Be Your Own Leader! by Alina

Be Your Own Leader! by Alina - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

Whether or not a student plans to be involved in the college experience, leadership skills are still necessary to be successful in college. Even if a student plans to do the bare minimum and have minimal interaction with others, no one is there to lead them. Honesty, delegation, communication, and commitment are all leadership skills needed to ultimately graduate from their college.

Honesty is a key component to leading one's self in college. Being able to honestly admit bad habits or failures instead of ignoring them will allow the person to realize what they have to change. If one is not honest with one's self, then the negative habits will continue to bring negative consequences. This could lead to not turning in assignments, skipping class, being disorganized, and eventually making it very hard-or impossible- to graduate. However, being honest can help change those habits for the better; therefore, offering better circumstances and a better college experience.

It is good to be honest, but nothing can be accomplished without delegation. No one is there hovering over students delegating what and when to do things. College students need to be able to do this for themselves. They need to have the self-control to be able to be on time, prioritize, do the work, show up to classes, and make sure they are caught up with financial and other college responsibilities. This will also be a major help if group work is assigned or during study groups. If no one delegates, then no one would know what to do which could lead to arguments, confusion, and bad grades. Thus is a leadership skill greatly used for both personal and group success.

Communication is also a skill that is simultaneously used personally and with others. Even if the student is not at all gregarious, they still need to communicate at some points. Being able to talk to professors, staff, and classmates if needed can limit the amount of tension, arguments, confusion and possible educational mistakes. Such mistakes could lead to either bad grades or no longer being able to attend that school. There could be very bad consequences that could definitely make it harder to succeed in college if communicative skills are not used.

Skills like these are great, but commitment is the glue that makes everything stick together and work. Being honest, delegating, and communicating once will have almost no effect; it must be done repetitively. Being committed to have these skills and do well in college is what will make the college experience truly successful. (This is not to mention that this type of dedication is needed to just stay in college and want to keep trying to succeed in this.) This skill is the one that allows people to hone in on the others and help them succeed on a daily bases with each good choice.

Ultimately, college is made to prepare people for the adult world, and the adult world expects things done without expecting to have others to do it for them. Succeeding in college means being able to master these skills, and all these skills are those of a leader. Each time one is honest and makes a change, delegates properly and gets a good grade, communicates well and limits the amount of confusion and miscommunication that could occur, and stays determined to stick to all this is proving they are on the path to a successful college career.