How Much Is Highschool Leadership Valued In Application Process?

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MangoAssassin

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Like the title says, I'm interested in knowing the level of importance placed on having experiences like being team captain, president of student council, etc. In the informational packet I received with the breakdown of how each applicant is considered, leadership is under the "20%" category, but it seems to be stressed so much more than a mere 20%. From the few USAFA graduates I've spoken with, they all had an extremely stacked lineup of leadership experiences.

I run cross country and track for my sports, neither of which have any sort of leadership opportunities (also no varsity letter because I'm slow : P ). The only things I have going for me is that I founded our school's debate team and founded an organization for helping the elderly in our community; I've always wanted to do something rather than sit around with a fancy title. Do these count as leadership? Do they compare with things like class president, captain of the football team, or vice president of NHS?

I know that I have the capability to lead, but I'm afraid that my congressmen/USAFA admissions officers won't be able to see that. All the other aspects of my application are fairly solid; I have a 4.00 with 11 AP courses taken (a score of 4 or higher on all), 34 on the superscored ACT, and average results for all of the fitness testing.
 
Leadership in high school is extremely valued by the SAs, for the obvious reason that they’re in the business of developing leaders for our military. It may not be weighted as heavily as academics in the application, but the SAs want to know that you have demonstrated leadership potential. The SAs are leadership laboratories, so they’ll develop you, but you must have the “raw goods.”

What some candidates misunderstand is the nature of leadership, thinking that a lot of fancy titles will suffice. Not so. In fact, the examples you provided are very much what SAs seek. They want to know that you felt passionately about something, rallied others to the cause, overcame challenges and achieved your goal. They want to know that you left your community (however you define it) a better place than before.

So don’t focus on the fact that you’ve “always wanted to do something.” That’s a hollow hypothetical that anyone can state. Instead, tell the story of founding the debate club and the organization for seniors. Be specific about what you did. My guess is you’ll outshine a good number of presidents and captains who merely held a title.
 
MidCakePa said:
Leadership in high school is extremely valued by the SAs, for the obvious reason that they’re in the business of developing leaders for our military. It may not be weighted as heavily as academics in the application, but the SAs want to know that you have demonstrated leadership potential. The SAs are leadership laboratories, so they’ll develop you, but you must have the “raw goods.”

What some candidates misunderstand is the nature of leadership, thinking that a lot of fancy titles will suffice. Not so. In fact, the examples you provided are very much what SAs seek. They want to know that you felt passionately about something, rallied others to the cause, overcame challenges and achieved your goal. They want to know that you left your community (however you define it) a better place than before.

So don’t focus on the fact that you’ve “always wanted to do something.” That’s a hollow hypothetical that anyone can state. Instead, tell the story of founding the debate club and the organization for seniors. Be specific about what you did. My guess is you’ll outshine a good number of presidents and captains who merely held a title.
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Thanks for the input! So, correct me if I get it wrong, the way you present/explain the leadership position if just as important (if not more important) than just having the role?
 
@MangoAssassin, careful how you interpret this. Leadership is best demonstrated by having meaningful impact on a community or an organization. That, not just the mere act of holding a title or being elected to a position, is the leadership SAs are looking for. And the better you’re able to explain your actions — the concrete steps that you took as a leader — the more compelling your case will be.
 
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MidCakePa said:
@MangoAssassin, careful how you interpret this. Leadership is best demonstrated by having meaningful impact on a community or an organization. That, not just the mere act of holding a title or being elected to a position, is the leadership SAs are looming for. And the better you’re able to explain your actions — the concrete steps that you took as a leader — the more compelling your case will be.
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Ah, gotchya.
 
Leadership is doing. It's being the first person to so something great and the founders and the people that get stuff done.
Leadership isn't sitting on your laurels of having meaningless titles as many people do. Yeah sure you can check a lot of boxes if you want to appear good, but AFA doesn't want box checkers. AFA wants proven leaders with an eagerness to serve.
As an example: at my job, I have the title of "Line Cook." In most circumstances that would be overlooked. However, what I actually do at that job involves training new cooks while also being a cook. I also started training cooks after only about two weeks of working there.
That's one of the several leadership things that I have experienced, but I'm not here to toot my own horn. Point is, leadership isn't a position, or a title, or an award given to you. Those things are usually just responsibilities or accomplishments. Leadership is a thing you do, wherever you are.

So yeah, if you elaborate on your founding of both a club and a community service organization, and really get into the details about those things, then I'm certain the congressmen and the Academy will understand how you display leadership.
 
I am not sure I exactly agree of the description in the process while I do agree in theory. All of the Academies value leadership and they have a fairly objective way to measure it but this ranking typically comes from your activities and not an interview. Captain of the Football team is say 5 points but captain of the gulf team is only 2 points. Student Body president is 5 points while the treasure may only be 2 points. They will take your accomplishments and try to put them in the scoring "box" and get a ranking. If you have different types of leadership activities, your ALO can help capture that in the interview to influence your ranking but he/she cannot change the process.

