u/Adventurous-Mouse-16 — reddlx

Senior applied to around 40ish BSMD programs/BSDO programs/and traditional schools in general and had success in t20's; 5 BSMD's; 2 BSDO programs; waitlisted at 2 ivy's.

Doing this because I wish I had someone to help me learn about these programs and processes without having to pay. I can help point in the right direciton, but I have no ideas what in my essays exactly helped me/hurt me so I can't help you with essay editing

I'm not sure how this works but I juist want to give some free advice/guidance. If you have questions about the process or just general college things go ahead. However, I do want to point out that I won't go too indepth for "chance me's" or anything like that. Most of yall are likely competitive enough for BSMD's if you do give your stats, I can just say whether your competitive or not.

Go ahead and lmk what yall need advice with and being honest, I am OPEN to EVERYTHING. I've seen some people have their mental health get fucked over these apps, and if anyone needs to talk, I'm here for you.

If you feel like you're being forced to apply to colleges, I can talk and I'm here for you.

So, this is a little common factor that I see among upcoming seniors and it’s their EC’s that show “Leadership”. I’m going to try and post my take as a current graduating senior and see if anyone has any thoughts on it

1) The Truth About Leadership EC’s

So, imagine this…

You walk into school talking with your friends and they mention that they have some “officer” role within the club. Honestly, by the time you’re a senior nearly done, especially with colleges, you know that “officers” in most clubs are just name titles, and most likely on common apps, many students put these titles expecting to be given achievement for it.

Now imagine this same scenario (yes, it’s a boring one) if you were a freshman or sophomore. Like me, any title that suggested you’d be an “officer” of a club felt like JUST the EC that would get you in anywhere. After all, when we look at organizations like FBLA, HOSA (another HOSA post where I take shots, sorry), or TSA we see state and regional officers and as a 14–15-year-old kid entering high school, equate not their accomplishments and what they manage, but their titles

The point I’m trying to make is that lot of highschoolers early in their 4 year stage often fall for the idea that receiving the title of an “officer”, “head”, “VP”, or “President” at one singular club is enough- what they fail to realize is that it doesn’t mean shit if they cannot explain what they do and how they impacted their club. Because of that, especially within my school and around my area, there are so many clubs with all these “leaders” and “officers” but nothing being done. For perspective, at my school alone, we have around 7 healthcare clubs- and maybe 3 of them actually do anything worthwhile (in which I mean they are consistent, have actual roles and responsibilities, and are able to give long term skills).

If any highschooler is seeing this and thinking from an early stage that they just need an officer role in whatever club and run with it, PLEASE don’t. On the other hand, I am NOT in any way preventing you from joining smaller clubs and receiving roles, it’s just that you have to WORK for it. A small example is what I did with one of the (now relevant clubs) at my school. In my freshman year, I Joined a small healthcare club. I didn’t bat an eye to how small the club was, or more importantly, how it never got anything done. Yet when I got handed the role of “Vice President” by the end of 9^(th) grade, I was so excited I nearly did nothing for the entirety of 10 grade as a head within that role. It wasn’t until 11^(th) grade until I realized exactly my mistake- and what I had to do to fix it. Of course, I had to work tirelessly and with many others, but I was able to grow the club, give it a proper budget and funding, and help our communities in the local area to the point that other organizations were actively reaching out to us- a SCHOOL club to help each other out.

Getting the “officer” role did not help me, what helped me build character was the impact and work I had put through to get this role.

In short- Leadership ECs are ONLY GOOD when YOU can put a powerful impact within it. They are amazing when you work beyond just getting the title of being a leader, and more importantly, beyond college, they help you as a person

2) Some Scams that I have Been Seeing

The other day, one of my friends who had started high school reached out to me regarding a “Leadership EC” I looked into it, and it was a “leadership Conference Camp”. Weird- but not unusual. Personally, mainly because I have never been in these camps, I cannot give you a firsthand experience but I largely think that most of them are scams. They ask you to pay an unreasonable amount of money to “Learn Leadership”- which is weird because being a leader isn’t something that you can learn- it’s built through experience and past mistakes.

If anyone here are freshman, sophomores, or juniors, my advice is- don’t do Leadership Camps. You are a much better leader by rejecting a lot of scams, because it already shows your decision making. Everyone’s community has both problems and potential solutions, why don’t you start there? Your school might need help among student bodies, why not work there?

One of the biggest examples of a leadership EC that I see, if you don’t really want to do the whole “community” thing. Is just getting a job (I’m 100% serious). Entering the workforce, especially when your young, even if the responsibilities are limited will take you a long, long, especially as you get older and have to juggle more work at your job.

Anyway, that’s about it and thanks for reading.

If you have questions about EC’s, go ahead and text me

If you need help with your apps, go ahead and text me- I honestly cannot give guidance on writing essay’s or accurate “Chance Me’s” (I hate these) but I’m more than happy to help with getting the general/basic information