Medical How important are leadership positions for Medical School applications?

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I am currently a second year in college (second year almost over), and I'm planning on applying to medical school at the end of my third year (the goal is to go straight through without taking a year off). I've been trying to secure board positions in the clubs I'm currently in, but today I just got my last rejection. Which means I'll be applying to med school without having had really good leadership experience. (I served as a coordinator and intern, but not exactly executive board).

1) How will this affect my chances?

2) If I secure a position for my fourth year, I know I can list that as a "future plan," but I've heard ad coms don't weigh that as heavily. Also, I don't feel as though my extracurriculars are as good as they could be.

3) As of now, I have two organizations I'm dedicated to, as well as my research lab.

4) Should I spend my third year trying to join more clubs to pad my resume? What do adcoms care more about?

Side note: My current GPA is 3.98. I'm also taking the MCAT this summer so score TBD.

Hi and Welcome to SDN.

1) A leadership position is not a requirement for general purposes. However, if you are a strong candidate for top schools, many of which include in their Mission Statement that they aim to train future leaders in medicine, you'd be well advised to have something more substantive than College Club President.

2) It's true that future intentions aren't given weight.

3) Do you train new associates to your research lab and take responsibility for their becoming productive team members? Have you volunteered to Chair a club committee, where you come up with new initiatives, delegate tasks, and take responsibility for the overall outcome of members' efforts? Either of these would qualify for leadership. You don't need an elected position. You just need to make a difference. This would include a personal initiative, like organizing friends for a campus cleanup or food/clothing/toy collection to aid a local organization (for which your campus Advisor might be called on to provide a Contact if you keep them in the loop).

4) Clubs have zero value to your application unless they lead to volunteer or leadership positions, except to signal special interests. You will lose "points" if you fluff up your application with activities that add no value.