<p>Let's say you're goal is grad school or good job after undergrad.</p>
<p>Better to be president of a few(1-3)? or positions other than president such as vp, secretary, treasurer in several(3-5)?</p>
<p>I don't think the line should be drawn between president and other executive officers. Those are pretty close, and in the best run organizations, everyone has something to do. I've been in plenty of orgs where the VP was actually the busiest person, and the pres only ran the meetings.</p>
<p>The better question is to be a rank-and-file member of many (7-10) or an executive in 3-4. </p>
<p>Personally, from my undergrad experience, I think that leadership positions are much more vital, and if having those is going to cut down involvement elsewhere, so be it.</p>
<p>Any sort of leadership experience is good. Not many people are going to be president/exec of more than 1 thing at a time (that's SO MUCH work!). If you've got more than that, you're doing good.</p>
<p>I don't think it makes an ounce of difference for grad school. But for professional school, yes.</p>
<p>Quality rather than quantity.</p>
<p>Quality. You can be part of 100 clubs, even their presidents, and it wont mean jack. On the other hand if you're just part of a campus newspaper that's going to mean more than any number of clubs.</p>
<p>quality. being the prez of 10 defunct clubs isnt going to cut it.
like namaste said, being a writer of a campus newspaper is more important than the prez of gaming/anime club or whatever other "professional" club that meets once a month and does no more than "discussions."</p>
<p>nearly 75% of all clubs on most campuses are bogus. they only exist to fill up space on the blank spaces on some resumes.</p>
<p>Yuwmic -- My assumption is that you're a freshman, because you sound like you're approaching college ECs with a very high school-y mindset. It's no longer a race to accrue hours, or even leadership positions. Just do what interests you, do what might be relevant to your future plans, and yes...definitely quantity over quality. High school resumes tend to be laundry lists of activities; later resumes tend to be shorter lists of activities, but with descriptions of your actual involvement (and it's not very exciting if that description is "Attended monthly meetings" for twenty different clubs). You can do a lot in an organization even without being an officer (and in some organizations, being an officer means virtually nothing...it just depends on the activity).</p>
<p>Do what interests you. I'm involved in 10 ECs in college- some that will "look good" on a resume, some that won't. I'm involved in many political organizations where I do a lot of work on campaigns, so even though I'm not an officer (which are just nominal positions anyway- we all go to Eboard meetings), I still can put in 40-50 hour weeks on a campaign. </p>
<p>Don't not do something because of it's resume quality. I do Pottery Club because it reduces stress, kokondo karate because it's fun, and two musical groups because I enjoy it. Yes, I'm on the Eboard and was a cofounder of one of the music groups, but that's not because one day I want an employer to know that.</p>
<p>Agree with student615 and SilverClover. Don't do anything you're not really interested in because it's not going to help you much, and more than likely it won't ever come up again. That's of course if you don't do anything related to your field of interest or major. All I had in undergrad was a leadership position in the professional society dedicated to my field of interest. One thing for one year during my entire undergrad.</p>
<p>Eh, you'll learn more from one than from three or four, most of the time.</p>
<p>i'm not sure what clubs you are planning on joining where you can be on like 5 different exec boards.</p>
<p>Definitely quality over quantity.</p>
<p>Also, doing things that are related simply looks better.</p>
<p>When I've looked at resumes, I am looking for things that show evidence of the candidates' relevant skills and leadership abilities. I'm pretty certain that that's not far from what any professional employer would be looking for.
If you list a bunch of random organizations or even call yourself an exec/official in really social and random things like "anime club," you probably are being more distracting with those things than you are helpful unless you're actually applying for a job relating to anime, comics and/or computer gaming (or a closely related field).</p>
<p>Think about the job you ultimately hope to gain and join organizations that might improve your prospects there. For example, I hope to do clinical psychology, so here are some leadership positions and organizations I might consider being involved with (many of which I have actually done, but certainly not all -- they are specific to my school but many other schools have equivalent programs):</p>
<p>Resident Advisor (RA) -- counsel and mentor students, accountability, etc.
Alpha Leader (orientation leader) -- counsel and group mentor to freshmen, TA responsibilities, diversity training, etc.
Strengths Counselor -- counseling, 1 on 1 mentoring, student career development specialists
The Office of Multi-Ethnic Programs (any internship there as well as the sponsored ethnic orgs -- even just "participating" in one of these orgs would probably be FAR more valuable to a counseling hopeful than would being "President" or "VP" of the "Anime" club!) -- racial understanding & reconciliation and diversity training and programs
ASB Azusa, Multi-Ethnic and International Senators -- leadership in maintaining and improving the university's relationship with the city; or helping to develop programs for multi-ethnic or international students (improves understanding of those groups as well as developing leadership and persuasiveness)</p>
<p>...And so on. I think campus leadership is a big deal and would strongly encourage involvement there.</p>
<p>Again, just because it's not resume quality doesn't mean you shouldn't do them. You're really a lame person if you cut out an EC because it won't land you a job. Just like you wouldn't put partying down on your resume, you wouldn't put anime club. However just like many people find partying an essential part of the college experience, other people find clubs like anime club, pottery club, or what have you a way to find a niche in a large school. You really don't find that so much in many roles where everyone is just vying for a leadership role- such as an OL or RA. </p>
<p>As I tell all my friends coming up into college, I don't have a sorority- I have my ECs. No, many of them won't land me a job (though quite a few will, leadership role or not), but the people I meet through them and the experiences I go through as a group mean much more to me than a blurb on a resume ever will. </p>
<p>/rant. It ****es me off when people overlook clubs like anime club (which I'm not involved with but I have friends who are very into our organization) just because it's a hobby group. Many of them also do a lot of political work against censorship of video games and such. Don't dismiss them just for the name, they often go deeper than it would seem.</p>