how much do high school leadership positions matter for uni entry/early entry/etc? (1 Viewer)

[ris08]

hey guys,
so my school recently had the prefect elections and i did not get in. being completely honest i was so so bummed because since year 7 I have done genuinely every single extracurricular/enrichment program/opportunity that my school has offered. i had 100% attendance, tons of academic awards,yk the whole jist of everything that made me the ideal candidate. I attended every single uni program, clubs, did 2 separate volunteering roles, debating, public speaking genuinely everything i could, i did. i cant lie i fully sweated the extra curricular stuff

at the end of the day they way they choose the prefects was super controversial to say the least. not even being mean but straight up, some of the people that ended up getting elected did not have any or even near the amount of extracurriculars or commitment to school service that i had dedicated all my time to for the past 4 years . all the teachers just justify it as 'luck' or just getting student votes which i found genuinely disappointing.

how much do roles like prefect/school captain etc actually help for uni and future careers? i feel really bummed about this and is there anything i can continue or take up in terms of extra curricular to best differentiate myself in terms of extracurriculars for uni considering that the prefect role is no longer available.?
For context, i want to end up doing law/eco/commerce/business.

the teachers keep saying "good leaders don't have badges" etc etc and all of that yap but honestly its only ever the leaders with badges that get opportunities in the first place and those that do leadership roles or extracurriculars within my school without a badge are hardly ever recognised.

any advice from recent high school graduates or uni students would be greatly appreciated. tysm

 

[jane1820]

Bro i fucking hate being prefect its so bad
in case u wanted to know what it ACTUALLY is being prefect here (at least at my school)
you need to do:
- graduation
- PATS
- caps and gowns
- assemblies
- farewell photos
- farewell excursions
- calculating the schools budget for your stuff
- A LOT of fundraising
- running around BEGGING ppl to listen to you
- yearbook
- farewell videos
- putting in $2k+ for fundraising only to lose profit
- manage the students behaviour
- get in trouble on behalf of some random ppl you’ve never seen before
- getting yelled at and told off for ‘not doing enough’
- studying

pros:
- 3 ATAR points maximum
- uni scholarships

literally what the fuck

also if you get band 6 in (if you do them) eng adv and equivalent or math adv and equivalent you would get 6 ATAR points and many scholarships, so really think about it, would you rather regret not getting leadership for just 3 ATAR points or getting 6 ATAR points for band 6ing eng adv and another 6 ATAR points for band 6ing math adv (if you do both or do one)

(note: its not JUST eng/math adv and equivalent but thats the only example in my head rn)

 

[jane1820]

Also this might seem mean but lowkey give up on extracurriculars we’re not in the usa, unis dont care not one bit abt allat

 

[Hehehe22]

Hey, I'm really sorry that happened. I'm not a high school graduate yet, but I went through a really similar experience to you - I did basically every extracurricular under the sky and didn't even get into round 2 of prefect elections. It's hard not to take something like this personally, since it might feel like you've been betrayed or invalidated. The truth is, it's just all about popularity, and it's hardly about your actual skills or involvement.

HOWEVER, as jane already kindly mentioned, your extracurriculars don't matter at all if you just want to gain entry into a regular course. It's just your ATAR (for law, you might need the LAT too, but that stuff is sorta diabolical). The only time where leadership might help you is if you want to get an early offer, such as the Macquarie leaders and achievers program, or a scholarship. Scholarships like Co-op are very helpful for commerce-y subjects, but they're definitely not essential. Besides, if you've got a lot of extracurricular involvement, you might not even need to be a prefect to demonstrate leadership skills. There might be skills you've learnt from your activities that are even more valuable and unique. There are prefects galore. And if you realllyyyy want leadership experience, are there any other opportunities that your school offers?

The best thing you can do now is to keep exercising your leadership and interpersonal skills for the future, and lock in to get a high ATAR, which you'll need for the courses you're interested in, particularly law. Commerce and eco have significantly lower entry requirements

 

[Ilikedrivingbymycarandthe]

hey guys,
so my school recently had the prefect elections and i did not get in. being completely honest i was so so bummed because since year 7 I have done genuinely every single extracurricular/enrichment program/opportunity that my school has offered. i had 100% attendance, tons of academic awards,yk the whole jist of everything that made me the ideal candidate. I attended every single uni program, clubs, did 2 separate volunteering roles, debating, public speaking genuinely everything i could, i did. i cant lie i fully sweated the extra curricular stuff

at the end of the day they way they choose the prefects was super controversial to say the least. not even being mean but straight up, some of the people that ended up getting elected did not have any or even near the amount of extracurriculars or commitment to school service that i had dedicated all my time to for the past 4 years . all the teachers just justify it as 'luck' or just getting student votes which i found genuinely disappointing.

how much do roles like prefect/school captain etc actually help for uni and future careers? i feel really bummed about this and is there anything i can continue or take up in terms of extra curricular to best differentiate myself in terms of extracurriculars for uni considering that the prefect role is no longer available.?
For context, i want to end up doing law/eco/commerce/business.

the teachers keep saying "good leaders don't have badges" etc etc and all of that yap but honestly its only ever the leaders with badges that get opportunities in the first place and those that do leadership roles or extracurriculars within my school without a badge are hardly ever recognised.

any advice from recent high school graduates or uni students would be greatly appreciated. tysm

Ngl don’t give up extracurriculars. They actually help so much when you’re applying to some uni programs and work programs/ internships. They actually help a lot and show u have tangible experience unlike ppl who r only good on the papers but have no social life outside that ( from experience ). Please don’t let them take over ur grades tho, but there is def no harm in doing them.

 

[coolcat6778]

Also this might seem mean but lowkey give up on extracurriculars we’re not in the usa, unis dont care not one bit abt allat

genuinely surprised how the us unis are top ranking if they literally favour people with extracurriculars and do NOT have a standardised objective system like the atar system

 

[carrotsss]

genuinely surprised how the us unis are top ranking if they literally favour people with extracurriculars and do NOT have a standardised objective system like the atar system

they have a few top unis which take in relatively few students for 10 times as many people, so it’s just sorta inherent that they’ll have more smart people

extracurriculars are also a good indicator of like more than just being good at taking exams like a future leader or whatever

 

[Ilikedrivingbymycarandthe]

genuinely surprised how the us unis are top ranking if they literally favour people with extracurriculars and do NOT have a standardised objective system like the atar system

It’s kinda better tbh? at least in my opinion bc it shows off flexibility + nuance. Also

genuinely surprised how the us unis are top ranking if they literally favour people with extracurriculars and do NOT have a standardised objective system like the atar system

their students r prob more qualified then ours though. Not only do they have a large pool of students but they have global offers. Even countries with standardised objective systems =/ good at the topic, which is y they judge extracurriculars particular global ones like Olympiad, etc —> bc it’s tangible proof that someone is talented in the subject theyre applying for. Like even in Australia, you don’t need to do legal studies to do law, just a high atar, even if u did 0 humanities except Eng adv you’d still make it in: not very tangible experience is it?
( help-, I actually hate standardised systems, forgive my rant )