college essays on leadership

Leadership Essay

27 August, 2020

12 minutes read

Author:  Richard Pircher

As a college student, you must write essays on a regular basis since the latter is one of the most common types of home assignments. All this means is that in order to get good grades and be successful with writing the papers, you need to have a sound understanding of the structure. Additionally, what you should never neglect is the variety of essay types. Indeed, your essay will significantly differ from one type to another: description essay will most likely have a structure that is slightly different from an argumentative one.

What you may have already encountered in your academic life is the work on a leadership essay. Although it sounds pretty complicated and vague, it is mostly possible to master an essay on leadership. Below is a guide for you to get an insight into this particular essay type.

What is a good leadership essay?

A good leadership essay is the one in which the essay writer has fully covered the topic of leadership and understood its core ideas. More specifically, to end up with a flawless leadership essay, you will need to indicate what makes a person a good leader. For achieving the latter, you will most likely need to conduct research and trace how a particular person reaches his or her goals. In other words, the task is to discover which actions the person undertakes, what their followers say about him or her, and how the person organizes the work. So, a leadership essay implies providing real-life success examples and further revealing them.

Above all, a good leadership essay is the one that follows a precise, clear, comprehensive structure. Structuring your essay about leadership in the most coherent way leads to a win-win situation: you have fewer troubles and barriers to writing a brilliant essay, and your teacher is able to comprehend the essay easily. This guide is what you will need to refer to to get an insight into how the flawless structure for a leadership essay looks like and how it will let you take a benefit.

How to write a Leadership essay?

To write a leadership essay that stands out, you first need to brainstorm all the ideas that you have and come up with a topic for your essay. If you are struggling with this step, you may think of some of the most influential people, read about them, and find out what makes them unique. Or, you can pick any topic which is mentioned at the end of this article. After you have chosen an issue, it is time to structure your essay appropriately.

As you already know, an essay constitutes three essential sections: introduction, main body, and conclusion. Below is the more detailed description of each of the parts.

Introduction

Of course, your leadership essay introduction will always vary depending on the topic of the essay. However, you can always begin by stating your vision of leadership regardless of the topic. Additionally, to motivate the reader and instantly catch his or her attention, you may use a quote of a famous leader, or simply a quote which you find relevant to the topic. Be aware that you should avoid outlining the essence and the role of the leadership in your introduction; leave it for the body paragraphs.

What you may also do in your leadership essay is ask a question, which will most likely intrigue the leader. Or it will at least give your reader an overview of what you will dwell on  in your essay.

Body Paragraphs

You will need to divide the main body into 3-5 paragraphs to make the structure more comprehensive. What you have to do at this point  is  give your reader a sound understanding of your ideas. Therefore, try to fit each idea in a single body paragraph so that you do not confuse your reader. Do not hesitate to indicate your examples to strengthen your arguments. For instance, you may explain a fact that makes a particular person you are writing about a real leader.

Also, always stick to your thesis statement and don’t forget that the body paragraphs should reveal the parts of your thesis statement.

As you may already know, you need to restate your opinion and briefly summarize all the points from the main body in conclusion. For instance, if you wrote your essay on qualities of an effective leader, state the most fundamental qualities and indicate why they matter the most. Besides, try not to copy what you have already written in the body – it is better to restate your opinion using different words. And, of course, beware adding any new and extra information; indicate only those points that you have already outlined in the text. Finally, keep in mind that it is always favorable to keep your concluding remarks short.

Leadership Essay Examples

Writing a leadership essay requires some research and time. In case you feel the necessity to go through an essay example, below is a leadership essay sample you can refer to.

Is leadership an inborn or an acquired feature?

Is everyone capable of becoming a leader, or is this ability innate? A lot of researchers have been struggling to answer this question. One assumption about leadership implies that the leader is the person who possesses particular characteristics. Another assumption claims that leaders are capable of acquiring specific features over their life span. As the evidence shows, leaders own many features that distinguish them among others and make more and more people become their followers. These might be cognitive abilities, psychological traits, professional qualities, and a lot more, and all of them will be either acquired or innate. Based on the importance of leadership qualities, such as commitment, stress resistance, and the ability to make quality decisions, it is reasonable to claim that leaders are made, not born. 

One can deem commitment as one of the top fundamental qualities of the leader. In essence, such a feature indicates that a person is passionate about the common goal, strives to be a team player, and makes every effort to reach a shared goal. As the history shows, none of the successful companies was uncoordinated by an influential, committed leader: Apple, Amazon, Microsoft – all of these companies are examples of dominant teams led by a dedicated leader. A committed leader also inspires his or her team to achieve common goals and put more effort into the shared activity. Besides, commitment is unlikely to be an innate feature; it instead comes with experience. This is so, since commitment implies dedicating oneself to the shared task, and one can reach it only via learning and continuous self-improvement.

Stress resistance is another incredibly important feature that every good leader should possess. This is because only a stress-resistant leader has sufficient capabilities to overcome any complexity and not let the anxiety and stress prevent him or her from making proper decisions. Besides, such a leader will most likely have a positive influence on the team, as long as leading by example will motivate the team members to attain the same emotional stability. What is so far familiar about stress resistance as an effective leader’s feature is that it can be either innate or attained. However, although some researchers admit that emotional stability is something one is born with, it is not entirely true; many people still put a great effort into self-improvement, changing the attitude to unfortunate situations, and so on. Therefore, being resistant to stress can be mostly attributed to a personality.

An ability to make high-quality decisions most likely determines the chances for an enterprise’s success. In particular, such quality is incredibly fundamental for a company of any size and professional orientation. Additionally, it is one of the top tasks of a good leader to make final decisions. What he or she should do implies brainstorming, discussing various opinions in the group, making forecasts, analyzing all the pros and cons. However, the leader is the one to make a final decision. Thereby, he is in charge of researching the market, discovering all the hidden truths, and analyzing the organization’s potential and capabilities to result in the most effective decision. As it flows logically from the latter, an ability to make sound quality decisions is purely a professional quality. This leads to the conclusion that one has to work hard to become a genuine leader and master the skill of making effective decisions. 

Overall, the leader may possess a multitude of different skills and master them perfectly. However, what has so far become transparent is that any leader, regardless of which team he leads, must possess three essential qualities. These qualities are commitment to the common goal, ability to handle and resist stress, and, finally, an ability to make effective decisions. All of the three qualities are most likely to be acquired over a lifetime. The statement below leads to the conclusion that even though some qualities can be innate, most are not the ones that leaders are born with. Hence, this answers an essential question: leadership feature is acquired, and not necessarily inborn.  

20 leadership essay topics

When coming up with your next leadership essay topic, it is imperative to brainstorm ideas and think of what leadership might be related to. If you are struggling with a topic of the importance of leadership essay or any relevant type of essay, you may quickly take a look at some of the possible topics we prepared for you:

• What are the main qualities of the leader?
• Successful Time Management as a feature of an effective leader
• The role that rhetoric plays in leadership
• The most exceptional leader in the history of the 20-th century
• The role of female leadership
• What are the challenges of the leader of the 21-st century?
• How college helps students develop leadership skills?
• Qualities of the leader that motivate people to follow them 
• Top things to avoid doing to become a team leader
• Examples of effective and ineffective leadership in the history
• Top techniques for developing leadership skills
• The interconnection of creativity and leadership 
• Is a university’s role fundamental in developing leadership skills?
• Dictatorship as an anti-example of leadership
• Liberal vs Authoritative leadership: which one works better?
• The influence of the leader’s role model on the followers’ mindset
• Main difficulties that the new leader may face in a new team
• Leadership of today vs leadership of the past: what has changed?
• Reasons why I want to become a member if the leadership program
• The role of cognitive abilities for the leader 

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Essays on Leadership for Students | 200 - 500 Word Essays

Are you writing an essay about leadership? Check out these examples!

Leadership is often defined as "the action of inspiring others to act in concert to achieve a particular goal." It signifies the harmony in actions that lead to a common objective. A genuine leader not only exudes confidence but also paves the way for their followers towards triumph. Over the years, various leadership styles have been identified and discussed by psychologists.

 Qualities such as intelligence, adaptability, extroversion, innate self-awareness, and social competence often emerge as the hallmarks of impactful leaders. There's a consensus that these traits mold an individual into an effective leader. Interestingly, some theories suggest that extraordinary situations can thrust an ordinary individual into the spotlight, bestowing upon them the mantle of leadership. It's also believed that leadership isn't a static trait but an evolving journey. It underscores the belief that with dedication and the right resources, anyone can hone their leadership abilities.

 True leadership goes beyond merely advocating for a cause. It involves taking responsibility, igniting motivation in others, and differentiating oneself from just being a 'boss'. A leader's essence lies in their ability to inspire and propel people towards grand visions, whereas a manager typically focuses on oversight and operational aspects.

What Is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay falls under the category of student application essays and serves to provide student admissions officers with insight into your past leadership experiences. Despite appearing to be very specific, this type of essay acknowledges that the nature and perception of leadership can vary significantly depending on the individual and the context.

 If you find yourself in need of further insights or a unique angle for your leadership essay, consider exploring an expert essay-writing tool designed to assist students in crafting compelling narratives by analyzing vast data and generating fresh ideas within minutes. In this article, we'll also delve into various leadership essay examples to offer a clearer understanding of the genre and inspire your writing journey.

4 Examples of Leadership Essays

Qualities of a good leader, introduction.

Confidence is the most important attribute first of all. One of the most important qualities in a leader is confidence in one's own abilities. A lack of self-assurance is fatal to a person's leadership potential. If you want others to follow you, you need to exude self-assurance. It's imperative for a leader to have faith in his own judgment and actions. How can people want to follow him if he doesn't even know what he's doing?

Every effective leader knows that they need to be an inspiration to their followers. A leader needs to set an example for his team. In addition, he ought to inspire them whenever feasible. A leader must also maintain optimism in trying times.

What qualities a good leader must have?

Leadership is the ability to influence and guide individuals or groups toward a common goal. A leader must possess several qualities to be effective, including:

Communication skills: A leader must be able to communicate their vision and goals clearly and effectively, both verbally and in writing. This requires excellent listening skills, empathy, and the ability to adapt to different communication styles.

Emotional intelligence: A leader must be able to understand and manage their own emotions, as well as those of their team members. This includes being able to understand and respond to the emotions of others, and handling conflicts in a constructive manner.

Visionary: A leader must have a clear and inspiring vision of the future, and be able to articulate this vision in a way that motivates others to work towards it.

Strategic thinking: A leader must be able to think critically and creatively to identify and solve problems, make decisions, and develop plans and strategies to achieve their goals.

Flexibility: A leader must be able to adapt to changing circumstances and be open to new ideas and perspectives. This requires the ability to embrace change, be innovative, and continuously learn and grow.

Integrity: A leader must have strong ethics and values, and be willing to make difficult decisions that are consistent with their beliefs. This requires honesty, transparency, and accountability.

Decisiveness: A leader must be able to make tough decisions quickly, without undue hesitation or procrastination. This requires courage and the ability to take calculated risks.

Empowerment: A leader must be able to delegate responsibilities, give team members the resources they need to succeed, and foster a sense of ownership and accountability among their team.

Conclusion 

These qualities are essential for effective leadership, and when combined with hard work, determination, and a commitment to excellence, can help leaders to achieve great things.

How one can be a Great Leader?

Leadership is the act of performing the duties of a leader. In the business world, for instance, it is essential to have someone in charge of a team to ensure everything runs well. Effective leadership is essential for any group that wants to maximize its prospects of success.

Leadership Comes from Experience

As we've shown, leadership can be innate in some cases but is more often learned through practice and exposure. Sometimes the best traits of a leader must be learned over a lengthy period of time, so that one can become a notable one, proving that leadership is not always about a person's innate qualities. Leaders should continuously be on the lookout for opportunities to grow their leadership skills.

Nobody can disagree that experience is a key component of leadership. Numerous examples exist to back up this claim, such as:

Instance 1:

Our school's head boy or girl has traditionally been an older student who has been around for a while and thus has a better grasp of the ins and outs of school politics.

Instance 2:

When there is a vacancy for a team leader, it is common practice for the employee who has consistently put in the most effort and attention to the office job to receive a higher number of votes than their coworkers. 

“The best teacher for a leader is evaluated experience.” - John C. Maxwell

How one can be a Great Leader/Skills to be a Great Leader?

Effective leadership is a skill that develops through time. Developing into a leader with all the qualities that are needed takes a lot of hard work and potential. Being a prominent leader calls for a wide variety of traits. Some of these characteristics are addressed in further detail below:

One should be a Good Communicator

To be an effective leader, one must be able to convey his thoughts clearly to his/her/its subordinates.

Should have Confidence

The individual should have faith in what he says and does.

Give Credit to other Team Members too

A leader not only needs to impose his viewpoints and opinions instead he must also hear to the suggestions of other members of the team and offer them credit if their concept is appropriate.

Good Bond with the Team

A leader's ability to command respect from his team members depends on his ability to develop and maintain positive relationships with them.

Leads with Responsibility

A leader needs to be completely committed to his position. It's important that he takes on responsibility so that he can effectively deal with the various challenges he will inevitably face.

Any group or organization needs a leader above all else. Leadership development takes time and effort. One needs to have lived through a lot to be an effective leader. It's not enough to simply have years of experience in the field; one must also have the traits that make one an effective leader. You can't be a great leader unless you possess certain traits.

What makes a Good Leader?

Trying one's hand as a leader appears easy when viewed through this lens. Is that so tough? Of course not; leading is difficult, and not everyone aspires to be a leader. The vast majority of us have settled into well-established careers where we report to superiors and make a living. Still, not everyone is content to go along with the crowd. They become leaders in whatever field they pursue. A leader is an example to followers and will prioritize the needs of those around them.

Some Unique Qualities of a Leader

Many individuals resort to their leaders to vent their frustrations, therefore it's important for them to be good listeners.

A leader ought to be completely forthright; they can't play favorites or give anyone preferential treatment. One of the most essential qualities of a strong leader is the ability to make decisions with integrity.

They need to be aware of the bigger picture and understand what makes an individual stand out or become a leader. It's their expertise in addition to other distinguishing traits. Their awareness of current events and the results of recent studies is essential. In many ways, this is helpful, and it's the leader's responsibility to stay current.

Since some might not understand them, they should utilize straightforward, easily comprehended language. Leaders need to be able to communicate effectively at all times. In reality, what sets them apart is their exceptional communication skills. Adolf Hitler was such a gifted orator that his followers believed every word he said.

No matter how you're feeling or what's going on in the world, if you listen to a leader, they may make you feel energized. Since leaders are in charge of inspiring confidence in their followers, they can't afford to be wary or unsure of themselves. People tend to blindly follow their leaders.

Whether you're a leader or a doctor, you should devote yourself completely to your chosen field. Everything we do is for the benefit of others; engineers, for example, spend much of their time designing and constructing buildings for other people. So, take pride in what you do, and if you possess the aforementioned traits, you are also a leader who doesn't have to rely on others to succeed. No matter what you do, aspiring to leadership positions will always benefit others.

What is Leadership in Management and what are the weaknesses and strengths of a Leader?

Simply said, leadership is acting as a supervisor or manager of a group. Different mental pictures pop up when we hear the word "leadership" used in conversation. One might think of a political leader, team leader, corporate leader, school leader, etc. Leaders facilitate order and efficiency in the workplace. Teamwork and success are fundamental to effective leadership. Leaders utilize their managerial abilities to establish courses and guide their teams to success.

Strengths and Weaknesses of Leadership

Able to express oneself more clearly

Growth of character.

Self-awareness.

Possession of teamwork skills.

Gain assurance in yourself.

Weaknesses:

Acting favorably toward one's teammates.

Having no faith in the leader.

Thinks they're better than everyone else, but act hypocritically.

Not living up to the promised standard.

Insufficient morals.

Leadership and Management

Management and leadership are inextricably linked to one another. Leadership and management are both vital to the efficient operation of an organization; but, they accomplish very different things in the process. Leadership is a necessary skill for anyone aspiring to be an effective manager. The terms management and leadership are synonymous with one another. In this manner, we are able to draw the conclusion that a manager who demonstrates the traits of a successful leader is, in fact, a manager who is effective.

Leadership in School

Leadership is essential in nearly every group, as we've seen above. That group includes one's educational institution. Every school needs an outstanding figure to serve as its head of school. Class monitor, assembly captain, cultural leader, etc. are all examples of leadership roles that can be taken on at school, but this raises the question of what makes a person a successful school leader.

Any student hoping to be chosen as a student body leader will need to demonstrate a wide range of competencies. He or she needs to be a consistent student who pays attention in class and does well in extracurricular activities. For the simple reason that no intelligent and hardworking kid would ever be considered for leadership. Student leaders are most often selected from among those who participate fully in all activities.

Leadership in Organization

Leadership in an organization, also known as organizational leadership, is the process of establishing long-term objectives that further the company's mission and help it reach its ultimate destination. This is a classic illustration of how Bill Gates often works with his team: they agree on a strategy, and Gates implements it. To the same extent, it is the responsibility of the leader in each given organization to determine what it is that the group is trying to accomplish.

Leadership in Politics

Leadership in politics, also known as political leadership, is the process of becoming actively involved in a political party in the role of a party leader. Knowledge of political processes, their outcomes, and the political agenda is central to the idea of political leadership.

An effective leader can be developed in anyone who has the determination and drives to do so. Both the strengths and the areas for improvement should be nurtured. Whether in the classroom, the workplace, or the political arena, leadership is always necessary. Therefore, one can exercise leadership anywhere they like inside their own organization.

What are the types of Leadership?

The ability to lead is a rare trait that not everyone possesses. The ability to do so is a gift, so count your blessings if you possess it. It's recommended that you hone it even more so that you can propel your career forward and serve as an example to people around you. However, it is crucial to grasp the various leadership styles before you go ahead and polish your skills.

Types of Leadership Styles

Democratic Leadership

In this style of management, subordinates are given a voice in decision-making. Although the subordinates' efforts are highlighted, the leader is ultimately held responsible for the group's actions. Many people find this type of leadership to be effective.

Transformational Leadership

Transformational leaders motivate and inspire others to adopt new behaviors and ways of thinking in order to improve their own performance and that of their teams and organizations. A transformational leader is someone who encourages their team to strive for greater things and works to boost morale and output.

Team Leadership

A good leader fully incorporates his team into the task at hand. Members of the team are motivated to reach their goals and advance in their careers thanks to the leadership of the group.

Strategic Leadership

It requires a chief executive who doesn't restrict himself to brainstorming sessions with his superiors. He contributes on every level of the team. He is well-liked for his ability to unite the need for fresh ideas with the necessity of grounding them in reality.

