Worried about lack of Leadership in EC's

Applying to College
1

<p>So I'm applying to UC Davis, Virginia Tech, Wesleyan Uni... and some hard to get into schools like Pomona, Cornell and Dartmouth (reeeeaaach :D). I'm not worried about grades (4.3GPA) or SAT's (2300 SATI, SATII's Math II 800, Bio 770) at all, but I am worried about my extracurriculars. </p>

<p>I have good ones - writing and becoming an editor for a school newspaper, equestrian sport (with lots of wins, a couple of international events and one national one) 5 days a week for 5 years, choir for 3 years (including becoming part of an octet selected for an interschool international convention), community service (instructor for a Riding for the Disabled group, lots of other hours), and some internship work for veterinary science. </p>

<p>But I'm worried about not having leadership quality to add to that - titles like NHS and most especially any student government titles. Would it hurt my chances a lot? Should I give up on my two Ivies?? </p>

<p>Some background: I'm a Filipino senior and have been going to an international school in Bangkok since second semester sophomore year. I basically did not think too much of studying outside the Philippines until I transferred, and it took a while to get used to the new system, new country, and new school, which is mostly why I didn't think of student council, NHS, or any other leader-type activities. (Also, in the Philippines, admissions depend more than anything else on entrance exam results and grades, so I didn't have a lot of time then too.) </p>

<p>Complete resume here (though my college list has been tweaked since then:
<a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/750641-chance-prospective-pre-vet-student.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/750641-chance-prospective-pre-vet-student.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>I'd also add Tri-M music honor society, Filipino Club and yet another select, invite-only choral group to my list (all of which I'm only doing senior year, though). </p>

<p>Replies much appreciated.</p>

2

<p>Titles aren’t as important as what you have accomplished with your ECs: projects you created and organized, funds you raised, people whose lives you’ve made a difference with. If you’ve accomplished such things, you need to make sure that your recommendations, essays, and interviews reflect those accomplishments. For instance, being an instructor for the disabled may require more leadership ability and skills than being student government association president of a do-nothing student government.</p>

<p>It’s silly to ask strangers on a message board whether you should apply to Ivies. If you are interested in going to an Ivy, you will have no chance at all of going to one if you don’t apply.</p>

3

<p>Buuuump :)</p>

4

<p>I don’t think you need to be concerned. As Northstarmom says, leadership can be defined in many different ways. Being editor for the school paper is a strong EC for your application and shows a kind of leadership as well. My youngest didn’t have any specifically defined leadership roles, but got accepted to some very fine schools. Go ahead and apply where you want.</p>

5

<p>Not every student at a top school was admitted because of demonstrated leadership. Some are outstanding athletes, some are amazingly creative, some bring a unique perspective because of their life experiences, some are just interesting people who see the world differently: Don’t let lack of leadership roles be the only reason you didn’t apply.</p>

6

<p>Yeah, please apply. The only thing you could do that is not beneficial is waste your time and burn a hole in your pocket (you can think of your app fee as a donation to scientific research if you’d rather…).</p>

<p>Still, yeah, not having a title next to your EC won’t really hurt, I don’t think, although having them does give you a slight boost. At my school, we don’t even have titles for our extracurriculars, so I definitely wouldn’t fret.</p>

7

<p>I see two leadership roles in your original post:

  1. editor for a school newspaper
  2. instructor for a Riding for the Disabled group</p>

<p>Leadership roles aren’t always “president” or other elected positions of a formal club or group. Be sure you understand the definition of the word leadership, and you may find that you have more leadership experience than you thought!</p>