Should I run as vice president?

[bjt223]

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Hello everyone,

I was wondering if I should run for vice president for my club's officer next year. I am debating it because the next president and the person I'm competing with are very close friends. I was thinking about dropping off the race because if I was select as Vice President from the previous president and previous vice president, I may have a toxic relationship with the president and the person I'm competing with.

I am very passionate about this club and also I want to gain some valuable leadership skills along the way. It will be last year in college as well. What should I do?

Lastly, relating to pre-med, do I have to be a president and vice president to demonstrate leadership skills?

 

[pstrick]

Being vice president doesn't mean you have leadership skills.

Not being vice president doesn't mean you don't have leadership skills.

It's about what you do in the club. I can call myself 'high ambassador' of the premed club. Unless I've actually done something worthwhile, the title is as worthless as it sounds.

 

[Lurkvey]

It highly depends on how the club works.

In a club I'm currently president of, I was able to get leadership experience with a specific type of event we frequently do within a few months of joining. Conversely, when I did become an officer the adviser at the time was a control freak and it took awhile for me to ever get any further opportunities to do anything event remotely resembling leadership and I was stuck doing the bare minimum of what my position asked of me.

My understanding of most clubs is that being president just means you open and close meetings and vice president does the busy work that the other officers don't want to do. You'll need to talk to the officers in your club to find out how it works for them/what they really do.

 

[bjt223]

Thank you for giving me a valuable insight.