Autocratic Leadership

The leader in a command and control structure is the center of attention. The chief executive has absolute power in this setting. He decides things on his own, without polling his staff. He relays this information to his staff and stresses the importance of swift action. The buck stops with him, and he alone must answer for his actions. Not much room for negotiation exists. It's no secret that this method of leading has its detractors.

Visionary Leadership

This kind of leader appreciates the abilities and requirements of his team members. He describes his ideal outcome and the teamwork that will be necessary to attain it.

Coaching Leadership

Leaders who coach their teams do so regularly in an effort to raise output. He inspires his employees to do better and works to keep them motivated. This approach to leadership has been much praised.

Facilitative Leadership

With occasional guidance, a facilitative leader ensures that the process runs smoothly for his team. As a precaution in case his team is ineffective. If the team is highly effective, the leader will take a hands-off approach.

Cross-Cultural Leadership

The leadership of this type is necessary when interacting with people from various cultural backgrounds. Because of the wide variety of cultures represented in the workforce across the United States, many managers and executives hold cross-cultural positions.

Laissez-Faire Leadership

The members of the team are given responsibility in this style of management. They are free to choose how they spend their time at work, with minimal oversight from the boss. It's not a good way to lead, according to experts.

Transactional Leadership

An interactive approach is integral to this kind of leadership. When team members successfully implement their leader's ideas and choices, they are rewarded with immediate, material benefits.

Charismatic Leadership

In order to bring out the best in his followers, this kind of leader makes the effort to change their attitudes, values, and actions.

This article should dispel the notion that leadership qualities can't be further subdivided. It should also assist you in pinpointing your own personal brand of leadership so you can perfect it over time.

Final Words

In conclusion, leadership is a complex and multifaceted concept that involves various qualities and skills. Effective leaders possess traits such as integrity, vision, empathy, decisiveness, and the ability to inspire and motivate others. They are able to navigate challenges, make difficult decisions, and lead their team toward success. Leadership also involves continuous learning and self-improvement, as leaders must adapt to changing circumstances and remain relevant. Effective leadership can have a positive impact on both individuals and organizations, fostering growth and creating a culture of success.

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A Blue Print for the best Leadership Essay

Leadership encompasses a variety of tenets. It includes leadership approaches or styles, leadership development, types of leadership, leadership principles, leadership values, and leadership theories. These are but a few concepts that any college student must be acquainted with to be able to complete an essay on leadership.

As complex as writing a leadership essay sounds, it is simple when you know how to write an essay about leadership. You must begin by understanding who a leader is and the entire concept of leadership.

When writing an essay about a leader, it is akin to writing a profile essay about a certain leader or yourself. Leadership essays for college require a special type of keenness. While there are many scholarly sources you can use, it takes expertise to knit together a great leadership essay introduction.

This guide helps you write the “what is leadership” essay effectively. It also enables you to write the best nature of leadership essay. If you are stuck with choosing leadership essay topics, our guide has over 89 essay topics on leadership and ideas that you can use to brainstorm. From today on, write the best leadership essay conclusion. And if it is a leadership essay for a scholarship, admission, or personal statement, we have experts that can help. We also have proofreading and editing professionals to help edit and proofread your leadership thesis and dissertation.

Read on and see what we have for you.

What is a Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is somewhat a unique assignment assigned to college and university students. It can be part of the admission or scholarship essays or part of the coursework. Naturally, it is an assignment assigned to students pursuing different courses such as business, management, human resource, organizational behavior, economics, psychology, or political science, among others. A leadership essay encompasses exploration:

• The concept of leadership
• Nature of leadership
• Stories on prominent leaders
• Leadership traits and qualities
• The link between leadership and development, success, performance, and improvement
• Leadership abilities
• Facts and events of an individual’s leadership experience

To write a good leadership paper, a student must begin by reading the essay prompt and the rubric. A student should then think critically and logically on what to include in their paper. Like other exceptional essays, a good essay on leadership must have credible facts from scholarly sources. The instructor/professor is always testing for your evaluation, assessment, analytical, and presentation skills.

Tips when Writing Leadership Essays for College

Creating a perfect leadership essay is easy when you follow these predetermined success-assured steps.

1. Choose a leadership Topic that interests you

When assigning leadership essays, most professors and instructors alike give prompts with a list of topics to choose from. Go for topics that impress you and ones that you can find great information from books, journals, credible websites, and other scholarly sources.

2. Research Online and Get enough insights

After selecting a particular topic, ensure that you go a step higher to conduct research online. Gather as much information from the available literature as possible. The research process, when writing leadership essays, helps in generating ideas for the introduction, body, and conclusion of the essay. It also helps define the scope of your essay and come up with a thesis.

3. Create an excellent thesis statement

Your thesis statement in your essay on leadership should reflect the outlook of the entire essay. Format it to feature your major argument in an intelligent and reasoned way. An excellent thesis statement defines a good essay any day.

4. Draft the Leadership Essay Outline

Every great essay begins with an outline. Creating an outline for your leadership essay helps you draft a blueprint for the entire essay. Outline what will go to the introduction, the thesis statement, and the background information.

5. Write your First Draft

With the arguments reflected on the outline, you can choose to use any format for the body paragraphs. A common approach is to use the PEEL writing strategy for coherence in your paragraphs. You can also use the Schaffer strategy. The choice is yours. Above all, ensure that facts from scholarly sources are cited in-text in MLA, APA, Harvard, or Chicago formats.

6. Edit, Proofread and Revise your Essay

After writing your essay, it is always great to edit and proofread. If you have no confidence in your leadership essay, you can hire someone to edit your leadership essays . If you are an MBA student, we can help you correct mistakes on your paper. Always submit a paper you are confident will pass plagiarism checkers and get you great grades.

How to Begin a Leadership Paper - The Introduction

You are probably reading this because the question of “how do I start my leadership essay?” is bothering you. Well, even though the question seems ambiguous, we have an answer for you right here.

Every great leadership essay has an excellent introduction. Your introduction should be well-written to the extent that it grabs the attention of the reader and entices them to stay through the end. Ideally, the introduction sets the mood of the entire paper.

As with other types of essays, a leadership essay can commence with a great essay hook or a grabber . It could be an anecdote, a statistic, quote, phrase, or a catchy word.

The hook should be preceded by a few sentences that act as the background to your essay. The aim of the background sentences, in the introduction, is to set the context of the essay.

The background is then followed by an excellent thesis statement . The thesis statement gives a sneak peek into your essay in a snapshot. It can either be one or two last sentences in the introduction. The thesis differs depending on whether the essay is descriptive, classification, narrative, argumentative, or persuasive essay.

If you follow these steps, you will write an outstanding essay on leadership. Make it count right from the beginning.

How to Ace a Leadership Experience Essay

When writing application essays, scholarship essays, or school transfer essays, you can be asked to write an essay about your leadership experience. It is always imperative to make your essay as unique as the Costco application essay. Here are some tips to use when writing your leadership essay:

• Begin by reading the leadership experience essay prompt to understand exactly what you are being asked to write about.
• Come up with an excellent essay hook for your essay. It could be an anecdote, a quote from a great leader, a simple statistic, or an observation’.
• Write the thesis of your leadership experience essay, which should cover the gist of the entire essay.
• Write the introduction of the essay as though it is to be published among the best sellers.
• Make sure each of the paragraphs outlines your leadership experiences. Each of the paragraphs should have leadership experience, illustrations, and examples.
• Keep the flow within the paper by using appropriate transitions.
• Avoid using jargon in your leadership essays. In most cases, simplicity wins the day, and after all, a successful leader expresses themselves in just a few words.
• If there are references used, be sure to cite the essay in APA, MLA, Harvard, or Chicago.
• Make the conclusion count. Restate the thesis and write a summary of the entire paper.
• Most leadership essays can be anything between 150 words to 2000 words. Depending on the essay prompt, always be sure to meet the word count.

Remember, if the leadership experience essay is a scholarship essay, personal statement, statement of purpose, or an admission essay, it should be written in the first person. Otherwise, you must stick to the third person, which is a preference in academic writing.

Leadership Essay Topics and Ideas you can choose for your Paper

Are you wondering about the best leadership essay topics? We have your back on this. Here are some essay topics on leadership to kick start your topic choice process. We answer the question of “what are some essay topics on leadership?”

• The ability of women in leadership to successfully steer progress and success in organizations.
• Role of leaders in the community
• Charismatic, transformational, and transactional leadership
• Characteristics of a good leader
• Features of supportive leadership
• Leadership and Power
• Women in leadership
• Breaking the glass ceiling
• Role of ethics in leadership
• Gender differences in leadership
• Importance of team leadership in virtual teams
• Role of leaders in group formation
• How leadership brings diversity in an organization
• Corruption among public leaders
• Are leaders made or born?
• Can situations define a leader?
• Leadership succession and its importance in organizations
• Do you consider yourself to be a leader or a follower?
• An example of a 21 st -century exemplary leader
• Challenges leaders face
• Importance of listening for leaders
• Are transformational leaders better than transactional leaders?
• How to improve leadership skills
• Great leaders should be great communicators
• Who do you look up to as a leader?
• Importance of self-confidence among leaders
• Which leader do you admire? Please write a letter to of gratitude for their influence on your life
• The importance of leadership in schools
• Historical leaders
• Think of a leader you admire and list three of the qualities that make him or her a good leader. Which quality do you share with him or her? Which quality could you improve upon?
• How can you improve your own leadership skills?
• Role of military leadership
• Do entrepreneurs need to be leaders?
• An integrative theory of leadership
• The impacts of national culture on corporate and public leadership
• Leadership and organizational development
• How leadership affects the morale of employees
• Does leadership competence define the organization of choice for employees
• The link between leadership and organizational citizenship behavior
• Leadership and organizational loyalty
• Variation of leadership behavior depending on the culture
• Leadership processes and self-identity of followers
• Leadership style and organizational commitment
• The prospective of future leadership
• Role of strategic leadership
• The Influence of democratic leadership on Employee performance: A case in Saudi Public Sector
• Business leadership and culture
• The normative approach to business leadership
• Comparative analysis of the world’s greatest military leaders
• Understanding combat leadership
• Role of military leaders in strategy and policy implementation
• Meyers Briggs Type Indicator best for military leadership
• Understanding the art of command in military leadership
• How school leadership works
• Does the leadership styles of a school principle define the success of a school?
• Are collaborative school leaders successful?
• The role of power, culture, and people in educational leadership
• Leadership and policy implementation
• Leadership style of educators
• School leadership in the 21 st century
• Teacher leadership for professional resilience
• Qualities of exceptional school leaders
• How professional school leaders deal with dilemmas
• Leadership and the glass ceiling
• The performance of indigenous communities in political leadership
• Sustainable environmental leadership
• Corporate leadership
• The psychology of leadership
• African-American women executives and organizational leadership
• Ethics as the heart of leadership
• Servant leadership
• Leadership challenges in virtual teams
• Leadership development and growth
• Evolving human resource practices in succession planning
• Contemporary issues of leadership
• Leadership investment
• Importance of leadership for nurses
• Are leadership traits inherent, or can people be molded into good leaders?
• Are meetings the only effective way for sound leaders to disseminate information?
• Compare and contrast the effectiveness of dictatorial and servant leadership
• Explore the church leadership approach
• The foundation of biblical leadership
• Compare business and political leadership
• The bureaucratic structure of government and their impact on leadership in the public domain
• Best leadership styles for diverse teams
• Impacts of technology and social media on the leadership style of millennial leaders
• Compare and contrast formal and informal leaders
• The leadership philosophy of great leaders
• Critical analysis of leadership styles and organizational culture that enables the implementation of a proposed local project of advancing the Nursing practice

Contact us for the best topics and help with your MBA leadership essays or essays for school on leadership. Our professional essay writers can always help.

Top 30 Leadership Qualities to Include in a Leadership Essay

As a student undertaking a leadership course, completing an essay, term paper, or a research paper on leadership is mandatory. When asked to write an essay on leadership, it would be best if you used some of the leadership traits.

The common traits include

• Transparency
• Conscientious
• Excellent communication
• Decision-Making Skills
• Problem-solving capacity
• Accountability and responsibility
• Delegation and empowerment
• Emotional intelligence
• Creativity and innovation
• Decisiveness
• Unselfishness
• Dependability

These are some of the powerful traits of successful leaders . Of course, there are many other traits that you can research and include in your leadership essays. Effective leaders need to be very tactical when influencing their followers. They need to foster teamwork where necessary and use their wisdom to solve conflicts among the followers. It is great to have empathy or fit in the shoes of a leader when writing your leadership essay. Sometimes, even as simple as a biography essay, a leadership essay needs to be well-organized such that there is flow and a good explanation of the traits is inevitable.

Help with Writing Leadership Essay for College

You might have read the entire article but still cannot comprehend how to write a leadership essay. It is always time to get a great leadership essay sample to understand how one is written. If, even with the leadership essay example, you cannot write the essay, you need help.

Related Reading: Descriptive essay writing process and topics .

Luckily, we have writers for hire who write various types of essays on leadership. The leadership essays we can help with include: narrative, how-to, compare and contrast, classification, exemplification, descriptive, persuasive, argumentative, and reflection essays on leadership.

You can pay our paper writers to write the best leadership essays for school. If you are doing an MBA leadership essay, you can always consult with our writers for the best insights and advice.

Even with this ultimate guide for writing a leadership, things can get thick. Getting help with writing college essays is not illegal. Get a great homework helper or an assignment helper from our website to help you write a custom leadership essay, today!

Gradecrest is a professional writing service that provides original model papers. We offer personalized services along with research materials for assistance purposes only. All the materials from our website should be used with proper references. See our Terms of Use Page for proper details.

How to write an essay about leadership

Leadership essays, or essays where you are asked about your work as a leader in your school or community, are not as common as you might imagine. Given all of the emphasis schools and clubs put on leadership roles and titles, essays asking students to dive deeply into this work are actually pretty rare in college applications. That said, it is important to consider leadership very broadly! You do not need to be the President or Founder of a club to write an effective essay for one of these prompts. In fact, sometimes the less common considerations and definitions of “leadership” can make for more compelling essays.

Example Leadership Essay Questions:

• U of California: Describe an example of your leadership and a way that you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time.
• U of Texas: How do you show leadership in your life? How do you see yourself being a leader at UT Austin?

LET'S BREAK DOWN THE ESSENTIAL POINTS YOU NEED TO HIT WHEN RESPONDING TO THIS SUPPLEMENT:

Leadership is more than titles – it is important, when you consider questions like these, that you reflect on activities where you have contributed to an accomplishment and learned something (about yourself, about your community). In fact, it would be a more powerful essay to reflect on a leadership contribution that was not connected to a title of leadership, but where you learned something important, than to reflect upon your activity where your leadership title is big “in name only.”

Sometimes leadership happens within your family – you do not need to limit your focus to leadership that happens during your school day.

You can consider this essay happening in two distinct ways: narrative structure – where you present a challenge you faced in a leadership role, actions you did that had an impact, and lessons you learned (skills you gained); OR montage structure – where you take on two different activities that both taught you a common lesson about leadership. Don’t muddle these together! Decide whether you want to write linearly (and chronologically in time) about one activity or if you want to write non-linearly about one leadership lesson.

THINGS TO AVOID:

Try to stay away from topics where your leadership takes the reader on a familiar journey. If you want to write about your leadership on an athletic team, that is wonderful, but try to avoid an essay about how your leadership of your team during The Big Game contributed to (winning/losing) The Big Game and the team becoming closer and being “one-strong-team.” Does that feel familiar to you? That’s because college admissions folks will have read thousands of essays that tell this type of story. If you select a common team to lead, take your essay in an uncommon direction.

Avoid lengthy introductions that take away from your word count and don’t actually support your essay response.

Avoid overemphasis on one aspect that detracts from your ability to talk about the other aspects of your story. In other words, if you spend half of your words outlining the challenge you faced, you only have ¼ of the remaining words to discuss your actions and ¼ to discuss the lessons you learned. This is not a good balance!

ADDITIONAL TIPS AND TRICKS:

• What did you do?
• What problems did you solve?
• What lessons did you learn?
• What impact did you have?
• How have you applied these lessons?

Answering these questions (and in this order) actually builds you an outline for this essay!

Do you have an extracurricular activity where the character count really limits you in terms of describing your work and impact? Consider using this essay to further highlight your contributions!

Do you have an extracurricular activity that speaks directly toward your intended major or field of study? This might be a great time to make your application stand out by sharing your leadership and contributions to this field! What problems have you solved? How can you use this prompt to share these solutions?

Elise holds a BA in Political Philosophy from Williams College and an MEd in Administration & Social Policy from Harvard. She has spent the past twenty years working in top-tier independent schools.

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Essay Samples on Leadership

What type of leader i am: examining my leadership.

What type of leader are you? This question delves into the unique qualities, values, and approaches that define my leadership style. As a leader, I recognize that my actions and decisions influence others, and understanding my leadership style is crucial for effective collaboration and impact....

• Leadership Styles

How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

Becoming an effective leader requires more than just holding a position of authority; it entails embodying qualities that inspire and guide individuals toward shared goals. Whether leading a team, an organization, or a community, effective leadership is marked by the ability to foster collaboration, motivate...

• Effective Leadership

How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

Leadership is a multifaceted skill that involves guiding and inspiring individuals or groups toward a common goal. While leadership styles may vary, there are essential qualities and practices that define effective leadership. In this essay, we will explore how to be a good leader, discuss...

Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

Are leaders born or made? This age-old question has ignited debates, discussions, and exploration into the realms of leadership. The inquiry into whether leadership is an innate trait or a cultivated skill has intrigued scholars, practitioners, and curious minds. This essay delves into the heart...

• Leadership Development

Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

Successful leaders possess distinct traits and qualities that set them apart. One such leader is Barack Obama, who exemplifies several key leadership characteristics. Inspirational communication, unwavering conviction, and a willingness to take risks are among the qualities that have contributed to Obama's success. Furthermore, Obama's...

• Barack Obama
• President of The United States

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Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

Everybody can be a leader. Nevertheless, I feel that not every individual can lead effectively. I also believe that it is not a position but a process. Leadership is an action to influence other people to move and accomplish the same goal. Leaders are ineffective...

• Leadership and Management

Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

This reflective essay is an analytical look into my leadership experience not only as a leader but also as a member of a group. I specifically adopted the situational approach and the path-goal theory when presented with different leadership challenges hence the adoption of changing...

My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

I acquired leadership skills from early adulthood based on my experiences in church and my family. I developed organisational, resilience and other leadership skills which have been honed over the years. My leadership skills continued in secondary school when I started volunteering and campaigning against...

