How did you get leadership experience?

[daphne13]

I'm wondering how did everyone get their leadership experience?
I'm kinda worried that I won't get any leadership experience, I noticed the president of school clubs/student council are usually seniors, I think I'll attend an exchange program for 1 year and another exchange program for 1 year, that means every year I'll be in different universities, so it seems quite impossible to get any president position.
If you had leadership experience what kind of position did you get? And beside president of school clubs/student council, what else really counts as leadership?
Thanks a lot!

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[Korabora]

Its true that getting a top leadership position in a club takes a bit of time. I was vice president of one org as a junior, and now I'm on the executive board of another org as a senior.

BUT I will say that some of the most meaningful leadership experiences that I've seen my peers get comes more from taking the initiative to spearhead new projects, regardless of the title or positions. I would suggest that you look at the causes and organizations that you're involved in now, and see what you can do with that, even during your time in different countries/schools.

Even then, I wouldn't completely count out "lower" positions either - they can provide a lot of leadership development, depending on what you do with the position. Just try to think of what you can do to improve upon what has been done before, or anything new that would be great to try, because it definitely teaches you a lot and gives you something to talk about. For example: sometime back as a sophomore, I was in charge of alumni relations for a club, and it wasn't a top position at all. But, I decided to improve upon our alumni outreach events and managed to increase alumni participation by 400%. I gained a lot of leadership and organizational skills from that experience. Plus, the changes I made are still being implemented now. So it's really all about how you look at things.

 

[RSalha17]

Its true that getting a top leadership position in a club takes a bit of time. I was vice president of one org as a junior, and now I'm on the executive board of another org as a senior.

BUT I will say that some of the most meaningful leadership experiences that I've seen my peers get comes more from taking the initiative to spearhead new projects, regardless of the title or positions. I would suggest that you look at the causes and organizations that you're involved in now, and see what you can do with that, even during your time in different countries/schools. Even then, I wouldn't completely count out "lower" positions either - they can provide a lot of leadership development, depending on what you do with the position. Just try to think of what you can do to improve upon what has been done before, or anything new that would be great to try.

+1 that is what I did to get leadership experience

 

[Zbtb7]

I had 0 leadership experience and I've received 7 acceptances so far.

I've had classmates who became predental club presidents and vice presidents. They sat on their post and did nothing. They either did not get into schools or they got into a bottom ranking one.

I've had classmates who used leadership positions to take initiative and lead projects. They had very successful application cycles.

The leadership adcoms value is not rank, but achievement.

 

[mklgee]

I had 0 leadership experience and I've received 7 acceptances so far.

I've had classmates who became predental club presidents and vice presidents. They sat on their post and did nothing. They either did not get into schools or they got into a bottom ranking one.

I've had classmates who used leadership positions to take initiative and lead projects. They had very successful application cycles.

The leadership adcoms value is not rank, but achievement.

Very relieved to hear that! I taught Tae Kwon Do to kids when I was 16 but thats about it.

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[richard4pa]

If the rest of your application is very good, you should not have problems with one weak or nonexistent area. I had VERY minimal leadership experience and 0 research, and I got 7 acceptances.

 

[aqz]

Its true that getting a top leadership position in a club takes a bit of time. I was vice president of one org as a junior, and now I'm on the executive board of another org as a senior.

BUT I will say that some of the most meaningful leadership experiences that I've seen my peers get comes more from taking the initiative to spearhead new projects, regardless of the title or positions. I would suggest that you look at the causes and organizations that you're involved in now, and see what you can do with that, even during your time in different countries/schools.

Even then, I wouldn't completely count out "lower" positions either - they can provide a lot of leadership development, depending on what you do with the position. Just try to think of what you can do to improve upon what has been done before, or anything new that would be great to try, because it definitely teaches you a lot and gives you something to talk about. For example: sometime back as a sophomore, I was in charge of alumni relations for a club, and it wasn't a top position at all. But, I decided to improve upon our alumni outreach events and managed to increase alumni participation by 400%. I gained a lot of leadership and organizational skills from that experience. Plus, the changes I made are still being implemented now. So it's really all about how you look at things.

Asides from leading a study group and soon-to-be teaching for Kaplan, my leadership experience came from not only taking initiative, but also being initiative by being social, open, and cooperative when opportunities came around.

Also, I feel that focusing on one organization helped a lot. I poked around a bunch of clubs/organizations early on, and I committed to a single organization during the start of my sophomore year. Been volunteering 30+ hours a semester with them ever since and led a few big events such as career fair which was most likely a stepping stone to my study group position, which was then a stepping stone to my Kaplan position.

 

[dentalWorks]

I'm wondering how did everyone get their leadership experience?
I'm kinda worried that I won't get any leadership experience, I noticed the president of school clubs/student council are usually seniors, I think I'll attend an exchange program for 1 year and another exchange program for 1 year, that means every year I'll be in different universities, so it seems quite impossible to get any president position.
If you had leadership experience what kind of position did you get? And beside president of school clubs/student council, what else really counts as leadership?
Thanks a lot!

huh? about 5000 youngsters enter dental schools year year, and good majority are 20-25 years old.... what kinda "leadership" you think most of them have?

there is no basis behind this, you do NOT NEED leadership experience to be competitive. You do however, need good GPA and DAT.... everything else is secondary.

