Softs Advice Forum

[HopeyDopey]

Hello TLS folks,

I hope you all are doing well and I wish the best for you all in the coming cycle/new year. I have a question which I think should be asked regarding extracurricular activities. I was the president of two student organizations (which I founded) in undergrad during my senior year. Unfortunately, I was very busy during this time in undergrad. I was involved with two other honor societies and I also had a seasonal job and an internship.

My organizations never really got around to doing anything and it really stinks because it was a ton of work getting them started. I would like to put them on my resume/applications because I was in fact the president (even if I wasn't in charge of much haha). I've been told I should probably leave them off of my resume though, because they weren't really successful. I have several questions on this matter.

1. Would putting these organizations on my resume mean that I would be asked about them in an interview?
2. If so, would it be bad that they were not as successful as I wanted them to be?
3. Would it be a bad idea to include the positions on applications/resumes for schools who do not conduct interviews?
4. If I did not include them on my resume, how much of an effect would it have on my admissions chances? Little or a lot?

I apologize for the long post and all, but this is a complicated matter and I hope that some of you can provide guidance on this issue. I'm 100% certain that I am overthinking all of this haha. Thanks!

[RumBait]

Yes, it is possible that they would come up in an interview. A good rule of thumb is that you should expect to talk about anything listed on your resume. If you would feel uncomfortable talking about it, then don't list it.

Either way, it will have little effect on admissions.

[7Steps]

Even if they weren't successful, talking through what you learned about the difficulty of starting an organization could make for an interesting interview conversation.

[HopeyDopey]

@RumBait and 7Steps

Thank you for your responses. I think not mentioning them sounds like a good idea. Perhaps in an interview I could add in that I was president of these orgs and that I did learn a lot about budgeting time and creating student orgs.