don’t do it for the sake of college admissions. If you have other reasons, like wanting to work with others, learn how to run a meeting or improve public speaking skills, or have changes you want to make, go ahead and run. On the other hand if there is a class you really want to take or another EC you are truly interested in, and this gets in the way, don’t run.
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So, keep in mind that there are about 24,000 high schools. So there are 24,000 senior class presidents. And 80,000 - 100,000 (roughly, guessing) kids that have been class president at some point over 4 years. That’s why it won’t make a big difference with selective college admissions.
Now – if politics are your passion, or making a difference, or a particular issue is important to you and is affected by being class president (eg you are a passionate environmentalist and as class president you implement a sustainable practice) then it could make a big difference! But you see it is the interest, and how you pursue it, that makes the difference, not the fact that you are class president in and of itself.
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Here is a great article about how to get into super selective colleges, by somebody who is an Admissions Dean at a super-selective college:
Read it, believe it, live it!
ps- you are getting advice from some of the best posters on CC- they all have a lot of experience helping students run the admissions gauntlet.
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Re: applying sideways. While much of the advice along these lines is of limited usefulness, this advice is actually great, because it’s win-win. If you do the stuff you love, or make a difference in a way that matters to you, it won’t matter to you whether it affects your college admissions.
My kid decided to take the leadership of her school’s LGBTQ organization, instead of continuing with her friend group from Middle school in math and robotics club. Since they had won a number of awards (including state championships) it was not a choice that seemed destined to help her with college, but she didn’t care. When she stepped back from her leadership in the club at the beginning of Senior year, she still didn’t care, because she was so happy with what she had accomplished. It also gave her the confidence to step up to take leadership in other activities which were important to her. Again, not the type of activities that one generally sees on the applications of kids who are focused on being accepted to “elite” colleges, but it was important to her, and she put her heart into it.
Those activities resulted in her being nominated by her counselor and then her high school for a full tuition scholarship, which she got, and at a college to which she almost certainly would not have been accepted otherwise (nor that could we realistically have afforded).
I now volunteer as an interviewer for the organization which provides the scholarship, and I am privileged to interview and mentor many more kids, all who ended up there because they did what they felt needed to be done, and invested in activities which they were passionate about, rather than curating a profile “for colleges”.
I also know a number of kids who were nominated but did not receive the scholarship. Not a single one of them feels that their activities were meaningless or “in vain”, and they are just as proud of their achievements as they were before they started with their college admissions process.
And that is the real reward for their activities - the sense of accomplishment and pride which is not dependent of any type of “validation” by college admissions.
TL;DR - everything that @mynameiswhatever @Lindagaf @thumper1 @compmom @cinnamon1212, and @collegemom3717 wrote + personal anecdote supporting their advice.
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This says it all! If you love doing something, the passion will show. Everything flows from that.
I personally couldn’t stand being directly involved in politics, whether campus or “out in the world.” While it’s nice to have titles, I wouldn’t have enjoyed it, and, in some ways, it restricts your freedom. I actually enjoy working on campaigns, but not in the front lines.
This should completely be your decision. But if you follow @MWolf’s quote in school and life, these things will find their own rewards for you, whether it is personal satisfaction etc.
Best of luck.
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