 

[telemonster]

huh? about 5000 youngsters enter dental schools year year, and good majority are 20-25 years old.... what kinda "leadership" you think most of them have?

there is no basis behind this, you do NOT NEED leadership experience to be competitive. You do however, need good GPA and DAT.... everything else is secondary.

This is good advice. At the upper levels, i.e. Harvard, Michigan, you will need high GPA/DAT and also leadership and research to separate yourself and be unique. At your state school or some privates, the DAT/GPA should be sufficient if it is above average. All else is just there to pad and give yourself a better shot.

Also, take the applicant pool for example - those people you see on SDN with an AA 26, 3 yrs research and president of 2 clubs represent a minority of applicants. Most people have around a 19/20 AA with minimal leadership.

 

[UltimateHombre]

there is no basis behind this, you do NOT NEED leadership experience to be competitive. You do however, need good GPA and DAT.... everything else is secondary.

This!!! 👍

However, if you have good stats and are wanting to round out the rest of your application, i suggest starting small.

Join a club -> Be social and attend events -> Organize a project or volunteer event -> Run for an officer position

Its been my experience that anyone who showed face and took initiative got an officer position. And i attend one of the largest public universities in the country.

 

[Surive123]

I had 0 leadership experience and I've received 7 acceptances so far.

I've had classmates who became predental club presidents and vice presidents. They sat on their post and did nothing. They either did not get into schools or they got into a bottom ranking one.

I've had classmates who used leadership positions to take initiative and lead projects. They had very successful application cycles.

The leadership adcoms value is not rank, but achievement.

What schools do you consider "bottom ranking"?

 

[jmh018]

I organized and founded Emerging Leaders on my campus as a sophomore and raised $3000 for a charity through that. There is also Student Government which is different at every school, some are just upper classmen, but at my school, I joined my freshman year. There are ways to get involved. If your school is dominated by upper classmen in leadership roles, start another group, there are always more groups to add to a campus. Also, if you are in leadership roles as junior, you would still have time to include that on your application.

 

[flatcamelbak]

I coached a little league baseball team in the summer. It was a hit with almost all of my interviewers because a) they liked baseball b)they played baseball or softball at one point c) their kid played baseball d) they coached some sport in the past.

It was also a lot of fun, and I learned a lot from it.

 

[ATG20]

I had 0 leadership experience and I've received 7 acceptances so far.

I've had classmates who became predental club presidents and vice presidents. They sat on their post and did nothing. They either did not get into schools or they got into a bottom ranking one.

I've had classmates who used leadership positions to take initiative and lead projects. They had very successful application cycles.

The leadership adcoms value is not rank, but achievement.

Seconded. Running the Pre-Dent club and having that as your sole leadership exp doesn't strike me as taking great initiative, simply because it's such an obvious route to take. I had some PreDent stuff among other things on my app, but the one thing my interviewers asked me about was the organization I began because they thought it was interesting and a unique approach to a problem in my community (I'm simply repeating what I was told).

Simply put, every applicant is in a club. Assume it's the pre-dental club. Now find a way to make your app stand out, while demonstrating you have leadership abilities.

 

[zackc19]

Seconded. Running the Pre-Dent club and having that as your sole leadership exp doesn't strike me as taking great initiative, simply because it's such an obvious route to take. I had some PreDent stuff among other things on my app, but the one thing my interviewers asked me about was the organization I began because they thought it was interesting and a unique approach to a problem in my community (I'm simply repeating what I was told).

Simply put, every applicant is in a club. Assume it's the pre-dental club. Now find a way to make your app stand out, while demonstrating you have leadership abilities.

I agree with this. I have never been a member of a single club. Ever. The way I see it everyone applying isa member of campus clubs and probably everyone is the president or whatever.

I found different ways to set myself apart. I also coached baseball, but it was a high school team. I also received great feedback at my interview on coaching. I have also worked a number of different jobs. One of the interviewers mentioned that they liked to see that I had a lot of "life experience", and I am not really a non-trad or anything, just a different summer job every year. For example one summer I worked at a pizza place and learned to make pizzas. So in my interview we talked about pizza for a while. I also started a summer business of my own, running a paintball field/store and did that for two summers. They seemed really interested in that too.

So to sum things up, I think that clubs should be a kind of last resort, "oh crap I can't get anything else" type of extracurricular rather than the focal point of your application. I bet someone that was the President of their local student council or whatever put in more hours than I did running my own business; however, I also bet that running my business stood out more on my application. So find something that you like to do that will make you stand out from the crowd.

Now don't plague me with "well I was President and I got accepted to 20 schools!"

If you want to scream this at me then you missed my point.

 

[Teeths]

My take on leadership is this:

If you have fantastic GPAs and DAT scores, it's almost like saying you took leadership of your academics and really put effort into that. So as long as you have some volunteering and shadowing, then leadership in this case isn't too important because it's obvious where most of your efforts went and also that you've mastered it, so in most cases, these people are able to manage and be effective leaders.

If you don't have fantastic GPAs and DAT scores... what have you been doing? I think adcoms will look at the rest of your app if those two things aren't stellar and see what you've been putting your time into. Maybe this persons grades aren't 4.0s because you've spent a great deal of time in a project you're concerned with, a company you're trying to start up, etc. Something that's shown initiative in at least some area of your life is what they're looking for. Everyone wants to see people that are proactive.

 

[dantemac]

Some ideas might include
-Teaching assistant
-Volunteering
-Research, primary author or co-author / design own project
-Job with managerial capacity
-Summer camps/programs