<p>Hi, I’m an international student, and have little clue about how US universities work besides knowing that ECs matter a lot, not just grades. </p>
<p>My question is, if someone has like volunteer work + activity in school like drama club and sailing + work experience, but no leadership positions, are they in trouble if applying for unis like Stanford, MIT, Cornell, Duke, Brown, NYU, etc?</p>
<p>And what comprises leadership position? Does leading a small group in a community assisting project count?</p>
<p>you’re never really in trouble, you just don’t have a good shot
leadership is definitely a good sign, but colleges look at a lot of other extracurriculars too: volunteer work is good but research that shows your passion in a subject, organizing a successful fund raiser, starting your own business, being a published writer (just to name a few) are all very impressive.</p>
<p>and yes leading a small group in a community does count as leadership
EC’s are important, but first you need excellent grades and standardized test scores to get into the schools you mentioned</p>
<p>especially MIT, the international admission rate is extremely low, most admits win international awards (IPhO, ISEF … )</p>
<p>good luck though! :)</p>