Much like the title states, Do by-invitation leadership conferences such as "The People to People Leadership Summits" and "Global Young Leaders Conference" hold much weight in terms of college admissions and specifically for the service academies? No doubt they are amazing experiences but beyond that is it worth it? If anyone has been to these or one like it any thoughts would be much appreciated.
For what it's worth, my DD (who is now a sophomore at William and Mary...non military) participated in serveral of these "leadership conferences" in high school. The following is VERY much just my opinion, but here goes: Good programs, but in terms of "weight" given for college, not alot. Every one of DD's friends received the same invites. These are "for profit" organizations and if you have a checkbook, you may attend. Period. And they are NOT cheap! Having said that, they are good programs (or at least the two that DD attended were) but you can acheive the same or better in terms of experience by taking advantage of of other opportunities such as: Senate/Congressional Page (my DD did this and it carries a LOT of weight) Girls State/Boys State Model Congress/Model UN Internship (paid or USUALLY unpaid) at the local office of your congressman DD has double major in International Relations and French w/ minor in Econ so that is why she particpated in so many of these types of things in high school. In other words, your student can take advantage of opportunities (such as the above mentioned) that carry a LOT of weight and are free or relatively inexpensive or in the case of senate/congressional page, you actually earn a stipend! (at least in VA). Caveat: these are usually competitive programs and can require a good amount of work for the application/vetting process. One advantage of the leadership programs that you asked about is that they are not competitive....fill out an app, write a check and off you go! Again, your DD or DS will enjoy those and WILL get something out of them but IMO there are better options but those require some work and planning! Hope my OPINION helps!
Some people consider this an "Application process". I try to explain to applicants that what you're actually doing, is the "Job Interview of your life". And the application in all respects is your resume. You put EVERYTHING on your resume. Same goes here. Whether something pulls weight or not isn't important. Anything you've accomplished, you need to put in your application (Resume). If you "Attended" any of these conferences, then put it down. It could have be church related; put it down. If you no longer have enough room in the application to add everything, find ways to input the additional information in the other parts of your application. Maybe you mention it in your essay question/answers. Maybe your teachers want you to provide info to them, so they can fill out the recommendations for you; add it there. Maybe you add it to your MOC application. The only thing is to ensure that it's significant and not just "FLUFF". The academy and MOCs are going to be reading hundreds or thousands of applications. Make it accurate and interesting. Make them want to read it. Best of luck to you. mike....
Thank you for the clarification, Christcorp. I was answering the question from a true "value proposition" perspective and not an "application review" perspective, which is what I interpreted the OP's question to be.