What Is Leadership For You

It is a general term that can have very different meanings with broader possibilities and scales associated with it, and it goes through some evolution with constant permutations and combinations that go on forever. It starts from ancient times and then into the Middle Ages...

Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

Dedication, strength, honor, and integrity, are just a few of the descriptive words that can be used to define a leadership role. Accountability, knowledge, as well as integrity are words used to help describe professionalism. Notice how the words used to describe these roles are...

The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

For countless millennia, we had witnessed the birth of several societies and organizations that had flourished from successful leadership. Today, in modern businesses you could immediately tell how the leadership it had evolved into at present and the leadership it had decades earlier. Take for...

• Personal Qualities

The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

My leadership philosophy is established about the need for a leader to encourage and inspire to do what motivates them. It can be accomplished by a leader and at the same time attaining the goals and the task of the team, department, institution, or corporation...

• Personal Beliefs

Chelladurai's Model Of The Leadership

The model that is used for leadership in sports would be the Chelladurai's model of leadership. Chelladurai's model is a framework which builds on research from non-sporting settings in order to analyze effective leadership in sport. The fundamental target of the leader is to achieve...

Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

Since the beginning of people’s lives, everyone makes choices and decisions which gradually define a person itself. It is often difficult to identify whether the decision was good or bad because each person has a different level of awareness of the importance. Some things which...

Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

Jeffrey Preston Bezos is an American technology entrepreneur and the founder, CEO, and president of Amazon.com. Since high school, he has had an interest in computer science which led to him pursuing a degree in electrical engineering and computer science from Princeton University in 1986....

Management Vs Leadership: The Good And The Bad Of Being A Manager

Being a manager is a job. Being a leader is a role. Increasingly companies are seeing that you need both skills for an effective work environment. In the article, “What Leaders Really Do” by John Kotter, John highlights the differences between a leaders and managers,...

Ender's Game Character Analysis Essay

A mission that decides the destiny of humanity, its survival or obliteration, is a challenge many will succumb to. Failure is not an option. Ender’s Game, a science fiction novel written by Orson Scott Card, tells the story of Andrew “Ender” Wiggin who fights in...

• Ender's Game

The Rule of Charlemagne: The Development of Europe Under Successful Leadership

“Right action is better than knowledge; but in order to do what is right, we must know what is right.”- Charlemagne Charlemagne, also known as Charles I, Charles the Great and the Father of Europe was an important Germanic figure in medieval times and has...

• Charlemagne

The Benefits and Disadvantages of Transformational Leadership Style

Transformational Leadership deals with the motivation, inspiration, and encouragement of the personnel in order to carry out the innovative and creative change. This change directly helps the company in the growth and allows the scope for development. This leadership style is based on improving the...

• Charismatic Leadership

What Makes a Leader Charismatic

Leadership is a dense genre that had remained under debate regarding the difference in opinions of the definition and components of leadership, and either it is intrinsic quality or learned behavior. Despite all the debate, Leadership can be contributed as a personal impact that is...

The Influence of Mansa Musa's Leadership

The most important aspects of this topic would be the importance of Mansa rebuilding the Mali empire. After he helped rebuild the empire they were more powerful and had a more important standing within society. The emperor who came to make a difference within their...

My Motivation to Obtain the Darwin T. Turner Scholarship

The Darwin T. Turner Scholarship is a program of diversity and leadership initiatives. Hello, my name is Simratdeep Kaur and I believe I should be a Turner Scholar because I show great potential in the future. I have maintained great academics, participated in many school...

• Scholarship

What Does Being Inducted into National Honor Society Mean to Me

From the time I was inducted into National Junior Honor Society in seventh grade, I had always dreamed of the day when I would walk across the stage to become a part of National Honor Society. I have been continuously determined to do my very...

• National Honor Society

The Four Tenets of National Honor Society I Exemplify in My Everyday Life

Induction into the National Honor Society validates academic goals that I have worked extremely hard towards thus far. Membership would not only help maintain my academic performance, but assist me in accomplishing further goals of my school career. Getting accepted into NHS has been a...

A Brave Leader: The Success of Rosa Parks Leadership

Refusing to give up your seat on the bus; a seemingly trivial decision in the goings-on of everyday life. Maybe one would be considered rude, or irritate others – but beyond that, the effects of the refusal would seem relatively insignificant. How is it then,...

• Racial Segregation

Implementation of Leadership and Personal Development Planning in South Africa

Introduction Post-1994, the dream of the masses (previously disadvantaged groups), was a vision of self-governance, prosperity, equality, liberation and a sense of belonging and patriotism. Most of all, the yoke of Apartheid was demolished, it was a new future that held promise, a better life...

• Personal Development Planning

The History of Syrian Leadership and Its Impact on the State of a Country

Syria became one of the most discussed and controversial countries in the world in recent years due to its ongoing armed conflict. Millions of Syrians escaped from their homeland looking for a shelter and a better future abroad causing internal conflicts in highly developed countries...

The Concept of Leadership and Mother Teresa as Its Vivid Illustration

Leaders have the power and the intellect behind the organization, and they have the capability to influence the ones working for the company to accomplish and reach the company’s goal. According to Patel (2017), a strong manager or leader must reach and develop eleven traits...

• Mother Teresa

Investigating the Losses and Leadership Positions in Starbucks

The Starbucks brand started in 1971 by opening its to begin with store area in Seattle, Washington. Within the 1970s and 1980s, Starbucks Corporation experienced victory within the U.S. market. By 1987, Howard Schultz purchased Starbucks after serving for 5 years within the operation division...

The Humor Style Suitable for Leadership Positions

Throughout this report, the main topic in focus will be the Leader Humor Style. The definition of humor is not straightforward, “Over the years, researchers have been trying to arrive at one definition of humour which is both comprehensive and universal. All their efforts have...

The Results Of My S.M.A.R.T. Leadership Experience

Leadership, S.M.A.R.T. goals, and the Seven Habits profile are all interconnected in many ways. Throughout the course of this paper I will address the results of my Seven Habits profile, servant leadership, and make S.M.A.R.T. goals. They will assist me in becoming a better leader...

• Emotional Intelligence

The Definition of Leadership: Barack Obama's Presidency

Leadership can mean various things a success, power, efficiency, andintelligence. Among other qualities. However, leadership is taken into accountwhen the leader or the person who is the heads of a movement has the abilityto influence others and make a positive impact on the world around...

Leadership Is My Strong Side

Mustering the courage, penetrating the challenge, and engendering the creativity are the abilities to define myself as a visionary leader. After the head of Corporate Social Responsibility of PT Pertamina Region VII awarded me as the best presenter in Pertamina Technology Challenge, an opportunity as...

• About Myself

The Importance of Good Ethics and Leadership in Society

One of the most important, yet least understood phenomena on earth is leadership. The research was done to investigate leadership traits, activities, behaviour, and processes; yet, until Burns (1978), a few researchers were able to distinguish between leadership that is "transactional" and leadership that is...

• Human Behavior

Change Management in Organizations Dependency on Leadership

This paper seeks to establish how change can be effectively introduced to the challenging global business environment of today. However, to establish this, one has to first understand what a change management strategy is and to critically analyze the key composition of an ideal change...

• Change Management

Analysis Of Individual Aspects Of Leadership

The first factor for business success is empowering leadership. Leadership has taken companies to its peak of success. This report will look into the leadership style of Sandberg in the different companies she had worked. How her leadership skills influenced and impacted the people she...

Application Of Engineering Leadership To Improve Group's Performance

This case occurred during a practical lab session where my group and I were tasked with a graded lab report based on that session’s experiment. That week’s experimental procedure was knowledge-intensive and rigorous, requiring a good understanding of that week’s lecture content while involving many...

• Engineering

Best Way For Society To Prepare It's Youth For Leadership

The provided memo brings a lot of questions to mind. These need to properly addressed before jumping to the conclusion that increasing the advertising budget will help increase the attendance of people in movies produced by Super Screen Movie Production Company. Firstly, the memo talks...

• Modern Society

Classic Leadership And Organization Dilemmas

The main challenge of any organization is to perform tasks in the right time. If they cannot perform it within the prescribed time, their ongoing work can be interrupted. Therefore, if the job is to be executed at a given time, it is necessary to...

• Organizational Behavior

Jim Davis Case Study Analysis: The Problem Of Leadership And Power

Leadership and power have a fine line in which they were most effectively together. In that relationship it is important that a good sense of credibility is established in order to achieve and maintain a status. The problem at hand is how Jim is going...

Leadership – The Art Of Managing People

The capacity to sort out a gathering of individuals or an organization is called leadership. The individual who directs the gathering is characterized as a Leader. Despite the fact that the bigger fault and less credit come to them, a pioneer is the foundation of...

Leadership And Management In International Hospitality Business

Introduction Leadership includes giving the data, information, and techniques to understand that vision, and organizing and adjusting the clashing interests of all individuals and partners. Be that as it may, the initiative has changed after some time and has made numerous difficulties for the individuals...

• Hospitality
• Marketing Management

Leadership In Different Aspects Of Life

Introduction Leadership is defined to be the action of leading a group of people or an organization. In the coaching profession, coaches lead their teams. If you were to ask me what my personal definition and general philosophy of leadership is, I would say, “Leadership...

• Personal Life

The Challenges in the Leadership School: Stepping out of the Comfort Zone

I applied to leadership school and I was told it was going to easy but boy was I wrong. As soon we got on the bus things turned for worse. First, all phones were confiscated as we got on the bus then we to be...

Leadership Style And Influence Of Two Historical Figure

This is an extensive study of leadership styles and scope of influence of 2 historical figures of Nepal. “Siddhartha Gautama (Gautama Buddha) and Prithivi Narayan Shah. They can be seen as an effective and influential leader known to whole world. I found difference in their...

Leadership Theories And Personal Evaluation

Trait Theory Of the eight trait theories presented in the textbook I feel that I possess predominantly the desire to lead, honesty, integrity and emotional intelligence. In most jobs that I have been employed, I often find myself thinking of ways that the manager could...

Psychology Of Work: Organizational Leadership Theories

In lieu of the changing business environments globally, companies strive to be competent enough to be able to respond to customer expectations, have sound and healthy relationships with all the stakeholders, have operations that are transparent and accountable and increase their bottom line fulfilling their...

• Social Psychology

Revitalization Through New Leadership For Success In Any Field

The topic presented here makes a very valid argument that revitalization through new leadership is crucial for success in any field, be it politics, education or government. I am in concord with the claim that those in power should graciously make way at regular intervals...

An Overview of the Five Levels of Leadership

Nowadays the word ¨leadership¨ is used in all spheres of society, from the political field to the business and religious fields. One of the modern precursors of the study of leadership is John C. Maxwell, who for years has used and taught an instrument of...

The Social Influence Of Leadership On Human

For many years, many people (scholars) have had lot of interest in leadership, there have been many debates and some occasional confusion explaining the concept of leadership or what it really means. (Bass 1981) (Northouse, P 2016) Even now, defining it is not as easy...

Value Proposition Of Investing In It Leadership

Companies that invests in IT leadership perform much better than the companies that don’t. IT Leadership development is very important for creating competition and having an upper hand over other companies. A standout amongst the most important internal features to implement change is IT Leadership...

Essay About What Leadership Means To Me

For me, leadership means not only pursue success for myself but also to motivate and empower others to do the same by setting the perfect example to follow. For me, leadership means knowing where to go, leading the right path, taking new challenges and not...

Best topics on Leadership

1. What Type of Leader I Am: Examining My Leadership

2. How to Be an Effective Leader: Guiding with Excellence

3. How to Be a Good Leader: The Path to Effective Leadership

4. Are Leaders Born or Made: the Nature vs Nurture Debate

5. Analysis of President Barack Obama as a Leader

6. Leadership and Management: My Personal Philosophy of Leadership

7. Leadership Development: Analysis of My Leadership Experience

8. My Chevening Leadership: Leadership Skills that I Developed

9. What Is Leadership For You

10. Important Role of Leadership Quality and Professionalism

11. The Meaning Of Leadership To Me: Qualities That Create A Leader

12. The Definition Of Leadership: What Does Leadership Mean To Me

13. Chelladurai’s Model Of The Leadership

14. Example Of Effective Leadership In Jeff Bezos Life Path

15. Leadership Style Of Jeff Bezos

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Writing College Essays That Showcase Your Leadership Skills

Whats Inside?

Why leadership skills matter in college essays, identifying your leadership qualities, showcasing leadership in your personal statement, crafting a compelling leadership narrative, overcoming challenges, tips for a strong leadership college essay.

​ A lot of students find it hard to write college essays. It's your chance to say hello, talk about your experiences, and make yourself stand out from the other thousands of candidates. The task gets even harder when you need to write a college essay that shows off your leading skills. This piece will talk about how important leadership skills are in college essays and show you how to write an essay that really shows off your leadership skills.

College admissions officers are interested in more than just your grades. They also want to know what makes you a good student all around. Leadership skills are very important because they show that you can make a difference on campus and do well in many areas of college life.

Your leadership skills are like a shining beacon in your college essay, guiding admissions officers toward a deeper understanding of your potential. In the middle of this paragraph, consider seeking guidance and support from an online essay writing service at https://papersowl.com/last-minute-essay where help for students, provided by professionals, can elevate your essay to its full potential. These skills demonstrate your ability to not only excel academically but also to make a positive impact on campus life. College admissions teams seek students who can contribute meaningfully to their academic community, and showcasing your leadership qualities can significantly boost your chances of acceptance.

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It's important to know what kind of boss you are before you start writing your essay. Just think about the times in your life when you stepped up, moved others, or did something good. The main idea of your essay will be these events.

Leadership in Extracurricular Activities

Bring attention to the clubs, sports, or groups you belong to. Talk about any leadership jobs you've had, like being the captain of a sports team, the president of a club, or a mentor to younger students.

Academic Leadership

Talk about what you've brought to the academic world . This could mean running study groups, planning educational events, or helping other students.

Leadership in Community Involvement

If you've done volunteer or community service, stress how your guidance made other people's lives better. Tell stories that show how dedicated and important you are.

Pay attention to the following things to write an interesting essay:

Be Authentic

Honesty is valued by admissions officers. Write about real-life events that show how you lead and how you've grown as a person.

Highlight Specific Experiences

Give specific examples of good guidance instead of making general claims. Describe events and problems, as well as your part in solving them.

Explain Your Impact

Show how your leadership made the people around you better. Whether it was your friends, the community, or a group, explain what your deeds meant.

Dealing with Humility

It's important to show that you're a leader, but it's also important to talk about times when you failed and learned from it or asked for help. Admissions officers like people who are humble.

Handling Setbacks

Talk about any setbacks you encountered on your way to becoming a leader and how you kept going. Committees that decide who gets in want to see that you are strong and flexible.

Start Early

Start writing your essay early so you have time to come up with ideas, make drafts, and make changes. Having articles written quickly might not show your best work.

Seek Feedback

Let your teachers, peers, or mentors read your writing. Giving you helpful feedback can help you improve your essay and get rid of any mistakes.

Revise and Edit

Make sure your essay is free of grammar mistakes and runs well by proofreading it several times. A well-edited essay shows that you are a professional.

Your essay is a great way to show how much you care about being a star on your college application. You can write an essay that stands out by focusing on your unique traits, sharing real experiences, and showing how you have made a difference. Always begin early, ask for help, and improve your work. Your chances of getting into the college of your dreams will go up if you write a college essay that shows off your leadership skills.

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• How to Structure a Leadership Essay (Samples to Consider)

Leadership is a complex concept, but it’s essential for boosting your career. That’s why a leadership essay focuses on applying the theoretical models and concepts of successful management to real-life situations. 

If you don’t know where to start writing such a paper, please read on for professional tips!

What Is Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a paper that analyzes leadership concepts and their application to real-life situations that may involve everyday business management, crisis situations, and other scenarios. 

Every essay on leadership is about defining a concept. Then, it’s either comparing it to similar management tools or proving that it’s useful (or not).

While some students enjoy writing such papers, other learners hate them. The below samples will come in handy, no matter which group is yours.

What Does Leadership Mean to You? (Essay Sample)

It is one of the most popular topics for a leadership essay. If you need to write a paper like that, ask yourself:

• Who is a good leader?  
• What style do they use?  
• What are the situations when they might switch styles?

You may take a more personal approach to such an essay if your professor allows you to. In the example below, you will see the academic approach to this topic. It analyzes three leadership styles to discover which one corresponds to the meaning of leadership if one thinks of it as guidance and support.

Why I Want to Participate in a Leadership Program (Essay Sample)

It’s another example of a popular topic. Such papers often have a meaning beyond the classroom since they may decide whether you plan to participate in a specific program. It’s critical to make them as effective and compelling as possible.

A personalized approach is the best when it comes to essays like this. In the example below, you will see the paper that relies on individual beliefs and a personal life story to explain why it’s so important for the specific student to participate in the chosen program.

How to Write a Leadership Essay

Like every other essay, this paper has an introduction, several body paragraphs, and a conclusion summarizing your thoughts. (1) The most important part of the introduction is the final sentence,  aka  a thesis statement. That’s where you state your claim to prove or develop in your leadership essay.

Each body paragraph should correspond to the purpose of your essay. To ensure you don’t stray from the aim you’ve established in the thesis statement, write the topic sentences for all your paragraphs in the outline . In simple words, write the first sentence of every paragraph to define its development in advance and see if you cover everything you need.

And now, to the conclusion:

Its most essential element is thesis restatement or the first sentence of that paragraph. It’s not just paraphrasing your thesis; it’s also considering the new information you’ve discovered while writing the essay.

Structure :

• Introduction (End it with a thesis statement.)
• Body paragraphs (Each one starts with a topic sentence.)
• Conclusion (Start it with a thesis restatement.)

Understand the purpose of a leadership essay

When starting to write, think about why you’re creating this paper. Before you sit down and type the words, think about the ideas you want to convey and their meaning in your life:

Can this essay teach you to take responsibility? Or maybe will it help you understand how to be a leader in crisis situations? When you’ve answered the “why” question, begin outlining.

Build a strong thesis

Always start with your thesis statement. It will help incorporate your answer to that notorious “why” question into your essay. Once done, you can plan out the rest of the paper and start working on the body paragraphs as soon as you finish the introduction.

There’s another important tip —don’t rush into writing the conclusion before you finish everything else!

It might seem like a good idea to create a thesis statement and thesis restatement right off the bat. However, you’ll find yourself with more refreshing ideas after completing all the research and thinking necessary for the introduction and each body paragraph.

Decide on a structure; format accordingly

Even if your essay about leadership seems not so formal, and you can use personal pronouns, you still need a clear structure.

