One activity, different leadership roles, how to list

My D26 has been in marching band since 7th grade. In the activities section, she listed “band president” in 12th grade as one slot, and “section captain” in 10th and 11th as another slot.

Her college advisor suggested instead that she list “Marching Band” as one activity from 9th through 12th, then under description, mention the two different leadership roles – and elaborate on her actual leadership tasks in the additional info section.

She thought perhaps it would look like D26 was trying to pad a sparse list by using two slots. (That is not the case, but I see her point.) Also, she thought it wasn’t clear that she participated as a regular member in 9th as well.

Thoughts? I didn’t realize the additional info section should be used to add specifics to extracurricular activities.

Agree with your college advisor that using 2–3 slots may create the unfortunate impression that she’s trying to pad the list even if that’s not her intent. Perhaps she can write something like “Member/Section-Captain/President of Marching Band” in the title and write “Member since 9th grade, appointed Section Captain in 10th and 11th, and voted President in 12th. As President, I did this and that…” in the description (or additional info section if deemed appropriate). This shows longevity and a series of promotion within the same organization/activity (which is great) while freeing up space for other activities.

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Thank you so much. Perfect idea to list all three roles in the title if they fit – why didn’t we think of that? :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

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I think the leadership titles say enough and I would not use the additional section. ECs…you have or you don’t and the titles show progression…no need to deep dive. If a school allows a resume, you can do so there. If not, don’t worry about it.

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My kid didn’t have a lot of ECs…but the ones she had were ones where she grew into leadership positions. So…for wind ensemble, for example, she wanted to show that she was librarian and secretary. And was in the ensemble for four years. I believe she fit most of that in the one line for that activity.

For precollege orchestra, she wanted it noted that she was section leader. Again…it all fit.

Just listing “wind ensemble-9-12” would not have shown her leadership positions.

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