Leardership Skills are a Necessity for College Success by Christopher

Leardership Skills are a Necessity for College Success by Christopher - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

In my personal life, I have never been a leader. I always have been the one to sit back and do whatever is told as opposed to taking control and delegating. Doing this throughout my first 12 years of school was a quick and easy way of coasting along and getting through school. However, college is a completely different animal. If you play your cards right, it has the potential to be the best years of your life as you focus on improving your skills in your selected major. College is so much different from high school. If you do what I did during high school and coast along, waiting for people to tell you what to do, then you have little to no chance of success in a college environment. Whether or not you have them already or need to develop them, leadership skills are a necessity to succeed in a college environment.

First of all, while college professors are very helpful in teaching the students, they are not like high school teachers. Coming from my experience, high school teachers are almost too helpful. They will still almost spoon feed the answers to students when they ask them a question. When it comes to giving instructions, high school teachers almost map out exactly what you should do down to the t. Like I said before, college professors are very helpful, but they definitely expect you to do some things on your own. You need to be able to take hold of what you need to do and need to figure things out for yourself. If you aren’t able to take hold and do things on your own, then there is little to no chance to succeed in college.

One thing that made high school easier for me was the fact that I went to a community high school, so I went to school with everyone that I grew up with and knew for my entire life. Unfortunately, not everyone you grow up with goes to the same college as you. I know for me, since I just sit back and let things happen, it is going to be very hard for me to make new friends when I go away to school. But, if one can develop leadership skills, it will be easier to make friends at school. People who put themselves out there and are willing to lead in a group are very likely to make friends with other people as they come across as confident. Making friends doesn’t seem like it’s all that important when it comes to college success, but in actuality, it is pretty important. I know this from experience within my family.

My older sister went away to school when I was still in high school. During her first semester and a half, she couldn’t get along with her roommates and often times wouldn’t go out. This led to her struggling to make friends in her first year. While it only affected her grades a little bit, it really affected her personally. She started to question whether or not she was at the right school and considered transferring. However, after this year she developed leadership skills, went out of her way and started creating groups and events on Facebook to help her make friends, and now she is going to graduate with a high level of success.

All in all, leadership skills are extremely important when it comes to success in college. The professors don’t spoon feed the answers anymore, so you have to take hold of your priorities to really succeed academically. Putting yourself out there, leading in a group and becoming confident can help you make friends, which is a lot more important in college than it may seem. If you just do what I did in high school, coast along and wait for someone to tell you to do something, then you will find it hard to have success in high school. If you can develop leadership skills, not only will you likely be rewarded academic success, but your college years could be the best of your life.