The best way to write any academic paper is to keep your introduction and conclusion as short as possible. (But no shorter than three sentences and four lines of text). 

Another important tip is to try making all your body paragraphs equal in length. That way, you’ll give the same attention to all the vital points of your essay.

Ready to Write Your Essay on Leadership Now?

Hopefully, this article has helped you understand the most critical elements of a leadership essay. 

Remember the structure, grammar, and appropriate academic style to create a top-level paper. Please don’t forget to answer the “why” question and remember  why  you’re writing. Then you’ll impress everyone with your results!

References:

• https://lsa.umich.edu/onsf/news-events/all-news/directors-blog/writing-leadership-essays.html
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January 31, 2018

Are You A Leader?

Of course you are – but do you know how to present those impressive leadership skills and experiences in your application essay?

For many applicants, writing the “leadership essay” is one of the most challenging aspects of the application process, mainly because the concept of leadership is so tough to define. It’s easy to say that you have “strong leadership skills,” but what does that really mean? Does that mean that you led a team of 400 to reach unobtainable, lofty goals? And if you haven’t done that, then does that mean your chances of showing leadership are nil? Certainly not.

Leadership comes in all shapes and sizes. It’s not always easy to seek out or decipher one’s leadership experiences, but it’s essential that you do so if you want to nail this essay and convey to the admissions team that you are a motivated, goal-oriented, leadership-driven individual.

The tips found in Leadership in Admissions will help you grasp the concept of leadership and its many facets, identify those traits in yourself, and then – finally – write about it effectively.

And it’s free! Download your copy of Leadership in Admissions today!

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15 Creative Ways to Showcase Leadership in College Applications

By Eric Eng

Highlighting leadership in college applications is essential for standing out among applicants, as it showcases your ability to lead and innovate. Colleges value students who can contribute significantly to their community, viewing leadership as a sign of future success. Creative methods such as narrative essays, digital portfolios, and descriptions of community service projects offer a comprehensive view of your abilities.

In this guide, we’ll explore creative ways to showcase leadership in college applications, emphasizing the importance of various techniques in demonstrating your potential to make a significant impact.

Creative Ways to Showcase Leadership in College Applications

Incorporating leadership skills into college applications can significantly enhance a student’s profile, especially when tied to extracurricular activities or specific experiences that naturally showcase leadership qualities.

Here are 15 creative ways to highlight leadership experiences in your college applications:

1. Narrative Essays

Narrative essays are a powerful medium for sharing personal experiences and insights, particularly when recounting a leadership challenge and its associated lessons. When writing narrative essays for college applications, focus on telling a story about a time you faced a leadership challenge. 

Describe the situation, what you did, and the outcome clearly and honestly. It’s important to share what you learned from the experience, showing how it helped you grow as a leader and as a person. Use vivid and descriptive language to create a clear picture for your readers, making sure to highlight your thought process and how the experience has prepared you for future obstacles. This approach shows colleges your ability to lead, reflect, and learn from your experiences.

2. Digital Portfolios

Creating a digital portfolio is an effective way to showcase your leadership projects and achievements to college admissions visually. Start by selecting a clean, professional template on a platform that allows you to upload various media types, such as images, documents, and videos. Include projects where you’ve taken a lead role, detailing the objectives, your contributions, and the impact of each project. 

Make sure to also reflect on what each experience taught you about leadership and how it has prepared you for future endeavors. Furthermore, keep the navigation intuitive and the content concise, ensuring that each element of your portfolio directly illustrates your leadership skills and achievements. This digital compilation complements your written application, providing a tangible showcase of your leadership journey.

3. Leadership Project Case Studies

When incorporating leadership project case studies into your college application, focus on mentioning specific projects where you played a pivotal leadership role. Begin by outlining the project’s goals, the challenges you faced, and the strategies you employed to overcome them. Emphasize your personal involvement, highlighting the decisions you made, the teams you led, and the innovative solutions you introduced.

Moreover, it is crucial to discuss the outcomes of the project, including both its successes and areas for improvement, and reflect on the lessons learned through the process. This demonstrates your leadership capabilities and your ability to think critically, solve problems, and learn from experience, painting a comprehensive picture of your leadership style and its impact.

4. Video Supplement Submissions

One of the creative ways to showcase leadership in your college application is through video supplement submissions. Top universities like the University of Chicago , Brown University , and Bowdoin College give applicants the chance to submit video supplements with their applications, offering a platform for a short self-introduction. This format allows you to present leadership experiences and personal stories in a way that highlights your individuality and leadership qualities.

While each school may have slightly different expectations for these submissions, aim for a concise presentation, around 2-3 minutes, ensuring the video has clear audio and visuals. Be genuine, leveraging this opportunity to showcase your creativity, personality, and leadership depth in a way that traditional essays might not fully capture.

5. Peer Recommendations

Including peer recommendations in your college application offers a unique and valuable perspective on your leadership abilities. Unlike traditional recommendations from teachers or counselors, those from your peers provide insight into your collaborative and leadership skills from the viewpoint of those who work and interact with you directly. They can speak to your ability to lead by example, resolve conflicts, and motivate others towards a common goal.

These testimonials can vividly illustrate your interpersonal skills , adaptability, and the impact you have on your peers, giving admissions committees a fuller picture of your character and leadership style. Incorporating peer recommendations highlights your confidence in your own leadership capabilities and your willingness to be seen through the eyes of your equals.

6. Social Media Campaigns

Incorporating social media campaigns into your college application is one of the creative ways to showcase leadership, highlighting your ability to influence and engage effectively. By detailing your involvement in designing, executing, and leading social media initiatives—whether for social causes, school events, or community projects—you showcase your skills in digital communication, strategic planning, and public engagement. 

Highlight the goals of the campaign, your role in achieving them, and the impact of your work, such as increased awareness, community involvement, or fundraising successes. This reflects your ability to lead in the digital age and your understanding of leveraging online platforms for positive change, offering a modern perspective on leadership that is highly relevant in today’s connected world.

7. Entrepreneurial Ventures

Highlighting entrepreneurial ventures in your college application is a dynamic way to showcase your leadership and initiative. Share about the startups or business projects you’ve created and managed. This demonstrates your ability to identify opportunities and take risks and your skills in strategic planning, problem-solving, and team leadership. 

Discuss the conception, development, and operational challenges of your venture, emphasizing the innovative solutions you employed and the venture’s impact, whether in terms of growth, community benefit, or lessons learned. This not only illustrates your entrepreneurial spirit but also conveys your readiness to tackle complex challenges and lead with vision and determination, qualities that colleges highly value in prospective students.

8. Community Service Leadership

Showcasing your involvement in community service leadership within your college application underscores your commitment to positive social change and your ability to mobilize and inspire others toward a common goal. By highlighting specific projects you’ve organized or led—a local clean-up, a fundraising event for a charitable cause, or a community education program—you illustrate your skills in planning, team coordination, and effective communication. 

Share the objectives of the project, your role in its execution, and the tangible impact your leadership had on the community. This reflects your philanthropic values and also demonstrates your practical leadership abilities, showcasing how you’ve applied your skills to benefit others and make a measurable difference in your community.

9. Leadership in Arts and Culture

Creative ways to showcase leadership in college applications often include demonstrating leadership within the field of arts and culture. Whether you’ve directed a play, organized a music concert, curated an art exhibition, or spearheaded a cultural festival, these roles highlight your ability to conceptualize, coordinate, and bring creative visions to life. 

Presenting your involvement in these activities showcases not only your organizational and project management skills but also your capacity to inspire and unify people around artistic and cultural expressions. It emphasizes your leadership in fostering environments where creativity and culture flourish, underlining your potential to contribute to the vibrant cultural community on a college campus.

10. Athletic Leadership

Athletic leadership extends far beyond the title of team captain and plays a significant role in college applications by showcasing qualities such as sportsmanship, teamwork, and mentorship. When you detail your experiences in guiding younger teammates, organizing team activities, or leading by example both in and out of the game, you highlight your ability to inspire, unite, and elevate those around you. 

These actions demonstrate your commitment to the team’s success, personal integrity, and the positive influence you wield, qualities that colleges admire. By reflecting on these experiences, you show that your leadership capabilities can transcend the playing field and contribute to a collaborative and supportive community on campus.

11. Academic Mentorship

Showcasing leadership through academic mentorship, tutoring, or facilitating study groups highlights your commitment to fostering educational growth and academic excellence among peers. This involvement demonstrates not just your mastery of the subject matter but also your ability to communicate knowledge effectively, encourage others, and create a supportive learning environment.

By detailing your experiences in helping peers understand complex concepts, improving their academic performance, or organizing group study sessions, you illustrate your leadership in promoting collaborative learning and academic success. Such activities reflect your dedication to community upliftment through education, showcasing qualities of patience, empathy, and the ability to motivate and inspire, which are highly valued by colleges.

12. Innovation in School Clubs

Taking on leadership roles in school clubs that drive innovation and positive change is one of the most powerful and creative ways to showcase leadership in college applications. Whether you’ve introduced new technologies to a robotics club, spearheaded sustainability efforts in an environmental group, or revitalized a student organization with fresh ideas and activities, these roles highlight your ability to see opportunities for improvement and act on them. 

Talk about how you’ve led your peers in implementing innovative projects or transforming club dynamics, which shows your leadership skills and your commitment to making a meaningful impact. This approach demonstrates your readiness to contribute to and enrich the college community with your forward-thinking mindset and proactive leadership style.

13. Leadership Workshops and Conferences

Participation in or organization of leadership workshops and conferences underscores your commitment to personal and communal growth. Some esteemed leadership programs include the National Student Leadership Conference (NSLC), University of Notre Dame Leadership Seminars , and the Bank of America Student Leaders Program . Engaging in these programs showcases your proactive approach to developing your leadership skills and your eagerness to contribute to wider discussions on effective leadership.

These leadership experiences exhibit your dedication to understanding and embodying leadership principles and your ability to network, collaborate, and share knowledge with others. Furthermore, they demonstrate your initiative in seeking opportunities for improvement and your potential to bring these insights into the college environment, fostering a culture of continuous learning and leadership excellence.

14. Volunteer Positions with Significant Responsibility

Taking volunteer positions with significant leadership responsibilities can significantly enhance your college application. If you’ve organized large events, led teams on community projects, or driven fundraising activities, these roles showcase your ability to oversee tasks, inspire team members, and deliver meaningful results. 

By sharing these experiences, you reveal your organizational skills, empathy, and dedication to positive change. These efforts reflect your readiness to embrace challenges and your capability to lead thoughtfully and efficiently, highlighting your qualities as a proactive and caring contributor to the college community.

15. Informal Leadership Experiences

Creative ways to showcase leadership also include sharing about informal leadership experiences, like managing family responsibilities. These are key components of your personal development and can significantly enrich your college application. The Common App allows you to detail these roles in the activities section . It encourages you to discuss your experiences in depth through your personal essay or the additional information section. 

You highlight crucial leadership qualities such as adaptability, responsibility, and empathy by discussing how you’ve balanced family duties, coordinated group efforts, or navigated daily challenges. Sharing these experiences provides a comprehensive view of your ability to lead in everyday situations, demonstrating your preparedness for future challenges and underscoring your inherent capacity to positively influence those around you.

Why is Leadership Experience So Important?

Why is leadership experience so important? Leadership experience is vital for personal and professional growth, especially in developing crucial skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, and communication. Engaging in leadership allows individuals to confront and navigate complex challenges, fostering their problem-solving abilities as they make critical decisions and devise strategies to achieve goals. 

In a team-oriented context, leadership experience helps refine interpersonal and teamwork skills by teaching individuals how to collaborate effectively, delegate tasks, and motivate others toward a common objective. Communication skills are also honed through leadership as individuals need to articulate their vision, inspire others, and address conflicts constructively.

Moreover, leadership experience plays a significant role in college admissions. Colleges and universities highly value applicants who have demonstrated leadership qualities because it indicates their potential to contribute positively to the campus community and beyond. Admission officers view leadership as a strong indicator of an applicant’s ability to take initiative, inspire change, and make a meaningful impact on their surroundings.

Students who have held leadership positions in clubs, organizations, or community projects are seen as individuals who are not just academically accomplished but also proactive, resourceful, and socially aware. Their leadership experience showcases their commitment to personal growth, community engagement, and a willingness to take on responsibilities beyond the classroom.

Leadership experience is crucial not just for developing skills but also as a key feature in college applications, showing a student’s ability to impact both their college and the wider community positively. It highlights a person’s leadership, adaptability, and positive contribution, enhancing their appeal for college admissions and future job prospects.

Benefits of Student Leadership

Engaging in student leadership roles offers various personal and academic benefits that contribute significantly to a student’s development and future prospects.

Firstly, stepping into leadership positions naturally bolsters self-confidence; as students navigate the challenges and responsibilities of leading, they gain trust in their abilities and decision-making skills . This newfound confidence extends beyond their leadership roles, impacting classroom participation, social interactions, and personal endeavors.

Moreover, leadership experiences require effective management of tasks and priorities, leading to enhanced time management skills. Students learn to balance academic responsibilities with extracurricular commitments, a skill that proves invaluable in higher education and professional settings.

Additionally, leadership roles enrich a student’s resume, providing tangible evidence of their initiative, problem-solving capabilities, and ability to work collaboratively. This is particularly advantageous in college applications and job interviews, where evidence of leadership can set a candidate apart from the competition.

Other key benefits of student leadership include:

• Improved Communication Skills : Leading requires clear and effective communication, both in conveying ideas and listening to others. This fosters improved interpersonal skills, essential for all areas of life.
• Expanded Professional Network : Being in leadership positions often involves interacting with professionals, community leaders, and peers, expanding a student’s network and opening doors to future opportunities.
• Increased Empathy and Emotional Intelligence: Leaders must understand and respond to the needs and feelings of others, enhancing their empathy and emotional intelligence.
• Problem-Solving Abilities : Facing and overcoming challenges is a core aspect of leadership, honing a student’s ability to think critically and solve problems creatively.
• Adaptability to Change : Leadership often requires navigating unexpected situations, which teaches students to be flexible and adaptable.

These benefits highlight the importance of student leadership in fostering personal development, enhancing academic performance, and laying the groundwork for future success. As you prepare your college application, consider exploring creative ways to showcase leadership experiences to communicate your potential and readiness for the challenges ahead effectively.

What If You Don’t Have Any Leadership Experience?

What if you don’t have any leadership experience? Suppose you are concerned about a lack of formal leadership experience. In that case, it’s important to recognize that leadership can manifest in various forms, many of which you might already possess without even realizing it.

Begin by reflecting on your personal experiences where you’ve demonstrated leadership qualities, such as initiative, problem-solving, and the ability to work effectively with others. Informal leadership can include roles like coordinating family responsibilities, leading a group project at school, or organizing a neighborhood or community event. These experiences highlight your capability to lead and influence, even without an official title or position.

Furthermore, numerous avenues are available to gain leadership experience to strengthen your college application. Getting involved in school clubs or organizations offers a direct path to leadership roles, from committee positions to executive roles like president or treasurer.

Volunteering for local community service projects or non-profits not only contributes positively to society but also allows you to take on leadership roles in the planning and execution phases. Part-time jobs , particularly those that involve supervising or training others, provide practical leadership experiences that colleges value.

Additionally, consider starting your own project or initiative that addresses a need or interest in your community. This could be anything from a recycling program to a tutoring service for younger students. Taking the initiative to create and lead such a project demonstrates entrepreneurial spirit, creativity, and the ability to mobilize and inspire others towards a common goal.

Remember, colleges are looking for evidence of your potential as a leader, which can be demonstrated through your actions and the impact you’ve made, regardless of whether you’ve held formal leadership titles.

When discussing your leadership experiences in your application, focus on specific examples of your leadership actions, the skills you developed, and the impact of your contributions . This approach will provide a comprehensive view of your leadership abilities and potential to make a significant impact in the college community and beyond.

Finding creative ways to showcase leadership in college applications can set you apart and demonstrate your potential to make a meaningful impact on campus and in future endeavors. Remember that leadership doesn’t always have to involve formal roles or titles; it can be reflected in your unique passions, projects, and contributions to your community.

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Talking about Leadership in Your College Application Essay

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It’s easy to talk about being a leader, but how do you demonstrate that in your college application essay? Here are 5 successful examples from students at UPenn , Stanford , Brown , and Columbia :

To divide all mankind into such a distinctive and witty set of classes can only be the  brainchild of someone as clever as Benjamin Franklin. Still, this classification is one of profound implications. Defining oneself amongst the movers, the movable, or the immovable can reveal one’s true character. It is with this mindset that I consider myself one that ‘moves.’ Of course, as an inherently imperfect human being I cannot deny that I have been lazy or inflexible at times; nor have I not been one to follow and let others take action for me. But I the grander scope, I am definitely one who prefers to lead and be the individual to take action or make decisions. Keep reading.  

Columbia’ 17

I watch my grinning friends troop into the auditorium. Some can sense my nervousness, and call out to me reassuringly. I wonder if our relationship will change, once I become head boy. I will no longer be able to take part in all the pranks that they wanted to pull off in senior year. I just hope they will not do something so reckless that I need to march them to the principal’s office. I realise then that I would if I had to. Read more.

I stand on the peak of a mountain, 4,867 feet above the ground, accompanied by a handful of summer camp friends. From the top of the mountain, I take in the beautiful panoramic view of the Adirondacks, unfettered by pesky clouds. The sun shines directly into my eyes, forcing me to squint. Beads of sweat drip down my forehead. Although I am tired, I feel exhilarated. This particular summit is perhaps the most significant of those I have climbed as a hiker. Continue reading.

Stanford ‘17

I felt a bead of sweat tracing its way down my forehead. My legs began to twitch, as if they knew how badly I wanted to run. I stared, in desperation, back at the nine pairs of eyes that watched my every move. For a second, I imagined my escape- sprinting down the stairs, past the faded murals on the walls, out the gate and into the street. But just for a second. Read more.  

Brownandproud

Stanford ‘15.

I walk off the stage and see my nephew running to me. He says “congratulations,” and as I look around I see my 2 parents, 2 sisters, 15 cousins, 9 aunts and 9 uncles smiling at me and clapping so loud I forget where I am. Twenty five years ago, my parents decided to leave not just Mexico City but their home, family, and culture, in pursuit of a better and brighter future for their families. My father and mother worked endlessly to bring their families over to California. I envy my father’s determination, as he gave up his teaching job in Mexico and worked 60-hour weeks for a decade to provide homes for my relatives. He was the leader, the commander of the ship guiding though the rapid current. It did not matter that we had 18 people living in our home; the most important priority was that we were together. View full profile.

