<p>Boys and Girls Club presidents do so well because such clubs usually are for low income people. The students who rise to the top of such organizations often are very smart and have overcome major challenges in their personal lives. . That’s why some get accepted to top colleges: They’re poor (hard for top colleges to attract qualified low income students), have overcome major challenges and demonstrated major leadership, particularly by becoming president of a national organization.</p>
<p>It’s not like belonging to B&G club automatically opens doors.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, being national president of any large organization would put a student with excellent stats ahead of many applicants to top colleges. For instance, while many h.s. NHS presidents apply to Harvard, only one National NHS president is going to apply.</p>
<p>While often students can get offices at the high school level by being popular or by being teacher’s pet or by starting an organization that does nothing, to become a national president of an organization, usually one has to have some kind of vision for the organization and a track record of accomplishing major things for the organization. The track record is what impresses colleges.</p>
<p>Just piling up volunteer hours also doesn’t impress top colleges. Accomplishing something while volunteering – organizing a new program, making a major difference in someone’s life, organizing a successful fund raiser – is what will impress colleges. One only is able to accomplish something like those things after volunteering for a while and getting to know the staff and organization well enough that you are trusted with more responsibility. One also has to be assertive enough to see needs and to create programs and come up with doable ideas to address those needs.</p>
<p>An Ivy-aspiring student who walks in the door and tries to take over in order to decorate their resume isn’t going to be taken seriously by organizations.</p>