Leadership Skills: A Top Trait for College Students by Regan

Leadership Skills: A Top Trait for College Students by Regan - March 2015 Scholarship Essay

College students are so universally diverse, so it may be hard to pinpoint certain qualities to be necessary in the "whole package" of the college student. However, leadership is a key role to success in college for many different purposes. Students decide to go to college for many different reasons. These include: A) to gain a better knowledge of the world surrounding them B) to enhance their chances of finding the "perfect" career C) because they are utterly unsure of what's next after high school. To be fair, these reasons are 100% biased, yet many conversations I've had with students universally agree that--despite what reason they decided to attend college--leadership inside and outside of the classroom is or was essential to their success. Not only is leadership essential, it is, in fact, necessary.

Inside the classroom, leadership skills improve the enhancement of all learning. If one students strives to be successful by taking charge of a service learning project, many students will strive to compete or excel as well. Not only are students supposed to be leaders of classrooms, they should be the leader of their own work. Students' leadership abilities in the classroom also shine when student's accomplish the work they are assigned with precision and timeliness. If a student can lead themselves to academic achievement, his or her college career will flow much smoother than a student lacking leadership skills.

Outside the classroom, leadership skills excel in academic extracurriculars. Students who have more extracurriculars with a higher GPA tend to get into graduate school rather than students with just a shining GPA. If students take a role of leadership in a club or activity, they have a better chance of networking for success in the future. Leadership skills even shine through a student's ability to have a social life while in college. Balancing classes, exams, activities, clubs, and a social life can be exhausting, yet many students are able to achieve these goals through their leadership abilities and still succeed.

Quintessentially, without leadership skills, students lack a sense of direction for many aspects of the college career like time management, participation, and overall success.