As August begins, the lazy days of summer are drawing to an end and thoughts of school and school applications begin to take center stage. For college bound students there are applications to complete and essays to write. For freshmen, sophomores and juniors there are activities to consider, sports to be played and if athletic opportunities are on your horizon in college, then you have a profile to develop. (Athletes should check out www.collegesportstrack.com for profile and recruiting assistance) So, how does leadership fit in to your application, resume’ or profile?
As competition for college opportunities increases, universities continue to fine tune their processes for admissions. Scores on the SAT and ACT remain the highest ranking determining factor, but other key ingredients are steadily taking their place in line as important factors and in fact, tie-breaking factors when the choice gets narrowed and especially if scholarship dollars are on the line. When student A is compared to student B and both have equal test scores and similar GPA’s, what makes the difference? Leadership is a key ingredient.
Identifying leadership experiences on your application, profile or resume’ can set you aside and above other candidates, but it must be legitimate. Titles alone with no substance will not help you and in fact can provide cause for concern with admissions officers. Remember, you may allude to your experience briefly on paper, but in an interview can you substantiate your leadership opportunity? Was it meaningful? What did you accomplish? Is there a legacy because of your actions? Creating false impressions on your application, profile or resume’ can backfire regardless of how well you score on a test or in the classroom. Your character is on the line. Every university has a code of ethics to deal with issues of plagiarism or other infractions of what they deem to be inappropriate academic action. So before you even get through the door, they check you out, take note of what you say you have done, and then verify the reality of what you accomplished.
Leadership experiences are an outstanding asset to promote who you are to universities and organizations. Are you padding your resume’ and creating a false impression or conveying real leadership?