Liked these essay intros? Unlock them all in one go in this leadership package . Brainstorm and think carefully about what you want to write in your personal statement and how you want to share your own, unique story. For more inspiration, AdmitSee has a database of 60,000+ successful  college applications files  waiting for you! 

About The Author

Frances was born in Hong Kong and received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown University. She loves super sad drama television, cooking, and reading. Her favorite person on Earth isn’t actually a member of the AdmitSee team - it’s her dog Cooper.

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A Full Guide On How To Create Good Leadership Essay

Attempting a leadership essay isn’t such a daunting task, provided you have a grasp of the necessary information needed for a leadership paper. To write this special essay, you’ll need to redefine what exactly an essay on leadership is, how to choose the perfect topic, what should be in the content, and how to organize and structure the paper. Let’s delve deeper!

What Is A Leadership Essay?

A leadership essay is a well-formatted, organized and specialized type of formal writing which elaborates on a generic leadership topic or a superior human figure exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals.

What Makes A Good Leader Essay?

There are some peculiarities needed to infuse in your write-up if, for example, you’re trying to learn how to write a leadership essay about yourself.

Also, if you’re just trying to produce leadership essays for college, then you’d first and foremost, learn  how to structure an essay , among other skills needed for this type of essay. Here are some qualities which can be found in a good essay about leadership.

• Choose a creative topic
• Avoid the passive voice (the active voice sounds stronger)
• Search for and study leadership essay examples
• Follow the appropriate essay style
• Focus on the essay structure
• Review the essay

How To Choose A Topic And Make A Great Title?

To choose a topic for a paper on leadership, you need to do some research on the concept of a leader (whether in the corporate industry, political society or even in the criminal world). You have to know the current leadership tendencies in organizational groups or society. You can choose to make a leader the point of your reference by explaining the consequences of their leadership abilities or inabilities.

In the body of your essay, don’t forget to mention several types of leadership styles and point out which one the subject portrays. Finally, you should not rule out making comparisons of famous leaders in the modern world or in history. An example of a great prompt for a leadership essay that deploys the comparison technique would be the leadership styles of President Trump and The Philippines’ Rodrigo Duterte as both leadership styles have been subjected to political reviews in recent times since their emergence as president of their respective countries.

Outline For A Leadership Essay

When writing a college or professional essay such as -long and short essays on leadership, planning is the key to perfection. The general outline for any essay, including leadership papers, include an introduction, the body paragraphs (which must be properly linked with transition words and/or phrases) and a recapitulating or finding-based conclusions. Here’s what your outline should look like:

Introduction

Knowing how to start a leadership essay depends on your introduction writing ability. The introduction is the gateway to the essay. Aided by punchy opening words, which are the hook, the purpose of the introduction is to draw the reader’s attention. The introduction presents the thesis statement and leaves the body paragraphs to sustain the reader’s interest.

Body Paragraphs

Having informed the readers of the topic of the essay in the introductory paragraph(s), the body paragraphs follow immediately.

Here, you can elaborate on the concept of leadership and do a meaningful interpretation of the subject – the topic or the thesis statement. Don’t forget to talk about your leadership philosophies and leadership experience in whatever capacity you might have found yourself in. Remember, people are more interested in personal experiences. They are great in helping to sustain readers’ attention.

Remember to state a thesis or hypothesis in the opening paragraphs – which is the intro. In each of the body paragraphs of the essay, try to relate your points to the thesis and use each point to prove its validity.

The conclusion is the end part of any well-structured essay. Its purpose is a no-brainer. You don’t want to leave your reader hanging by ending the essay cold turkey. Any standard essay without a conclusion is just as useless as an essay with no purpose. However, be careful not to present new ideas not mentioned in the body.

As mentioned, the conclusion serves to summarize the developed points, restate the thesis and/or present the findings. It is your last opportunity to create an impression on the reader, and this is where they take the message away. If your conclusion is weak, then we might say the essay’s objectives are not achieved.

What To Include In A Leadership Essay?

Here are some tips on what your leadership essay should include.

Your Definition Of A Good Leader And Why He Or She Is Important

Since your essay revolves around leadership and the traits of a good leader, you’ll need to define what it takes to be one. You may also take this opportunity to trash some common myths on what a leader is (i.e., a manager being confused for a leader).

For reference purposes, the concepts of leadership and being a good leader are explained:

Leadership is the quality of a leader and is that person capable of exercising a great influence on people and transmitting desire and optimism to achieve goals. A leader is a guide; someone with ideas and goals that can spread to a large group of people who still believe he or she can lead them in the right direction.

There are many types of leaders and therefore, of leadership since people generally always look for a person or group that shows them a direction to follow. You can find religious, political, social, or philosophical leadership. Leadership can be exercised in a traditional way. In many countries, there is a monarchy. The king or queen is a leader with limited political power, at least in western democracies, but still have the respect and consideration of the people. Their words continue to be heard and taken into account, especially in problematic times. There are other types of leadership that are not given by birth, such as legitimate leadership exercised by, for example, political leaders freely chosen by their people, or charismatic leaders.

In a way, charismatic leaders are what many understand as leaders since they are people who, by their way of behavior and characteristics, get many people to follow and adhere to their ideas. Some charismatic leaders can become legitimate leaders if they choose the path of politics. A traditional leader can also be charismatic. There have always been kings loved by his people more than others. But it can also be a person who prefers independent movements outside of power.

Charisma is the personal magnetism a person has. It is something very difficult to define but makes one capable of convincing others without too much effort, making people follow and trust the leading figure. Charisma can be used positively or negatively. The leaders of the most destructive sects are very charismatic people that are capable of convincing their followers of the eeriest ideas, including donating all their belongings or committing collective suicide.

Examples Of Your Leadership Style

In the content of your essay, you may consider giving an interpretation to your (or your chosen leader’s) leadership traits. Below are some examples of leadership qualities that separate a good leader from a bad leader.

What qualities are necessary for leadership

• Communication
• Emotional intelligence
• Strategic thinking
• Commitment and passion
• Knowledge and experience
• Leading by example
• Active listening
• Ability to enhance talent
• Setting goals and expectations
• People investment
• Discernment
• Concentration
• Positive attitude
• Problem-solving
• Self-discipline

Leadership Essay Example

To know how to do essay fast, you’ll need some ready-made essay examples for the sake of guidance and inspiration. You may find below a leadership essay written by Oliver Smith useful in your leadership paper.

Writing a leadership essay should be easy. A good essay on leadership starts from the hook, and the thesis statement in the introduction. The points developed in the body paragraphs help affirm the hypothesis. Finally, the conclusion offers the reader a summary through the restatement of the essay’s main idea.

As required for every essay type, your essay on leadership has to follow a definite style and format. Examples are MLA, APA, Chicago and AP styles. Take your time in choosing a creative but new topic and also in writing the content. By following this guide, everything should be as perfect as possible.

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Leadership Essay: What To Write To Put Your Best Foot Forward

EssayEdge > Blog > Leadership Essay: What To Write To Put Your Best Foot Forward

Because schools are looking for applicants who will make a contribution, it is becoming increasingly common for programs to specifically ask for essays on leadership. In this type of essay, the admissions officers are asking you to go beyond your resume, CV or activities list and provide them with a meaningful example that not only demonstrates your skills as a leader but reflects your values, ability to manage setbacks, and resilience in overcoming dilemmas. Therefore, I created these tips to guide you in writing the kind of leadership essay that will help you get noticed in the admissions process.

Table of Contents:

Choose an anecdote where you played a significant role

If you haven’t decided how to write a leadership essay. Your best anecdote may not necessarily be one where you were at the helm. Just because you didn’t have the title of President, Coordinator or Leader doesn’t mean that you didn’t take a strong leadership role in the project. The admissions officers are looking for results, and that means a situation where you were able to ensure outcomes, overcome obstacles, foster team cohesiveness, and exceed expectations. When brainstorming for your leadership essay, think more about the criteria of leadership rather than the title. The title and introduction to leadership essay will come up in your mind as soon as you understand what you want to write about.

Tackle dilemmas

An essay where you were in charge and everything went smoothly doesn’t make for the most compelling narrative. Instead, focus on anecdotes where you had to face tough choices. This could refer to interpersonal situations regarding assigning tasks, making budgetary decisions that might have displeased certain team members or even superiors, navigating contract negotiations between parties that did not trust each other or even dealing with unethical behaviors. Show the admissions officers that you can persevere despite setbacks and find a way forward to realize success in your endeavors.

Acknowledge the contribution of others

This is the most common pitfall that I see in leadership essays. Yes, a personal statement should be personal. However, when writing about leadership, it is impossible to demonstrate this if you write as if no one else was part of the situation. Be gracious in giving praise to team members for their insights, loyalty, and hard work. Let the admissions officers envision you as someone who can inspire others to collaborate and work as a cohesive whole to achieve common goals.

Need help? Check out EssayEdge editing services:

Highlight organization skills and interpersonal acumen

Depending on your personality type and individual leadership style, applicants tend to focus on either the technical aspects of leadership or the more interpersonal ones. In creating your leadership essay, remember to include both in a way that is as balanced as possible. Usually, I will recommend applicants write an opening paragraph that sets the stage, a paragraph about technical aspects such as assigning tasks and coordinating resources, a third paragraph that discusses obstacles encountered in the project, and then a concluding paragraph. The two middle paragraphs should be approximately the same length. By following this basic outline, applicants are sure to cover all bases and formulate a leadership essay that has a strong logical flow from start to finish.

Check some leadership application essay examples to understand what exactly has to be written in your paper.

Reflect on what you would have done differently

If, given the opportunity to do it again, you would have done everything exactly the same, I would advise writing about a different situation. Anecdotes where everything works out perfectly don’t typically provide the admissions officers with the information that they need to help them make a choice about your application. They will want you to engage in self-reflection either in the penultimate paragraph or the concluding paragraph. The admissions officers want to see both growth and willingness to grow. For this reason, be sure to discuss ways that you would like to continue to develop your personal leadership style so that you will be a more prepared and effective leader in the future.

Make a difference. That’s what you should do to be sure that your essay will be noticed by the admissions board. The combination of your writing skills and our guidelines must help you craft a winning paper. Keep in mind that you can always find an assistant on our essay proofreading service, trust proofreading them, and submit a high-quality leadership essay.

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Home — Essay Samples — Business — Management — Leadership

Leadership Essay Examples

Prompt examples for leadership essays, leadership styles.

Discuss different leadership styles, such as autocratic, democratic, transformational, and servant leadership. What are the characteristics and benefits of each style, and when is each style most effective?

Leadership and Communication

Analyze the importance of communication in effective leadership. How does effective communication contribute to a leader's ability to inspire, motivate, and guide a team or organization?

Leadership Challenges and Adversity

Discuss how effective leaders navigate challenges and adversity. How do they handle crises, setbacks, and conflicts, and what strategies do they employ to overcome obstacles?

Leadership and Ethical Decision-Making

Examine the role of ethics in leadership. How do ethical principles guide a leader's decision-making process, and why is ethical leadership crucial for building trust and integrity?

Leadership in the Workplace

Discuss leadership within the context of the workplace. How do effective leaders motivate employees, foster teamwork, and create a positive organizational culture?

Leadership and Change Management

Explore how leaders manage change and innovation within organizations. What strategies do they employ to lead teams through transitions and adapt to evolving circumstances?

Analyzing The Character of Snowball in George Orwell's "Animal Farm"

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Leadership Qualities of Eleanor Roosevelt

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The Importance of Leadership and Influencing Qualities

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The Role of Leadership in Everyday Life

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Leadership is the ability of an individual or a group of individuals to influence and guide followers or other members of an organization.

There are seven primary leadership styles: autocratic, authoritative, pacesetting, democratic, coaching, affiliative, Laissez-Faire.

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Your chance of acceptance, your chancing factors, extracurriculars, leadership college essay examples.

Hey there! I'm a junior in high school, and I'm starting to think about my college essays. I want to write about my leadership experiences but I need some inspiration. Does anyone have any examples of successful college essays that talk about leadership and can give me ideas on how to structure mine?

Hi! It's awesome that you're starting to think about your college essays early, and writing about leadership experiences can be a great topic. You can indeed find an example of a leadership essay, written in response to one of the UC system's Personal Insight Questions, on CollegeVine's blog: https://blog.collegevine.com/university-of-california-essay-examples. The post also contains analysis of what the writer did well, and any aspects that could have been made even better.

I can also give you some general examples of topics that can anchor a strong leadership essay. Remember, overall the key is to pick an experience that stands out and genuinely reflects who you are.

1. Leading a community project: You could write about a time when you took the initiative to create or lead a community project, such as organizing a neighborhood cleanup or starting a tutoring program for underprivileged kids. Focus on your motivation for starting the project, the challenges you faced along the way, and how you addressed those challenges. End by reflecting on the impact the project had on both you and the community.

2. Being a mentor or role model: Think about a time when you stepped up to mentor or support someone in need, whether a younger sibling, a teammate, or a neighborhood kid. Describe the relationship and why you decided to take on that responsibility. Explain the qualities that you demonstrated in your mentorship and how you helped the person grow or overcome challenges.

3. Overcoming adversity in a leadership role: If you've been in a situation where you faced a significant challenge as a leader (such as dealing with conflict within a club or managing a complicated project), you could share that experience. Detail the situation, the steps you took to address the problem, and the outcome. Reflect on the lessons you learned from grappling with that adversity and how the experience has shaped your approach to leadership.

4. An unconventional form of leadership: Don't limit yourself to structured roles or titles. Sometimes, leadership can be demonstrated in unexpected ways, such as by guiding your friends out of the woods after getting lost on a hike. Describe an example where you took charge or influenced others, even if you didn't have an official title, and how that experience has shaped your understanding of leadership.

Remember to keep the essay focused on a specific experience rather than covering multiple instances of leadership. Add personal reflections and insights to make your essay genuinely unique. It's essential to showcase your personality, beliefs, and growth as a leader.

Finally, if you want to be sure your leadership skills are being presented clearly, consider taking advantage of CollegeVine's Free Peer Essay Review Tool, or submitting your essay for a paid review by an expert college admissions advisor on CollegeVine's marketplace. Sometimes, a more objective look at your essay from someone who doesn't already know you can give you the best sense of how well you're communicating your points.

Good luck with your essay writing!

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12 Great University of California Essay Examples

What’s covered, essay #1: leadership, essay #2: creativity, essay #3: creativity, essay #4: creativity, essay #5: talent, essay #6: talent, essay #7: academic interest, essay #8: academic interest, essay #9: community, essay #10: community, essay #11: community, essay #12: community.

The University of California system is comprised of nine undergraduate universities, and is one of the most prestigious public school systems in the country. The UC schools have their own application system, and students must respond to four of eight personal insight questions in 350 words each. Every UC school you apply to receives the same application and essays, so it’s important that your responses accurately represent your personality and writing abilities. 

In this post, we’ll share some UC essay examples and go over what they did well and where they could improve. We will also point you to free resources you can use to improve your college essays. 

Please note: Looking at examples of real essays students have submitted to colleges can be very beneficial to get inspiration for your essays. You should never copy or plagiarize from these examples when writing your own essays. Colleges can tell when an essay isn’t genuine and will not view students favorably if they plagiarized. 

Read our guide to the UC personal insight questions for more tips on writing strong essays for each of the prompts.

Prompt: Describe an example of your leadership experience in which you have positively influenced others, helped resolve disputes, or contributed to group efforts over time. (350 words)

1400 lines of code. 6 weeks. 1 Pizza.

I believe pizza makers are the backbone of society. Without pizza, life as we know it would cease to exist. From a toddler’s birthday party to President Obama’s sporadic campaigning cravings, these 8 slices of pure goodness cleverly seep into every one of our lives; yet, we never talk about it. In a very cheesy way, I find representation in a pizza maker. 

The most perplexing section of physiology is deciphering electrocardiograms. According to our teacher, this was when most students hit their annual trough. We had textbooks and worksheets, but viewing printed rhythms and attempting to recognize them in real-time is about as straining as watching someone eat pizza crust-first. Furthermore, online simulators were vastly over-engineered, featuring complex interfaces foreign to high-school students.

Eventually, I realized the only way to pull myself out of the sauce was by creating my own tools. This was also the first year I took a programming course, so I decided to initiate a little hobbyist experiment by extrapolating knowledge from Computer Science and Physiology to code and share my own Electrocardiogram Simulator. To enhance my program, I went beyond the textbook and classroom by learning directly from Java API – the programmer’s Bible.

The algorithms I wrote not only simulated rhythms in real-time but also actively engaged with the user, allowing my classmates and I to obtain a comprehensive understanding of the curriculum. Little did I know that a small project born out of desperation would eventually become a tool adopted by my teacher to serve hundreds of students in the future.

Like pizza, people will reap the benefits of my app over and over again, and hardly anyone will know its maker. Being a leader doesn’t always mean standing at the front of rallies, giving speeches, and leading organizations. Yes, I have done all three, but this app taught me leaders are also found behind-the-scenes, solving problems in unimaginable ways and fulfilling the hidden, yet crucial niches of the world. 

1400 lines of code, and 6 weeks later, it’s time to order a pizza. 

What the Essay Did Well

This is a great essay because it is both engaging and informative. What exactly does it inform us about? The answer: the personality, work ethic, and achievements of this student (exactly what admissions officers want to hear about).

With regards to personality, the pizza through-line—which notably starts the essay, ends the essay, and carries us through the essay—speaks volumes about this student. They are admittedly “cheesy,” but they appear unabashedly themself. They own their goofiness. That being said, the student’s pizza connections are also fitting and smoothly advance their points—watching someone eat pizza crust-first is straining and pizza is an invention that hardly anyone can identify the maker of. 

While we learn about this student’s fun personality in this essay, we also learn about their work ethic. A student who takes the initiative to solve a problem that no one asked them to solve is the kind of student an admissions officer wants to admit. The phrase “I decided to initiate a little hobbyist experiment” alone tells us that this student is a curious go-getter.

Lastly, this student tells us about their achievements in the last two paragraphs. Not only did they take the initiative to create this program, but it was also successful. On top of that, it’s notable how this student’s accomplishments as a leader defy the traditional expectations people have for leaders. The student’s ability to demonstrate their untraditional leadership path is an achievement in itself that sets the student apart form other applicants.

What Could Be Improved

This is a strong essay as is, but the one way this student could take it above and beyond would be to tell less and show more. To really highlight the student’s writing ability, the essay should  show the reader all the details it’s currently telling us. For example, these sentences primarily tell the reader what happened: “The most perplexing section of physiology is deciphering electrocardiograms. According to our teacher, this was when most students hit their annual trough.” 

