<p>Hey HSL members. I’m the president of a school club. I’m trying to figure out if I should/how I should allow club members to list their participation only if they are committed. I have sign-up sheets at every meeting, and I basically know which members are dedicated. However, I have a feeling that some of the members (who only come half the time) will try to list the club on their college apps. This really isn’t right. But I’m not sure exactly who to communicate with about this.</p>
<p>I mean, at the end of the year, who do I give my records to? Our guidance counselor? It’s not like anyone can really keep members from listing stuff on their Common App.</p>
<p>I know tons of you have been presidents/vice presidents/leaders of your school clubs. What do you do? Do you feel that this is important enough to bother? Do you think people should be trusted and allowed to do whatever they want? Discuss.</p>
<p>Hi, I don’t know if you would want to do this, but it is just a suggestion. At my school, a whole lot of clubs have minimum requirements. That is for example, they have to come to 60% of the meetings, pay X amount of dues, and participate in at least Y amount of services/projects or have Z hours of services/projects whichever comes first. Something along those lines, ofc you don’t have to do it like this, for example some clubs requirements state that you need to come to 3 consecutive meetings, instead of 60%, you get what I’m saying. These are only the minimum requirements however, and in the event that the club was left of the report, then there is this form the student has to fill out and get signed by certain persons to get the club on his/her report. If you are a member who joined the club just for it to go on your report, that is for example, you have ONLY fulfilled the minimum requirements which might not even be that high for some clubs, they still have the right to reject you since you are not a “faithful” member. </p>
<p>So, this minimum requirement thing might be something you want to try out but its up to you. Good Luck.</p>
<p>I don’t think you should really worry about it too much. If they don’t have leadership positions it probably won’t have a huge impact on their app anyways. If they are coming half the time, then that’s still a decent amount of time to spend on an activity. As long as they’re honest about the hrs/wk and wk/yr on the app then they should be able to claim the participation in the club.</p>
<p>You shouldn’t do anything. Colleges and Universities choose to believe or not to believe whatever is on the student’s application. This is a matter of integrity between the student the university he is applying to. The common app does ask about how many hours you’ve spent on an activity and if the student states the correct amount then that is that. EC’s in general have been given so much weight to in the college process and a lot of EC’s are not verified by colleges. Such is life. You stopping them isn’t your business. The root of the problem is that there is no universal system to verify EC’s that students list on their apps. And to verify a degree of commitment. Even though reporting time may be an indicator, that value is still not verifiable. While it may seem unfair to you, the only thing you really can do is worry about yourself. Karma will worry about the rest.</p>
<p>My school has the same thing as go4cornell, where the school/advisor says you have to attend x% of meetings to be a mentor. This goes to the administration and the guidance office, but I’m not sure if it really prevents people from writing bogus stuff on their college apps.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your responses. @go4cornell: My friend, who runs another school club, has a similar system. That’s what made me consider whether I should do something like that. However, I think that I should trust the members rather than try to control them. I don’t want to make it something where they have to fulfill a certain number of meetings, I want them to come to learn and have fun. So for right now, I think I will not enact minimum requirements. It is a good idea and can work in some contexts though.</p>
<p>This happened to me. I am senior class president and I have people saying that their in Senior Board. But, I don’t know what to say about it. Colleges can actually call the school and ask anything though…</p>
<p>I know what you mean. I’m a big music guy and it’s time consuming. Last year I tried out the Key Club and I went to a bunch of activities in the first half of the year. Then I realized that the club is really disorganized and it’s basically every man for himself. Nobody communicates and there are little cliques inside the club that do different activities. So I didn’t go to any meetings after midterms, but I still had those hours before… so I put them down on my resume. But I didn’t have any Key Club leaderships positions so idk…</p>
<p>I was very frustrated when I joined a club that I loved and most people took it lightly and missed meetings and didn’t contribute. When I became president we had already had guidelines for membership requirement but it was a huge hassle going through them and we didn’t want to be mean to members and kick them out or anything, especially our advisor. Unfortunately, it is what it is. Luckily though, most of the new members are extremely active and I’m doing my best to make meetings interesting and promote participation.</p>
<p>I think the more interesting the club is, the more active members it will naturally attract.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t sweat it. First off, it will have no effect on you whether or not someone puts your club on their app. Second, the fact that they listed your club won’t get them into school. Colleges will look for leadership, and simply listing member won’t get admittance. If the recommendations don’t talk about how involved and caring a student is, membership in 50 clubs won’t do anything.</p>
<p>Well, it can help if they show dedication in the club (i.e. years of membership) even if they never held leadership positions, can’t it? Of course, if they weren’t involved for the 1st three years of high school and then in their 4th year they joined a million clubs, that would look kind of suspicious.</p>
<p>If you’re able to verify that those uncommited members lied in their application, then report it to your counselor or his/hers. Personally, I wouldn’t care. It’s just an act of spite to report someone if their actions don’t affect me in any way. It’s not like it’s a huge part of their applications… It they’re truthful about the club, then by all means let them put it on their app.</p>
<p>Thank you all for taking the time to respond! Sorry it’s taken me a while to post back. I had to mull over these ideas.</p>
<p>@ufucfbound: That’s true - thanks for reminding me that colleges indeed call and check in some cases.</p>
<p>@aStyle: Thanks for giving another opinion. I have done similar things with other clubs, so I can relate.</p>
<p>@guruofgreatness: I agree especially with that last point you made. The only thing is, my school is very small, so the likelihood that we have many people who are truly interested in the subject matter is quite slim.</p>
<p>@NulliSecundus: Very true. Good point! I had not considered that.</p>
<p>@go4cornell: Yeah, I think commitment does count. It is also great when members who don’t have formal leadership positions (President, Treasurer, etc.) take on a leadership project themselves within the club.</p>
<p>@R3d3mpti0n: Yeah, I’m not really that kind of person. So I am planning to just let it go.</p>
<p>Update to everyone: Now that I have been President of this club for a semester, I have been able to make the club more active and get people to actually come to regular meetings. Last formal meeting, we had almost 20 members! I think most of the members are dedicated, so I’m happy.</p>
I think most of the members are dedicated, so I’m happy.</p>