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@julylilys
5 answers, 68 votes
 • 3 years ago •
Admissions Advice

How impactful are leadership positions in school vs online organizations?

Hello! I'm currently a junior. My school has few resources and only around 5 active clubs out of 50 because of covid. I used to do a community service club but it is not active at the moment. The only active school clubs I'm apart of are the student council, steam club, and yearbook committee. As an effect, I decided to volunteer virtually. Through freshman/sophomore year, I never had any leadership positions because I was juggling three jobs.

This year, I decided to step out of my comfort zone. Unfortunately, all of the leadership positions in the student council were taken. But, I decided to offer my computer graphics skills and now I have a leadership role as a graphic designer. However, that is the only leadership role I have in school.

Outside of school, I am a tutor for a global organization of students who are volunteering to tutor elementary school students. I was promoted to a bigger role as a tutoring administrator.

Will my few leadership positions affect me?

volunteer
academics
steam
Leadership
IvyLeague
volunteering
junior
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[🎤 AUTHOR]@julylilys3 years ago

If so, how can I make up for my lack of leadership positions?

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1 answer

1
@zafari.park
3 answers, 1 vote
 • 3 years ago

I think that admission officers don't look at the amount of extracurriculars you have or how much clubs you are the President of, but how much time and effort you spend on your extracurriculars. I believe that you're really passionate about things and it is nice to see you taking some initiative. I don't think you will be penalized for these kind of things because they are out of your control. I would definitely recommend NOT to only join an high school student-led organization because you feel you don't have the leadership roles because college administrators will see through it. If you feel like there is a certain club that is really inactive, you can try to build relationships with their cabinet members and encourage them to be more active and give them ideas like collabs with other clubs or a fundraiser.

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[🎤 AUTHOR]@julylilys3 years ago

I 100% agree with your statement about joining other high school-led organizations! I'm a part of it because I absolutely love helping others and I have experience with tutoring since it is one of my jobs! Thank you so much for your recommendation. The thing is some of the cabinet members are teachers and most of them retired.

@zafari.park3 years ago [edited]

Its ok! I think teachers are still very open to changes but if they don't listen to you, its ok too! You can start thinking of making a new club at your school (if you're allowed to) but I would mainly suggest focusing on your current extracurriculars and hopefully you will get a cabinet role. Even if you don't you can still have 'leadership by action', which is not having an official leadership role but expressing how you displayed leadership qualities in other ways like involvement.

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