Also remember that you are competing against others who may have more leadership and just as good academics. This is not really a National contest, you are ranked against the applicants from your district and the highest wins. Your academic statics will score well and I would argue that being the founder of two clubs shows you have leadership ability. Keep working hard and you seem to be competitive.
 
USMA 1994 said:
I am not sure I exactly agree of the description in the process while I do agree in theory. All of the Academies value leadership and they have a fairly objective way to measure it but this ranking typically comes from your activities and not an interview. Captain of the Football team is say 5 points but captain of the gulf team is only 2 points. Student Body president is 5 points while the treasure may only be 2 points. They will take your accomplishments and try to put them in the scoring "box" and get a ranking. If you have different types of leadership activities, your ALO can help capture that in the interview to influence your ranking but he/she cannot change the process.

Also remember that you are competing against others who may have more leadership and just as good academics. This is not really a National contest, you are ranked against the applicants from your district and the highest wins. Your academic statics will score well and I would argue that being the founder of two clubs shows you have leadership ability. Keep working hard and you seem to be competitive.
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Do they actually assign point values? That seems counterproductive to me, since they stated themselves that they want to see high amounts of dedication to a few select activities. That type of system would seem to award those who go for the largest number of titles, rather than committing themselves to one or two clubs/sports/etc.
 
Everything subjective needs to be quantified. You shouldn't assume it's done in a way to penalize quality over quantity... just that they assign a value.
 
The only way that quantity would win out is if all activities were weighted equally. While we do not know the details of the system, activities are weighted in the scoring system I used very simple examples as no one really knows the details of the system but it is safe to assume that quality is weighted higher than quantity.

As @kinnem pointed out, everything needs to be quantified. With all that said, the scoring system is really a moot point. You need to put your best application forward while you are doing things that you enjoy and have a passion for. Trying to game the system will really not help and make for a miserable four years of high school.
 
You never indicated if you are just starting h.s. or are perhaps a senior now applying. Our advice would be different based on where you are. If already in the application process, most likely your high school resume isn't going to change that much this late in the game. If just starting h.s., you have a lot of time to work on being successful in any number of areas.

MangoAssassin said:
I know that I have the capability to lead
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Knowing and doing/accomplishing are two different things. You are competing against those who HAVE accomplished many things in the areas of academics/sports/ECA's/leadership....etc. Successful candidates are those who have been able to convert intentions into actions and results.
 
If my SAT/ACT score isn't that competitive, and i can get a curb-stompin' one but It'd be after nominations deadline, what ye members suggest?
 
If you get a better score after the MOC nomination deadline, it is OKAY to call the MOC SA coordinator and ask them to update your file with the score. The deadline is PRIMARILY to keep out any NEW applications.

Good luck in your journey to stomp the SAT/ACT curb.
 
time2 said:
You never indicated if you are just starting h.s. or are perhaps a senior now applying. Our advice would be different based on where you are. If already in the application process, most likely your high school resume isn't going to change that much this late in the game. If just starting h.s., you have a lot of time to work on being successful in any number of areas.

MangoAssassin said:
I know that I have the capability to lead
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Knowing and doing/accomplishing are two different things. You are competing against those who HAVE accomplished many things in the areas of academics/sports/ECA's/leadership....etc. Successful candidates are those who have been able to convert intentions into actions and results.
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I'm a Senior. To address your comment, I have accomplished things leadership-wise, but in an area that not many people understand. I'm involved in online stuffs. I started off trading virtual items on the game Rocket League, but wanted to get more involved in the community and became a middleman who mediates trades. I also am a moderator of a Rocket League trading discord with over 10,000 members, where I'm in charge of managing our five helpers (who are the lowest tier of our staff team, who answer people's questions and make sure everyone is posting appropriately). I also am the in-game leader of my League of Legends team I started, but it's not an official team that competes in tournaments or anything, we just use the in-game ranking system. None of this probably means anything to people not involved in that type of stuff, so I'm most likely not going to use that on my app. The rest of my leadership comes in everyday activities, mainly school. I take lead of nearly every school project group I'm a part of, and host study groups with people in my grade. But I honestly doubt that any of this would be enough. Right now I think my best bet is to go to college for a year and work on building my involvement (I'll still apply this year) and reapply after that.
 
MangoAssassin said:
The rest of my leadership comes in everyday activities, mainly school. I take lead of nearly every school project group I'm a part of, and host study groups with people in my grade
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In College how much does this weigh?
Where to add in app?

What if the same applies but with College Clubs and Orgs you're in or were, be it as boards member(Doing more than your post demands) or just a club/org member?
 
Do everything and report everything that you can on your applications....and then let the chips fall as they fall.
 
Also going to Boys State/Girls State are considered for leadership.
 
Do thinks like the Norwich U Leadership weekend, HOBY, etc look good for leadership?
 
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