Rewriting this sentence to show the reader the student’s impetus for creating their app could look like this: “When my teacher flashed the electrocardiogram on the screen, my once attentive physiology class became a sea of blank stares and furrowed brows.” This sentence still conveys the key details—student’s in the physiology class found electrocardiograms to be the hardest unit of the year—but it does so in a far more descriptive way. Implementing this exercise of rewriting sentences to show what happened throughout the piece would elevate the entire essay.

Prompt: Every person has a creative side, and it can be expressed in many ways: problem solving, original and innovative thinking, and artistically, to name a few. Describe how you express your creative side. (350 words)

For the past few years, participating in debate has been one of the foremost expressions of my creativity. Nothing is as electrifying as an Asian parliamentary-style debate. Each team is given only thirty minutes to prepare seven-minute speeches to either support or oppose the assigned motion. Given the immense time pressure, this is where my creativity shines most brightly.

To craft the most impactful and convincing argument, I have to consider the context of the motion, different stakeholders, the goals we want to achieve, the mechanisms to reach those goals, and so much more. I have to frame these arguments effectively and paint a compelling and cohesive world to sway my listeners to my side on both an emotional and logical level. For example, In a debate about the implementation of rice importation in the Philippines, I had to frequently switch between the macro perspective by discussing the broad economic implications of the policy and the micro perspective by painting a picture of the struggles that local rice farmers would experience when forcefully thrust into an increasingly competitive global economy. It’s a tough balancing act.

To add to the challenge, there is an opposing team on the other side of the room hell-bent on disproving everything I say. They generate equally plausible sounding arguments, and my mission is to react on the spot to dispel their viewpoints and build up our team’s case.

When two debate teams, both well-prepared and hungry for victory, face off and try to out-think one another, they clash to form a sixty-minute thunderstorm raining down fierce arguments and rebuttals. They fill up a room with unbelievable energy. After several years of debate, I have developed the capacity to still a room of fury and chaos with nothing but my words and wit.

Debate has been instrumental in shaping me into the person I am today. Because of debate, I have become a quicker and stronger thinker. Lightning quick on my feet, I am ready to thoroughly and passionately defend my beliefs at a moment’s notice.

This prompt is about creativity, though its wording emphasizes how students aren’t required to talk about typically-creative subjects. That said, it might take a bit more work and explanation (even creativity, one could say) to position a logical process as creative. This student’s main strength is the way they convince the reader that debate is creative.

First, they identify how “Asian parliamentary-style debate” differs from other forms of debate, emphasizing how time constraints necessitate the use of creativity. Then, they explain how both the argument’s content (the goals and solutions they outline) and the argument’s composition (the way they frame the argument) must be creatively orchestrated to be convincing. 

To drive home the point that debate is a creative process, this student provides an example of how they structured their argument about rice importation in the Philippines. This essay is successful because, after reading it, an admissions officer has no doubt that this student can combine logic and creativity to think intellectually.

One aspect of this essay that could be improved is the language use. Although there are some creative metaphors like the “sixty-minute thunderstorm raining down fierce arguments”, the essay is lacking the extra oomph and wow-factor that carefully chosen diction provides. In the second paragraph, the student repeats the phrase “I have to” three different times when stronger, more active verbs could have been used.

Essays should always reflect the student’s natural voice and shouldn’t sound like every word came straight out of a thesaurus, but that doesn’t mean they can’t incorporate a bit of colorful language. If this student took the time to go through their essay and ask themself if an overused word could be replaced with a more exciting one, it would make the essay much more interesting to read.

As I open the door to the Makerspace, I am greeted by a sea of cubicle-like machines and I watch eagerly, as one of them completes the final layer of my print.

Much like any scientific experiment, my countless failures in the Makerspace – hours spent designing a print, only to have it disintegrate – were my greatest teachers. I learned, the hard way, what types of shapes and patterns a 3D printer would play nice to. Then, drawing inspiration from the engineering method, I developed a system for myself – start with a solid foundation and add complexity with each iteration – a flourish here, a flying buttress there. 

But it wasn’t until the following summer, vacationing on a beach inundated with plastic, that the “aha” moment struck. In an era where capturing people’s attention in a split-second is everything, what better way to draw awareness to the plastic problem than with quirky 3D-printed products? By the time I had returned home, I had a business case on my hands and a desire to make my impact.

Equipped with vital skills from the advanced math-and-science courses I had taken in sophomore year, I began applying these to my growing business. Using my AP Chemistry analytical laboratory skills, I devised a simple water bath experiment to test the biodegradability claims of 3D-printer filaments from different manufacturers, guaranteeing that my products could serve as both a statement and play their part for our planet. The optimization techniques I had learned in AP Calculus were put to good use, as I determined the most space-efficient packaging for my products, reducing my dependence on unsustainable filler material. Even my designs were tweaked and riffed on to reflect my newfound maturity and keen eye for aesthetics.

My business is still going strong today, raising $1000 to date. I attribute this success to a fateful spark of creative inspiration, which has, and will, continue to inspire me to weave together multiple disciplines to address issues as endemic as the plastic problem. 

This essay begins with a simple, yet highly effective hook. It catches readers’ attention by only giving a hint about the essay’s main topic, and being a standalone paragraph makes it all the more intriguing. 

The next paragraph then begins with a seamless transition that ties back to the Makerspace. The essay goes on to show the writer’s creative side and how it has developed over time. Rather than directly stating “I am most creative when I am working on my business,” the writer tells the story of their creativity while working with 3-D printers and vacationing on the beach. 

It is the “aha” moment that perhaps responds to the prompt best. Here we get to see the writer create a new idea on the spot. The next two paragraphs then show the writer executing on their idea in great detail. Small and specific details, such as applying analytical laboratory skills from AP Chemistry, make the writer’s creativity come to life. 

From start to finish, this essay shows that the key to writing a stellar response to this prompt is to fill your writing with details and vivid imagery. 

The second to last paragraph of this essay focuses a bit too much on how the writer built their business. Though many of these details show the writer’s creativity in action, a few of them could be restated to make the connection to creativity clearer. The last sentences could be rewritten like so: 

Working on my business was where my creativity blossomed. In my workshop, optimization techniques that I learned in AP Calculus became something new — the basis for space-efficient packaging for my products that reduced my dependence on unsustainable filler material…

Profusely sweating after trying on what felt like a thousand different outfits, I collapsed on the floor in exasperation. The heaping pile of clothes on my bed stared me down in disdain; with ten minutes left to spare before the first day of seventh grade, I let go of my screaming thoughts and settled on the very first outfit I tried on: my favorite.

Donning a neon pink dress, that moment marked the first time I chose expression over fear. Being one of the few Asians in my grade, clothing was my source of disguise. I looked to the bold Stacy London of What Not to Wear for daily inspiration, but, in actuality, I dressed to conceal my uniqueness so I wouldn’t be noticed for my race. Wearing jeans and a t-shirt, I envied the popular girls who hiked their shorts up just a few inches higher than dress code allowed and flaunted Uggs decorated with plastic jewels, a statement that Stacy London would have viewed as heinous and my mother impractical. 

However, entering school that day and the days after, each compliment I received walking down the hallways slowly but surely broke down the armored shield. Morphing into an outlet to amplify my voice and creativity, dressing up soon became what I looked forward to each morning. I was awarded best dressed the year after that during my middle school graduation, a recognition most would scoff at. But, to me, that flimsy paper certificate was a warm embrace telling me that I was valued for my originality and expression. I was valued for my differences. 

Confidence was what I found and is now an essential accessory to every outfit I wear. Taking inspiration from vintage, simplistic silhouettes and Asian styles, I adorn my body’s canvas with a variety of fabrics and vibrant colors, no longer depriving it of the freedom to self expression and cultural exploration. I hope that my future will open new doors for me, closet doors included, at the University of California with opportunities to intertwine creativity with my identity even further.

Colorful language and emotion are conveyed powerfully in this essay, which is one of its key strengths. We can see this in the first paragraph, where the writer communicates that they were feeling searing judgment by using a metaphor: “the heaping pile of clothes on my bed stared me down.” The writer weaves other rich phrases into the essay — for example, “my screaming thoughts” — to show readers their emotions. All of these writing choices are much more moving than plainly stating “I was nervous.”

The essay moves on to tell a story that responds to the prompt in a unique way. While typical responses will be about a very direct example of expressing creativity, e.g. oil painting, this essay has a fittingly creative take on the prompt. The story also allows the writer to avoid a common pitfall — talking more about the means of being creative rather than how those means allow you to express yourself. In other words, make sure to avoid talking about the act of oil painting so much that your essay loses focus on what painting means to you.

The last sentence of the essay is one more part to emulate. “I hope that my future will open new doors for me, closet doors included…” is a well-crafted, flawlessly succinct metaphor that looks to the future while connecting the end of the essay to its beginning. The metaphors are then juxtaposed with a summary of the essay’s main topic: “intertwine creativity with my identity.” 

This essay’s main areas for improvement are grammatical. What Not to Wear should be italicized, “self-expression” should be hyphenated, and the last sentence could use the following tweaks to make it less of a run-on: “I hope that my future will open new doors for me, closet doors included, at the University of California. There, I will have opportunities to intertwine creativity with my identity even further.”

Since identity is the main topic of this essay, it would also be fitting for the writer to go into more depth about it. The immediate takeaways from the essay are that the writer is Asian and interested in fashion — however, more descriptions could be added to these parts. For example, the writer could replace Asian with Laotian-American and change a sentence in the second to last paragraph to “dressing up in everything from bell bottom jeans to oversized flannel shirts soon became what I looked forward to each morning.”

Prompt: What would you say is your greatest talent or skill? How have you developed and demonstrated that talent over time? (350 words)

Let’s fast-forward time. Strides were made toward racial equality. Healthcare is accessible to all; however, one issue remains. Our aquatic ecosystems are parched with dead coral from ocean acidification. Climate change has prevailed.

Rewind to the present day.

My activism skills are how I express my concerns for the environment. Whether I play on sandy beaches or rest under forest treetops, nature offers me an escape from the haste of the world. When my body is met by trash in the ocean or my nose is met by harmful pollutants, Earth’s pain becomes my own. 

Substituting coffee grinds as fertilizer, using bamboo straws, starting my sustainable garden, my individual actions needed to reach a larger scale. I often found performative activism to be ineffective when communicating climate concerns. My days of reposting awareness graphics on social media never filled the ambition I had left to put my activism skills to greater use. I decided to share my ecocentric worldview with a coalition of environmentalists and host a climate change rally outside my high school.

Meetings were scheduled where I informed students about the unseen impact they have on the oceans and local habitual communities. My fingers were cramped from all the constant typing and investigating of micro causes of the Pacific Waste Patch, creating reusable flyers, displaying steps people could take from home in reducing their carbon footprint. I aided my fellow environmentalists in translating these flyers into other languages, repeating this process hourly, for five days, up until rally day. 

It was 7:00 AM. The faces of 100 students were shouting, “The climate is changing, why can’t we?” I proudly walked on the dewy grass, grabbing the microphone, repeating those same words. The rally not only taught me efficient methods of communication but it echoed my environmental activism to the masses. The City of Corona would be the first of many cities to see my activism, as more rallies were planned for various parts of SoCal. My once unfulfilled ambition was fueled by my tangible activism, understanding that it takes more than one person to make an environmental impact.

One of the largest strengths of this response is its speed. From the very beginning, we are invited to “fast-forward” and “rewind” with the writer. Then, after we focus ourselves in the present, this writer keeps their quick pace with sentences like “Substituting coffee grounds as fertilizer, using bamboo straws, starting my sustainable garden, my individual actions needed to reach a larger scale.” A common essay-writing blunder is using a predictable structure that loses the attention of the reader, but this unique pacing keeps things interesting.

Another positive of this essay is how their passion for environmental activism shines through. The essay begins by describing the student’s connection to nature (“nature offers me an escape from the haste of the world”), moves into discussing the personal actions they have taken (“substituting coffee grounds as fertilizer”), and then explains the rally the student hosted. While the talent the student is writing about is their ability to inspire others to fight against climate change, establishing the personal affinity towards nature and individual steps they took demonstrate the development of their passion. This makes their talent appear much more significant and unique. 

This essay could be improved by being more specific about what this student’s talent is. There is no sentence that directly states what this student considers to be their talent. Although the essay is still successful at displaying the student’s personality, interests, and ambition, by not explicitly mentioning their talent, they leave it up to the reader’s interpretation.

Depending on how quickly they read the essay or how focused they are, there’s a possibility the reader will miss the key talent the student wanted to convey. Making sure to avoid spoon-feeding the answer to their audience, the student should include a short sentence that lays out what they view as their main talent.

At six, Mama reads me a story for the first time. I listen right up until Peter Pan talks about the stars in the night sky. “What’s the point of stars if they can’t be part of something?” Mama looks at me strangely before closing the book. “Sometimes, looking on is more helpful than actively taking part. Besides, stars listen- like you. You’re a good listener, aren’t you?” I nod. At eleven, my sister confides in me for the first time. She’s always been different, in a way even those ‘mind doctors’ could never understand. I don’t understand either, but I do know that I like my sister. She’s mean to me, but not like people are to her. She tells me how she sees the world, and chokes over her words in a struggle to speak. She trusts me, and that makes me happy. So, I listen. I don’t speak; this isn’t a story where I speak. At sixteen, I find myself involved with an organization that provides education to rural children. Dakshata is the first person I’ve tutored in Hindi. She’s also my favorite. So, when she interrupts me mid-lesson one evening, lips trembling and eyes filling with tears, I decide to put my pen down and listen. I don’t speak; I don’t take part in this story. Later, as I hug the girl, I tell her about the stars and how her mother is among their kind- unable to speak yet forever willing to listen. Dakshata now loves the stars as much as I do. At seventeen, I realize that the first thing that comes to my mind when someone asks me about a skill I possess is my ability to listen. Many don’t see it as a skill, and I wouldn’t ask them to either, but it’s important. When you listen, you see, you need not necessarily understand, but you do comprehend. You empathize on a near-cosmic level with the people around you and learn so much more than you ever thought possible. Everything is a part of something- even the stars with their ears.

The essay as a whole is an excellent example of narrative-based writing. The narrative begins with a captivating hook. The first sentence catches the reader by surprise, since it does not directly respond to the prompt by naming the writer’s greatest talent or skill. Instead, it tells a childhood story which does not seem to be related to a skill at first. This creates intrigue, and the second sentence adds to it by introducing a conflict. It causes readers to wonder why Peter Pan’s stargazing would make a six year old stop listening — hooked into the story, they continue reading.

The writer continues to create a moving narrative by using dialogue. Dialogue allows the writer to show rather than tell , which is a highly effective way to make an essay convey emotion and keep readers’ attention. The writer also shows their story by using language such as “mind doctors” instead of “psychologists” — this immerses readers in the author’s perspective as an 11 year old at the time. 

Two motifs, or recurring themes, tie the essay together: listening and looking at the stars. The last paragraph powerfully concludes the essay by explaining these themes and circling back to the introduction.

Crafting transitions is one area where this essay could be improved. The paragraph after “I nod” begins abruptly, and without any sentence to connect the writer’s dialogue at age six with her experiences at age 11. One way to make the transition smoother would be to begin the paragraph after “I nod” with “I try to be a good listener again at eleven, when my sister confides in me for the first time.”

This essay would also be more impactful if the writer explained what they aspire to do with their ability to listen in the future. While it is most important for your essay to explain how your past experiences have made you who you are in the present, looking towards the future allows admissions readers to imagine the impact you might make after graduation. The writer could do this in the last paragraph of their essay by writing the following: “Many don’t see it as a skill, and I wouldn’t ask them to either, but I find it important — especially as an aspiring social worker.”

Prompt: Think about an academic subject that inspires you. Describe how you have furthered this interest inside and/or outside of the classroom. (350 words)

I distinctly remember the smile on Perela’s face when she found out her mother would be nursed back to health. I first met Perela and her mother at the Lestonnac Free Clinic in San Bernardino where I volunteered as a Spanish translator. I was in awe of the deep understanding of biology that the medical team employed to discover solutions. Despite having no medical qualifications of my own, I realized that by exercising my abilities to communicate and empathize, I could serve as a source of comfort and encouragement for Perela and her mother. The opportunity to combine my scientific curiosity and passion for caring for people cultivated my interest in a career as a physician.

To further explore this interest, I attended a summer medical program at Georgetown University. I participated in lectures on circulation through the heart, practiced stitches on a chicken leg, and assisted in giving CPR to a dummy in the patient simulation laboratory. Every fact about the human body I learned brought with it ten new questions for me to research. I consistently stayed after each lecture to gain insight about how cells, tissues, and organs all work together to carry out immensely complicated functions. The next year, in my AP Biology class, I was further amazed with the interconnected biological systems as I learned about the relationships between the human body and ecosystems. I discussed with my teacher how environmental changes will impact human health and how we must broaden our perspectives to use medicine to tackle these issues.

By integrating environmental and medical science, we can develop effective solutions to reduce the adverse effects of environmental degradation that Perela’s mother may have faced unintentionally. I want to go into the medical field so I can employ a long-term approach to combat biology’s hidden anomalies with a holistic viewpoint. I look forward to utilizing my undergraduate classes and extracurriculars to prepare for medical school so I can fight for both health care and environmental protection.

This student primarily answers the prompt in their middle paragraph as they describe their experience at a summer medical program as well as their science coursework in high school. This content shows their academic curiosity and rigor, yet the best part of the essay isn’t the student’s response to the prompt. The best part of this essay is the way the student positions their interest in medicine as authentic and unique.

The student appears authentic when they admit that they haven’t always been interested in medical school. Many applicants have wanted to be doctors their whole life, but this student is different. They were just in a medical office to translate and help, then got hooked on the profession and took that interest to the next level by signing up for a summer program.

Additionally, this student positions themself as unique as they describe the specifics of their interest in medicine, emphasizing their concern with the ways medicine and the environment interact. This is also refreshing!

Of course, you should always answer the prompt, but it’s important to remember that you can make room within most prompts to say what you want and show off unique aspects of yourself—just as this student did.

One thing this student should be careful of is namedropping Georgetown for the sake of it. There is no problem in discussing a summer program they attended that furthered their interest in medicine, but there is a problem when the experience is used to build prestige. Admissions officers already know that this student attended a summer program at Georgetown because it’s on their application. The purpose of the essay is to show  why attending the program was a formative moment in their interest.

