Is mentoring students an example of leadership?

[mikeg1991]

Because when you mentor students it gives an example of leadership to them, right?

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[hydroxyurea]

What did you lead and inspire them to do? What was your time commitment? What skills did you have that qualified you for this position and what skills and perspective did you gain?

If you find those answers meaningful, then go for it

 

[mikeg1991]

I read books and organized fun activities for the children. I hope that it shows that I could be a role model for the kids by being a college student.

 

[Ismet]

I read books and organized fun activities for the children. I hope that it shows that I could be a role model for the kids by being a college student.

If that's all you do, I wouldn't exactly call that mentoring. A mentor is an adviser and/or a trainer, not just someone who volunteers with younger people. If you were working with at risk high schoolers to help them get to college or something, I would call that being a mentor.

 

[FutureOncologist]

On the AMCAS, there is a special section for mentoring. I used it for

1. teaching new students that started research in the group I did research in.
2. took time out of my schedule to get people into weightlifting.

 

[Goro]

Nope, but it is a great EC.

Leadership = organizing, planning and making things happen. Showing initiative.

Because when you mentor students it gives an example of leadership to them, right?

 

[clocks123]

Is leadership an essential part to an application?

 

[FutureOncologist]

Is leadership an essential part to an application?

Yes.

 

[theseeker4]

Is leadership an essential part to an application?

Not necessarily. At top schools it is, but plenty of people get into med school without any leadership on their application.

 

[Aerus]

Leadership = leading a group of your peers towards a common goal. What you're doing isn't really mentorship. Even then, mentorship of young kids...I wouldn't necessarily call that leadership either.

 

[Narmerguy]

Leadership means taking charge of a group of peers and colleagues and accomplishing a goal.

Many of the best leaders are incredible mentors and can even use this as part of their leadership success. Many other leaders are horrible mentors and do little to nurture others, but are still incredibly efficient and effective at taking groups of people and marshaling them to get things done.

 

[allantois]

I would love to hear some examples of leadership that YOU did. I'm getting confused with the SDN definition.

 

[johnnytest]

I'm sure adcoms will be able to distinguish leadership experience in ECs description even if one did not explicitly label them as "Leadership".

 

[ascott189]

I feel like mentoring teaches you a lot and has a lot of synergies with medical school.

 

[lumpyduster]

Is teaching a discussion section of a course fall under leadership? I consider mentoring to be a bit more one-on-one.

 

[sat0ri]

I would love to hear some examples of leadership that YOU did. I'm getting confused with the SDN definition.

Starting clubs, leading pre-existing ones in an officer capacity (president, treasurer, etc), where there are many students (if there is only one student, that is a mentorship). If you really want to break the mold, community leadership is the best--organizing food drives, coordinating a new volunteer effort, organizing to spread awareness and/or take action towards solving health disparity/racism/sexism, implementing a new sustainability practice. These are all really great things to do, and also serves to give a good example of why it is a "privilege" to be in this career path.

 

[allantois]

Starting clubs, leading pre-existing ones in an officer capacity (president, treasurer, etc), where there are many students (if there is only one student, that is a mentorship). If you really want to break the mold, community leadership is the best--organizing food drives, coordinating a new volunteer effort, organizing to spread awareness and/or take action towards solving health disparity/racism/sexism, implementing a new sustainability practice. These are all really great things to do, and also serves to give a good example of why it is a "privilege" to be in this career path.

So leadership has to involve clubs?

 

[Ismet]

So leadership has to involve clubs?

No, it doesn't.

 

[sat0ri]

So leadership has to involve clubs?

Typically it does involve clubs or something on campus, and part of the point of university is providing those experiences or a medium thereof, but like I said, the best is when you get out into the community. You don't need to be in a club to change your community--in fact, that's probably part of why it reflects better on you. It shows you can effect real change in a self-sufficient manner, outside of the ivory tower, which is the end goal. That is where the real need is, often times.
The real world is a lot tougher than getting a few college kids together. A bit scarier too