Do UC's and colleges care about what leadership position you're in?

Question

For example, do they look at you differently if you were secretary of a club instead of president of a club? Or do they just see president, vice president, secretary, treasurer as equal leadership positions? I always thought that even though they have different titles, it still goes back to being a leadership position, it's just that having a specific title gets a specific job done. In clubs and student councils that I'm in, the president of the club/council isn't always the leader. Sometimes, our treasurer or secretary will do more work in terms of being in that influential leadership role and delegating tasks. I've been the secretary three times for a clubs, my class, and soon, the entire school. Will this decrease how UC admission officers view my leadership capability? I really want to go to UCLA or UC Berkeley and I heard they tend to focus a lot on leadership ability.

Answer 1

They certainly look highly on leadership ability and secretary is no slouch in their minds. It will not decrease their opinion (heck, essentially they know they're nothing more than glorified secretaries anyways). It's still a position and that's good enough for UC's. But I think the main thing that gets you in are your grades and test scores as well as essays and race.

Answer 2

in response to the person's above answer, UCs actually look HIGHLY on extra curricular, especially leadership roles. I dont think they really care WHICH role you played (but i mean of course president is better than club rep.). instead, they care that you have fufilled your time into something and that you have commited yourself to becoming an officer of some sort.

since you have been secretary for three years, try to aim higher. it'll look better than over the years you have progressed and not stayed the same.

the UCs do focus on leadership, but as far as they're concerned, leadership is leadership. They tell you to write a description of the role(s) you played, and they only give you one line on the application. however, ultimately, they just care that you HAVE some sort of leadership.

good luck!

Answer 3

I don't know for sure, but I think leadership isn't as important as just being involved in a lot of activities, at least for UCs. They do ask how many hours per week you spend in activities. I was in about 12-20 hours per week of extracurricular activities, with no leadership except for co-treasurer one year in one club. And I got into every UC I applied to.

Most leadership roles in high school are either popularity contests, or mainly symbolic positions in less active clubs. However, if you accomplish something great with your leadership, that would make a great topic for your admissions essay. Otherwise, it is a good filler for your application. Keep in mind that they mostly look at GPA, SAT scores, and how challenging your courses have been.