The essay gets at the  why a bit when it discusses staying after class to learn more about specific topics, but the student could have gone further in depth. Rather than explaining the things the student did during the program, like stitching chicken legs and practicing CPR, they should have continued the emotional reflection from the first paragraph by describing what they thought and felt when they got hands-on medical experience during the program. 

Save describing prestigious accomplishments for your extracurriculars and resume; your essay is meant to demonstrate what made you you.

I love spreadsheets.

It’s weird, I know. But there’s something endlessly fascinating about taking a bunch of raw numbers, whipping and whacking them into different shapes and forms with formulas and equations to reveal hidden truths about the universe. The way I like to think about it is that the universe has an innate burning desire to tell us its stories. The only issue is its inability to talk with us directly. Most human stories are written in simple words and letters, but the tales of the universe are encrypted in numbers and relationships, which require greater effort to decode to even achieve basic comprehension. After all, it took Newton countless experimentation to discover the love story between mass and gravitation.

In middle school, whenever I opened a spreadsheet, I felt like I was part of this big journey towards understanding the universe. It took me a couple of years, but I eventually found out that my interest had a name: Data Science. With this knowledge, I began to read extensively about the field and took online courses in my spare time. I found out that the spreadsheets I had been using was just the tip of the iceberg. As I gained more experience, I started using more powerful tools like R (a statistical programming language) which allowed me to use sophisticated methods like linear regressions and decision trees. It opened my eyes to new ways to understand reality and changed the way I approached the world.

The thing I love most about data science is its versatility. It doesn’t matter if the data at hand is about the airflow on an owl’s wing or the living conditions of communities most crippled by poverty. I am able to utilize data science to dissect and analyze issues in any field. Each new method of analysis yields different stories, with distinct actors, settings, and plots. I’m an avid reader of the stories of the universe, and one day I will help the world by letting the universe write its own narrative.

This is an essay that draws the reader in. The student’s candid nature and openness truly allows us to understand why they are fascinated with spreadsheets themself, which in turn makes the reader appreciate the meaning of this interest in the student’s life. 

First, the student engages readers with their conversational tone, beginning “I love spreadsheets. It’s weird, I know,” followed shortly after by the phrase “whipping and whacking.” Then, they introduce their idea to us, explaining how the universe is trying to tell us something through numbers and saying that Newton discovered “the love story between mass and gravitation,” and we find ourselves clearly following along. They put us right there with them, on their team, also trying to discover the secrets of the universe. It is this bond between the student and the reader that makes the essay so engaging and worth reading.

Because the essay is focused on the big picture, the reader gets a sense of the wide-eyed wonderment this student experiences when they handle and analyze data. The student takes us on the “big journey towards understanding the universe” through the lens of Data Science. Explaining both the tools the student has used, like R and statistical regression, and the ideas the student has explored, like owl’s wings and poverty, demonstrates how this student fits into the micro and macro levels of Data Science. The reader gets a complete picture of how this student could change the world through this essay—something admissions officers always want to see.

The biggest thing that would improve this essay is an anecdote. As it’s written, the essay looks at Data Science from a more theoretical or aspirational perspective. The student explains all that Data Science can enable, but besides for explaining that they started coding with spreadsheets and R, they provide very little personal experience working with Data Science. This is where an anecdote would elevate the essay.

Adding a story about the first data set they examined or an independent project they undertook as a hobby would have elicited more emotion and allowed for the student to showcase their accomplishments and way of thinking. For example, they could delve into the feeling of enlightenment that came from first discovering a pattern in the universe. Or maybe they could describe how analyzing data was the catalyst that led them to reach out to local businesses to help them improve their revenue. 

If you have an impactful and enduring interest, such as this student does, you will have at least one anecdote you could include in your essay. You’ll find that essays with anecdotes are able to work in more emotional reflection that make the essay more memorable and the student more likable.

Prompt: What have you done to make your community a better place? (350 words)

Blinking sweat from my eyes, I raised my chin up to the pullup bar one last time before dropping down, my muscles trembling. But despite my physical exhaustion at the end of the workout, mentally, I felt reinvigorated and stronger than ever.

Minutes later, I sat at my computer, chatting with my friends about our first week in quarantine. After listening to numerous stories concerning boredom and loneliness, it struck me that I could use my passion for fitness to help my friends—I jumped at the chance to do so. 

After scouring the internet for the most effective exercises and fitness techniques, I began hosting Zoom workouts, leading friends, family, and anyone else who wanted to join in several fun exercises each week. I hoped these meetings would uplift anyone struggling during quarantine, whether from loneliness, uncertainty, or loss of routine. I created weekly workout plans, integrating cardio, strength, and flexibility exercises into each. Using what I learned from skating, I incorporated off-ice training exercises into the plans and added stretching routines to each session. 

Although many members were worried that they wouldn’t be able to complete exercises as well as others and hesitated to turn their cameras on, I encouraged them to show themselves on screen, knowing we’d only support one another. After all, the “face-to-face” interactions we had while exercising were what distinguished our workouts from others online; and I hoped that they would lead us to grow closer as a community. 

As we progressed, I saw a new-found eagerness in members to show themselves on camera, enjoying the support of others. Seeing how far we had all come was immensely inspiring: I watched people who couldn’t make it through one circuit finish a whole workout and ask for more; instead of staying silent during meetings, they continually asked for tips and corrections.

Despite the limitations placed on our interactions by computer screens, we found comfort in our collective efforts, the camaraderie between us growing with every workout. For me, it confirmed the strength we find in community and the importance of helping one another through tough times.

This essay accomplishes three main goals: it tells a story of how this student took initiative, it explores the student’s values, and it demonstrates their emotional maturity. We really get a sense of how this student improved their community while also gaining a large amount of insight into what type of person this student is.

With regards to initiative, this student writes about a need they saw in their community and the steps they took to satisfy that need. They describe the extensive thought that went into their decisions as they outline the planning of their classes and their unique decision to incorporate skating techniques in at-home workouts.

Additionally, they explore their values, including human connection. The importance of connection to this student is obvious throughout the essay as they write about their desire “to grow closer as a community.” It is particularly apparent with their final summarizing sentence: “For me, it confirmed the strength we find in community and the importance of helping one another through tough times.”

Lastly, this student positions themself as thoughtful when they recognize the way that embarrassment can get in the way of forming community. They do this through the specific example of feeling embarrassment when turning on one’s camera during a video call—a commonly-felt feeling. This ability to recognize fear of embarrassment as an obstacle to camaraderie shows maturity on the part of this applicant. 

This essay already has really descriptive content, a strong story, and a complete answer to the prompt, however there is room for every essay to improve. In this case, the student could have worked more descriptive word choice and figurative language into their essay to make it more engaging and impressive. You want your college essay to showcase your writing abilities as best as possible, while still sounding like you.

One literary device that would have been useful in this essay is a conceit or an extended metaphor . Essays that utilize conceits tend to begin with a metaphor, allude to the metaphor during the body of the paragraph, and end by circling back to the original metaphor. All together, it makes for a cohesive essay that is easy to follow and gives the reader a satisfying opening and conclusion to the essay.

The idea at the heart of this essay—working out to strengthen a community—would make for a great conceit. By changing the anecdote at the beginning to maybe reflect the lack of strength the student felt when working out alone and sprinkling in words and phrases that allude to strength and exercise during the essay, the last sentence (“For me, it confirmed the strength we find in community and the importance of helping one another through tough times”) would feel like a fulfilling end to the conceit rather than just a clever metaphor thrown in. 

Prompt: What have you done to make your school or your community a better place? (350 words)

The scent of eucalyptus caressed my nose in a gentle breeze. Spring had arrived. Senior class activities were here. As a sophomore, I noticed a difference between athletic and academic seniors at my high school; one received recognition while the other received silence. I wanted to create an event celebrating students academically-committed to four-years, community colleges, trades schools, and military programs. This event was Academic Signing Day.

The leadership label, “Events Coordinator,” felt heavy on my introverted mind. I usually was setting up for rallies and spirit weeks, being overlooked around the exuberant nature of my peers. 

I knew a change of mind was needed; I designed flyers, painted posters, presented powerpoints, created student-led committees, and practiced countless hours for my introductory speech. Each committee would play a vital role on event day: one dedicated to refreshments, another to technology, and one for decorations. The fourth-month planning was a laborious joy, but I was still fearful of being in the spotlight. Being acknowledged by hundreds of people was new to me. 

The day was here. Parents filled the stands of the multi-purpose room. The atmosphere was tense; I could feel the angst building in my throat, worried about the impression I would leave. Applause followed each of the 400 students as they walked to their college table, indicating my time to speak. 

I walked up to the stand, hands clammy, expression tranquil, my words echoing to the audience. I thought my speech would be met by the sounds of crickets; instead, smiles lit up the stands, realizing my voice shone through my actions. I was finally coming out of my shell. The floor was met by confetti as I was met by the sincerity of staff, students, and parents, solidifying the event for years to come. 

Academic students were no longer overshadowed. Their accomplishments were equally recognized to their athletic counterparts. The school culture of athletics over academics was no longer imbalanced. Now, everytime I smell eucalyptus, it is a friendly reminder that on Academic Signing Day, not only were academic students in the spotlight but so was my voice.

This is a good essay because it describes the contribution the student made to their community and the impact that experience had on shaping their personality. Admissions officers get to see what this student is capable of and how they have grown, which is important to demonstrate in your essays. Throughout the essay there is a nice balance between focusing on planning the event and the emotions it elicited from this student, which is summed up in the last sentence: “not only were academic students in the spotlight but so was my voice.”

With prompts like this one (which is essentially a Community Service Essay ) students sometimes take very small contributions to their community and stretch them—oftentimes in a very obvious way. Here, the reader can see the importance of Academic Signing Day to the community and the student, making it feel like a genuine and enjoyable experience for all involved. Including details like the four months of planning the student oversaw, the specific committees they delegated tasks to, and the hundreds of students and parents that attended highlights the skills this student possesses to plan and execute such a large event.

Another positive aspect of this essay is how the student’s emotions are intertwined throughout the essay. We see this student go from being a shy figure in the background to the confident architect of a celebrated community event, all due to their motivation to create Academic Signing Day. The student consistently shows throughout the essay, instead of telling us what happened. One example is when they convey their trepidation to public speaking in this sentence: “I walked up to the stand, hands clammy, expression tranquil, my words echoing to the audience. I thought my speech would be met by the sounds of crickets.”

Employing detailed descriptions of feelings, emotions, fears, and body language all contribute to an essay that reveals so much in subtle ways. Without having to be explicitly told, the reader learns the student is ambitious, organized, a leader, and someone who deeply values academic recognition when they read this essay.

While this essay has many positives, there are a couple of things the student could work on. The first is to pay more attention to grammar. There was one obvious typo where the student wrote “the fourth-month planning was a laborious joy”, but there were also many sentences that felt clunky and disjointed. Each and every essay you submit should put your best foot forward and impress admissions officers with your writing ability, but typos immediately diminish your credibility as a writer and sincerity as an applicant.

It’s important to read through your essay multiple times and consider your specific word choice—does each word serve a purpose, could a sentence be rewritten to be less wordy, etc? However, it’s also important you have at least one other person edit your essay. Had this student given their essay to a fresh set of eyes they might have caught the typo and other areas in need of improvement.

Additionally, this student began and ended the essay with the smell of eucalyptus. Although this makes for an intriguing hook, it has absolutely nothing to do with the actual point of the essay. It’s great to start your essay with an evocative anecdote or figurative language, but it needs to relate to your topic. Rather than wasting words on eucalyptus, a much stronger hook could have been the student nervously walking up to the stage with clammy hands and a lump in their throat. Beginning the essay with a descriptive sentence that puts us directly into the story with the student would draw the reader in and get them excited about the topic at hand.

Prompt: What have you done to make your school or community a better place? (350 words) 

“I wish my parents understood.” Sitting at the lunch table, I listened as my friends aired out every detail of their life that they were too afraid to share with their parents. Sexuality, relationships, dreams; the options were limitless. While I enjoyed playing therapist every 7th period, a nagging sensation that perhaps their parents should understand manifested in me. Yet, my proposal was always met with rolling eyes; “I wish they understood” began every conversation, but nothing was being done beyond wishing on both sides. 

I wanted to help not just my friends but the countless other stories I was told of severed relationships and hidden secrets. Ultimately, my quest for change led me to BFB, a local nonprofit. Participating in their Youth Leadership program, I devised and implemented a plan for opening up the conversation between students and parents with the team I led. We successfully hosted relationship seminars with guest speakers specializing on a range of topics, from inclusive education to parental pressure, and were invited to speak for BFB at various external events with local government by the end of my junior year. Collaborating with mental health organizations and receiving over $1,000 in funding from international companies facilitated our message to spread throughout the community and eventually awarded us with an opportunity to tackle a research project studying mental health among teens during the pandemic with professors from the University at Buffalo and UC Los Angeles. 

While these endeavors collectively facilitated my team to win the competition, the most rewarding part of it all was receiving positive feedback from my community and close friends. “I wish my parents understood” morphed into “I’m glad they tried to understand”. I now lead a separate program under BFB inspired by my previous endeavors, advancing its message even further and leaving a legacy of change and initiative for future high schoolers in the program. As I leave for college, I hope to continue this work at the University of California and foster a diverse community that embraces understanding and growth across cultures and generations.

The essay begins with a strong, human-centered story that paints a picture of what the writer’s community looks like. The first sentence acts as a hook by leaving readers with questions — whose parents are being discussed, and what don’t they understand? With their curiosity now piqued, readers become intrigued enough to move on to the next sentences. The last sentence of the first paragraph and beginning of the second relate to the same topic of stories from friends, making for a highly effective transition.

The writer then does a great job of describing their community impact in specific detail, which is crucial for this prompt. Rather than using vague and overly generalized language, the writer highlights their role in BFB with strong action verbs like “devised” and “implemented.” They also communicate the full scope of their impact with quantifiable metrics like “$1,000 in funding,” all while maintaining a flowing narrative style.

The essay ends by circling back to the reason why the writer got involved in improving their community through BFB, which makes the essay more cohesive and moving. The last sentences connect their current experiences improving community with their future aspirations to do so, both in the wider world and at a UC school. This forward-looking part allows admissions officers to get a sense of what the writer might accomplish as a UC alum/alumna, and is certainly something to emulate.

This essay’s biggest weakness is its organization. Since the second paragraph contains lots of dense information about the writer’s role in BFB, it would benefit from a few sentences that tie it back to the narrative in the first paragraph. For instance, the third sentence of the paragraph could be changed like so: “Participating in their Youth Leadership program, I led my team through devising and implementing a plan to foster student-parent conversations — the ones that my 7th period friends were in need of.”

The last paragraph also has the potential to be reorganized. The sentence with the “I wish my parents understood” quote would be more powerful at the end of the paragraph rather than in the middle. With a short transition added to the beginning, the new conclusion would look like so: “ Through it all, I hope to help ‘I wish my parents understood’ morph into ‘I’m glad they tried to understand’ for my 7th period friends and many more.” 

I drop my toothbrush in the sink as I hear a scream. Rushing outside, I find my mom’s hand painfully wedged in the gap between our outward-opening veranda doors. I quickly open it, freeing her hand as she gasps in relief. 

As she ices her hand, I regard the door like I would a trivia question or math problem – getting to know the facts before I start working on a solution. I find that, surprisingly, there is not a single protrusion to open the door from the outside! 

Perhaps it was the fact that my mom couldn’t drive or that my dad worked long hours, but the crafts store was off-limits; I’ve always ended up having to get resourceful and creative with whatever materials happened to be on hand in order to complete my impromptu STEM projects or garage builds. Used plastic bottles of various shapes and sizes became buildings for a model of a futuristic city. Cylindrical capacitors from an old computer, a few inches in height, became scale-size storage tanks. 

Inspired by these inventive work-arounds and spurred on by my mom’s plight, I procure a Command Strip, a roll of tennis racket grip, and, of course, duct tape. I fashion a rudimentary but effective solution: a pull handle, ensuring she would never find herself stuck again.

A desire to instill others in my community with this same sense of resourcefulness led me to co-found “Repair Workshops” at my school – sessions where we teach students to fix broken objects rather than disposing of them. My hope is that participants will walk away with a renewed sense of purpose to identify problems faced by members of their community (whether that’s their neighbor next door or the planet as a whole) and apply their newfound engineering skills towards solutions.

As I look towards a degree and career in engineering and business, these connections will serve as my grounding point: my reminder that in disciplines growing increasingly quantitative, sometimes the best startup ideas or engineering solutions originate from a desire to to better the lives of people around me.

This essay is a good example of telling a story with an authentic voice. With its down-to-earth tone and short, punchy paragraphs, it stands out as a piece of writing that only the author could have written. That is an effective way for you to write any of your college essays as well.

After readers are hooked by the mention of screaming in the first sentence, the writer immerses the readers in their thinking. This makes the essay flow very naturally — rather than a first paragraph of narrative followed by an unrelated description of STEM projects, the whole essay is a cohesive story that shows how the writer came to improve their community. 

Their take on community also makes the essay stand out. While many responses to this prompt will focus on an amorphous, big-picture concept of community, such as school or humanity, this essay is about a community that the writer has a close connection to — their family. Family is also not the large group of people that most applicants would first attach to the word “community,” but writing about it here is a creative take on the prompt. Though explaining community impact is most important, choosing the most unique community you are a part of is a great way to make your essay stand out.

This essay’s main weakness is that the paragraph about Repair Workshops does not go into enough detail about community impact. The writer should highlight more specific examples of leadership here, since it would allow them to demonstrate how they hope to impact many more communities besides their family. 

After the sentence ending with “fix broken objects rather than disposing of them,” a new part could be added that shows how the writer taught students. For example, the writer could tell the story of how “tin cans became compost bins” as they explained the importance of making the world a better place. 

Then, at the end of the paragraph, the writer could more concretely explain the visions they have to expand the impact of Repair Workshops. A good concluding sentence could start with “I too hope to use engineering skills and resourcefulness to…” Adding this extra context would also make the paragraph transition better to the final paragraph of the essay, which somewhat abruptly begins by mentioning the writer’s previously unmentioned career interests in engineering and business.

Where to Get Feedback on Your UC Essays

Want feedback like this on your University of California essays before you submit? We offer expert essay review by advisors who have helped students get into their dream schools. You can book a review with an expert to receive notes on your topic, grammar, and essay structure to make your essay stand out to admissions officers. In fact, Alexander Oddo , an essay expert on CollegeVine, provided commentary on several of the essays in this post.

Haven’t started writing your essay yet? Advisors on CollegeVine also offer expert college counseling packages . You can purchase a package to get one-on-one guidance on any aspect of the college application process, including brainstorming and writing essays.

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Leadership Examples for Essay

Hello Reddit community,

I'm almost done with my application process. The only thing that's left is for me to write a supplemental essay for one of the colleges that I'm applying to. The problem however, is that the essay topic talks about my leadership experience, but I don't think that I have any leadership experience. And I feel like colleges wouldn't ask high school students about leadership experiences because most high school students don't have a lot of leadership experience. So, can someone give me leadership examples? I feel like I may be overthinking things and the type of leadership that they're talking about isn't as complex as the type of leadership that I'm thinking of. So, what are leadership examples that are common for most high schoolers?

And thanks.

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Exploring purpose-driven leadership: theoretical foundations, mechanisms, and impacts in organizational context.

1. Introduction

2. theoretical perspectives on leadership: an evolutionary analysis, 3. purpose-driven leadership: a new perspective on leadership, 4. methodology.

• Conceptualization of Purpose-Driven Leadership.
• Importance of Purpose-Driven Leadership in contemporary research and practice.
• Theoretical foundations of Purpose-Driven Leadership.
• Mechanisms and impacts of Purpose-Driven Leadership.
• The role of purpose in navigating times of VUCA.
• Measurement approaches for purpose in leadership.

5. Findings

5.1. purpose-driven leadership research landscape, 5.2. purpose, organizational purpose, and purpose-driven leadership.

• Consistency: Purpose does not manifest as a fleeting intention but is grounded in its enduring nature ( Gavarkovs et al. 2023 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ; Knippenberg 2020 ). Demonstrating resilience against ephemeral shifts in external conditions or situational variances, purpose consistently maintains its vigor and steadfastness ( Rindova and Martins 2023 ; Trachik et al. 2020 ). It acts as a constant lodestar amid the dynamic terrains of both personal and professional spheres ( Bhattacharya et al. 2023 ; Qin et al. 2022 ; Rindova and Martins 2023 ).
• Generality: In contradistinction to a limited, task-centric objective, purpose is distinguished by its comprehensive scope ( By 2021 ; Gavarkovs et al. 2023 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ). Instead of being confined to proximate tasks or circumscribed aims, purpose spans a more expansive purview ( By 2021 ; Gavarkovs et al. 2023 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ). This ubiquity of purpose guarantees its applicability across multifarious contexts ( By 2021 ; Gavarkovs et al. 2023 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ).
• Two dimensions: - Internal Dimension: The internal dimension of purpose refers to the individuals’ intrinsic motivations and impulses, which are connected to their sense of purpose ( Crane 2022 ; Knippenberg 2020 ). It serves as a source of meaning, supporting the rationale of every decision, direction, or objective delineated ( Handa 2023 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ). This introspective aspect emphasizes the congruence and alignment between an individual and their purpose ( Gavarkovs et al. 2023 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ). - External Dimension: Beyond its internal impact, the influence of purpose extends to the external environment, through the efforts generated by the individual within their context ( By 2021 ; Gavarkovs et al. 2023 ; Handa 2023 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ). This is underpinned by the individual’s commitment to promoting positive change in a broader environment ( Ocasio et al. 2023 ; Qin et al. 2022 ).
• Daily embodiment and expression: Purpose manifests as a palpable instantiation in quotidian activities since it is part of every decision and action made ( By 2021 ; Jasinenko and Steuber 2023 ). Such perennial articulation provides consistency and influences daily activities ( Bronk et al. 2023 ; Hurth and Stewart 2022 ; Ocasio et al. 2023 ).

5.2.1. Attributes of Purpose-Driven Leadership

5.2.2. purpose-driven leadership construct conceptualization, 5.3. theoretical foundations of purpose-driven leadership, 5.4. mechanisms and impacts of purpose-driven leadership, 5.4.1. potential antecedents, 5.4.2. potential outcomes, 5.4.3. potential mediators, 5.4.4. potential moderatos, 5.5. purpose-driven leadership as a guiding light, 5.6. measurement approaches for purpose-driven leadership, 6. discussion, 7. conclusions, supplementary materials, author contributions, data availability statement, conflicts of interest.

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Ribeiro, M.F.; Costa, C.G.d.; Ramos, F.R. Exploring Purpose-Driven Leadership: Theoretical Foundations, Mechanisms, and Impacts in Organizational Context. Adm. Sci. 2024 , 14 , 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14070148

Ribeiro MF, Costa CGd, Ramos FR. Exploring Purpose-Driven Leadership: Theoretical Foundations, Mechanisms, and Impacts in Organizational Context. Administrative Sciences . 2024; 14(7):148. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14070148

Ribeiro, Marco Ferreira, Carla Gomes da Costa, and Filipe R. Ramos. 2024. "Exploring Purpose-Driven Leadership: Theoretical Foundations, Mechanisms, and Impacts in Organizational Context" Administrative Sciences 14, no. 7: 148. https://doi.org/10.3390/admsci14070148

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• Career Advice

Dealing With the Ghosts of Leaders Past

Jacob A. Brown, Jeffrey S. Bednar, C. K. Gunsalus and Nicholas C. Burbules describe how to identify and manage the lingering influence of some leaders’ legacies.

By  Jacob A. Brown , Jeffrey S. Bednar , C.K. Gunsalus and Nicholas C. Burbules

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One of the challenges for new incoming academic leaders can be coping with the legacies of leaders who preceded them. These legacies can be favorable or not; they can be grounded in realities or exaggerated, for better or worse, through the unreliable lens of memory. Consider some varieties:

• The egregious and public mistakes of a past academic leader cast a shadow on the actions of a current leader, who fears being accused of making similar mistakes.
• A former dean set up a monthly faculty lunch seminar that is thriving more than ever, but it costs a considerable amount of money in an increasingly tight budget.
• A charismatic, beloved department head is replaced by another who, though competent, focuses more on numbers and output than on collegial relationships; people often comment on the “good old days.”
• The remnants of a nasty rivalry between two retired faculty members has left a fissure in an academic unit, with people still taking sides and spewing quiet vitriol toward the other faction.
• A department chair wonders how, after they retire, they might contribute to the department they helped build—and whether those who remain will want their opinions.
• A new faculty member hears of a former leader with an ill temper and autocratic style that people can’t seem to move on from.

These situations and others may invite questions for new leaders seeking to find their own way. For example:

• Is it possible that leaders from the past wield too much influence after stepping down?
• Should past leaders step in to help a current leader address long-standing problems? If so, when and how?
• What should a new leader do about the lingering influence of a negative, toxic leader?

At the National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics (NCPRE), our goal is to help academic leaders build cultures of excellence in rigorous, practical ways. One element of leadership effectiveness can be to understand the influence of past leaders, the historical context in which they worked and the things they did that resonated (or didn’t) with people currently at the institution. By being aware of the historical background you walk into as a new leader, you can absorb important lessons that will help you to lead change and avoid some leadership land mines.

If you are stepping into this role from within the department, you probably know much of this history already; if you are new to the unit, you will need to ask questions and do a lot of listening. In fact, either way you should do a lot of listening. Let’s unpack how current leaders can look back on and learn from—or sometimes move on from—the legacies of former leaders.

Looking Back

Academic units have a sustained, longitudinal identity: Experiences of the past can continue to resonate, for better or worse, and set a context for current challenges. For example, what if your department’s budget is reduced and you need to redistribute resources? Or what if a faculty member engages in misconduct and needs to receive formal discipline? Sometimes, information about how prior leaders dealt with such situations may provide some perspectives for how to engage with current problems—as well as indicate missteps to avoid. Ask yourself:

• Has this situation happened before? Who handled it, and how was it handled? How can I learn more?
• Is anyone in the department still in contact with previous leaders? Are they willing and/or able to meet? Are they likely to be reliable and helpful?

The past can also provide answers to different questions that academic leaders encounter. For example, suppose your department has a culture with clear boundaries between professional and personal lives, such that colleagues rarely socialize outside of work. That may present no issue for your unit, but perhaps you or others have considered initiating departmental social activities to enable faculty and staff members to intermingle so camaraderie and morale might increase. Or perhaps your department has long-standing expectations about how people are expected to show up for meetings, accept teaching assignments or attend departmental functions. Asking questions about the history of the matter can help you to more effectively think through these norms. You might consider the following:

• What is the origin of this policy? Who authorized it, and does it remain relevant today?
• What are the implicit norms about “the way things work around here”? Do they still work today?
• Why is a given practice or artifact sacred to current members of this unit? How did it become so important or central to the unit’s culture? Is it supporting or detracting from current goals and directions?

Looking back can be an effective way for leaders to explore how to solve problems in good faith. The past offers a wealth of knowledge, and past leaders—and their policies and values—can be valuable resources for knowing how to operate in the present. As we have said, learning more about them is one of the first priorities for a new leader.

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For example, it may be that a former leader became so important to your department or institution that their memory serves as a measuring stick against which other leaders evaluate their own principles and performance. Those individuals may seem larger than life, and as their absence allows their legend to grow, they may come to be revered more and more.

Two of us, Jacob Brown, and Jeffrey Bednar, recently published a research article about a merger between two firms that became complicated as two former leaders—both long since retired—continued to exert influence on current employees. In summary, leaders who are seen as embodying what the organization stands for—its values and identity—and who instill admiration in the people they lead qualify to become “organizational ghosts.” Memories of those leaders are woven into the tapestry of the organization in ways that are visible (e.g., putting up plaques or pictures, keeping their name on a website) and less visible (e.g., sharing stories, following established norms and practices). Further, past interactions with such leaders can come up in discussions about current concerns as remembrances (e.g., “I remember when Sergio said this …”) or imagined scenarios (e.g., “I wonder what Sarah would have done here …”).

Indeed, research s hows that leaders who come to embody a group’s values and identity can become particularly influential—or even become ghosts who haunt current members in their work . And although that may be inspirational in developing our own values and identity as leaders, it may not be fair or appropriate to compare ourselves to past leaders, as we operate in distinct contexts. Again, consider the following:

• Which leaders retain a lingering influence in your unit—who are the ghosts? Why did they become so revered in this unit? What did they do? What values and priorities did they represent? In what situations, and from whom, are you hearing stories about their tenure and actions?
• What kind of influence do these ghosts leave behind? Is it positive, negative or mixed?
• How is my leadership style different from the former leader? How might it be perceived as a result?

Sometimes a lingering former leader needs to take some distance from a unit they no longer lead. Other times, even though a leader may have moved on from the department, their insight and experience may still be useful.

For example, suppose your department is relatively new, and the former leader served as the originating department chair. They very likely encountered many situations that you and your colleagues will find valuable. How, then, can you encourage that former leader to stick around in a constructive way without impeding progress on your current priorities? And how do you determine when and how to ask a popular former leader to step away, or when and how to seek to invite them back in? In making such judgments, consider these questions:

• What knowledge or expertise do you not have that a former leader does? Is the leader willing and available to help?
• What will it take for you and the former leader to be on the same page? If you disagree about important topics, what is the nature of this disagreement? How will you reconcile the differences between your perspectives? What merit does their perspective have?

Of course, past leaders do not always present an example that new leaders should follow. For example, suppose a former department chair made clear and obvious mistakes that hurt your department’s reputation, and now you are left to pick up the pieces. Perhaps a former leader was a despot who ruled with an iron fist and whose toxic leadership instilled a culture of fear and finger-pointing in the unit. Perhaps you as the current leader need to take responsibility for the conditions that former leader caused without placing overt blame on the previous administration. Given those potential issues and many others, you might ask yourself:

• Which problems have past leaders left for us to solve? Are they solvable?
• If we want to pivot, how can we do this while being true to the perceived long-term legacy and traditions of the department?
• Do we need to create a new vision for where we are going in the future and leave some elements of the past behind?

Thus, the longitudinal view can highlight various constructive and less-than-constructive ways that former leaders exert a continuing influence on an academic department. Sometimes they are viewed ideally, as leading a golden age for the unit, and you as the current leader must find a way to cope with their idealized legacy. Other former leaders might have a difficult time letting go and seek continued influence in order to maintain their legacy, unintentionally undermining the legitimacy of the new leader. Other times, former leaders can provide valuable experience and institutional memory, and a new leader might actively seek their continued involvement. In yet other cases, former leaders did damage to the quality, morale and interpersonal dynamics of the unit, and the new leader must repair the damage and chart a new course. Staying alert to building a sense of this history and continuing to test it throughout your entry to the position and your continuing work can be a valuable asset to your leadership.

In our years of experience at NCPRE, we’ve seen many ways that a department can go awry, and deciding how to handle the legacy of a former leader can be one of them. We invite academic leaders to examine their values and the long-standing values of their units, which may spring from ghosts in the institution’s history. We also encourage you to ask yourself as the new leader some of the questions we’ve outlined. Developing and learning from leaders from the past—the good and bad—will help you to lead your academic unit more successfully and with greater confidence.

Jacob A. Brown is a postdoctoral research scholar at the National Center for Principled Leadership and Research Ethics. Jeffrey S. Bednar is an associate professor of organizational behavior and human resources at Brigham Young University. C. K. Gunsalus is the director of NCPRE, professor emerita of business and research professor at the Grainger College of Engineering’s Coordinated Sciences Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Nicholas C. Burbules is the Gutgsell Professor in the Department of Educational Policy, Organization and Leadership at the university and the education director of the center. NCPRE conducts leadership development programs for new leaders and workshops on a variety of topics, such as transforming challenged units and principled academic leadership .

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What Do Colleges Look For In An Application? 

The college application process can feel like a high-stakes race, with students vying for acceptance to their dream schools. The pressure to achieve top grades and test scores can be overwhelming, often overshadowing other important aspects of the application.

However, admissions officers are looking for more than just academic superstars. They seek well-rounded individuals who will thrive in their academic environment and contribute to the campus community. So, what exactly are colleges looking for in your application? Let’s discuss the key factors that can make your application stand out.

Table of Contents

Academic Achievement

Your academic record is undoubtedly a crucial component of your application. A strong GPA demonstrates your commitment to learning and your ability to handle a rigorous course load. Colleges typically prefer to see challenging courses, as they indicate your willingness to push yourself academically. However, it’s important to remember that your GPA is not the sole determinant of your academic potential. Colleges also consider the context of your school and the opportunities available to you.

Standardized test scores, such the Singapore-Cambridge GCE A-Level and the International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma, are another piece of the academic puzzle. While some colleges have adopted test-optional policies, many still consider scores as a factor in their admissions decisions. These scores provide a standardized measure of your academic skills and can help colleges compare applicants from different schools and backgrounds.

However, it’s important to remember that test scores are just one data point among many. To fully understand how academics play the factor in college admissions, you should look for the best college consulting services . They will help develop academic and extracurricular activities plans that will place you in a position likely to get an admission. Additionally, they can help you select a college that best fits your academic performance.

Strength of Curriculum

Colleges are interested in your grades and the rigor of your course selections. They want to see that you have challenged yourself by taking the most demanding courses available at your school. This demonstrates your intellectual curiosity and your willingness to go beyond the minimum requirements.

Choosing a strong curriculum goes beyond fulfilling graduation requirements. It involves seeking out advanced courses that align with your interests and academic goals . For example, if you’re passionate about science, you might consider taking AP Biology or Chemistry. If you excel in writing, AP English Literature could be a good fit. By opting for challenging courses, you demonstrate your readiness for college-level academics.

Beyond AP or IB courses, there may be other opportunities to enhance your curriculum. Some schools offer dual enrollment programs, allowing you to take college courses while still in high school. These programs can provide a taste of college-level rigor and potentially earn you college credit. Additionally, participating in independent study or research projects can showcase your initiative and deepen your knowledge in a specific subject area.

Essays and Personal Statements

Your essays and personal statements offer a unique opportunity to share your story and showcase your personality. These written pieces allow you to go beyond the numbers and statistics on your transcript and reveal who you are as an individual. Colleges are looking for authentic voices, thoughtful reflections, and compelling narratives.

When crafting your essays , take time to brainstorm topics that resonate with you. Think about your experiences, values, challenges, and aspirations. Choose prompts that allow you to express your unique perspective and share insights into your character. Avoid generic or clichéd responses and strive for originality and authenticity.

Your writing skills are also important in your essays. While the content is paramount, the way you express your ideas matters as well. Pay attention to grammar, sentence structure, and clarity. Consider asking a teacher, counselor, or trusted friend to review your essays for feedback. A well-written essay can leave a lasting impression on admissions officers.

Extracurricular Activities and Leadership

Your involvement in extracurricular activities provides valuable insights into your interests, passions, and character. Colleges are looking for students who are actively engaged in their school and community. While it’s tempting to list every activity you’ve ever participated in, it’s often more impactful to focus on a few activities where you’ve made a significant contribution.

When showcasing your extracurricular involvement, highlight your leadership roles and the impact you’ve made. Did you captain a sports team, lead a club, or organize a community service project? Explain how your involvement helped you develop valuable skills such as teamwork, communication, problem-solving, and time management. These skills are transferable to college and beyond.

Colleges also value students who demonstrate initiative and creativity. Did you start a new club at your school? Did you launch a fundraising campaign for a cause you care about? Did you design an innovative solution to a problem in your community? Share these examples in your application to demonstrate your ability to take initiative and make a difference.

Letters of Recommendation

Letters of recommendation provide valuable third-party perspectives on your academic abilities, character, and potential. Choose recommenders who know you well and can speak to your strengths. These could be teachers, counselors, coaches, mentors, or employers.

When asking for letters of recommendation , give your recommenders ample time to write thoughtful and detailed letters. Provide them with your resume, transcript, and any relevant information about your accomplishments and goals. This will help them tailor their letters to your specific application.

A strong letter of recommendation goes beyond generic praise. It should highlight your specific qualities and achievements, using concrete examples. For instance, a teacher might describe your insightful contributions to class discussions, your exceptional writing skills, or your ability to collaborate effectively with peers.

Demonstrated Interest

Showing genuine interest in a college can make a difference in the admissions process. Colleges want to admit students who are genuinely excited about attending their institution. You can demonstrate your interest in several ways.

Visiting the campus is an excellent way to experience the college’s atmosphere firsthand. Take a tour, attend an information session, and talk to current students. If an in-person visit isn’t feasible, explore the college’s website, virtual tours, and social media channels.

In your essays and supplemental materials, express your reasons for wanting to attend the specific college. What aspects of academic programs, campus culture, or extracurricular activities appeal to you? Be specific and connect your interests and goals to what the college offers.

Colleges are looking for students who are not only academically capable but also passionate, engaged, and well-rounded. By focusing on these key aspects of your application, you can present yourself as a compelling candidate and increase your chances of gaining admission to your dream school. There’s a college out there that’s the right fit for you – focus on being your authentic self and showcasing your unique strengths and potential.

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