How to Write a College Essay About Leadership (with Examples!)

“How do you write a college essay about leadership, Lisa?

I’ve been starting to think about what I should write my college essays on, and I keep hearing that colleges want to see ‘leadership’. But what does that mean? And how do I write a college essay about leadership if I’m not my class president or something like that?”

It’s terrific that you’re starting to think about topics for your college essays! And yes, “leadership” is a very common topic for a college essay for lots of reasons!

Why Write a College Essay About Leadership?

The first and most obvious reason to write an essay about leadership for your college application is because quite frankly, some schools specifically ask for an essay on the topic like the University of California and the University of Texas.

Here, for example, is the UC Personal Insight Question #1:

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

Things to consider: A leadership role can mean more than just a title. It can mean being a mentor to others, acting as the person in charge of a specific task, or taking the lead role in organizing an event or project. Think about what you accomplished and what you learned from the experience. What were your responsibilities?

Did you lead a team? How did your experience change your perspective on leading others? Did you help to resolve an important dispute at your school, church, in your community or an organization? And your leadership role doesn't necessarily have to be limited to school activities. For example, do you help out or take care of your family?

Pretty straightforward, huh? In this PIQ, the UC explicitly is asking for a description of how you’ve acted as a leader and influenced others.

But even if you’re not answering an essay prompt which is explicitly asking about your leadership experience, it may still be something that you’d like to highlight for an admissions committee.

The UC PIQs include one of the many college essay prompts that ask about your leadership.

College admissions offices use the application essays to get a sense of what students would be like when they get to college: how would they interact with their fellow students, how would they contribute to campus life, how they do they problem-solve challenges, etc.

Describing a leadership experience can be an excellent way to demonstrate a lot of terrific qualities to an admissions committee!

But how do you write about that leadership experience as a strong college essay?

5 Keys to Writing a College Essay about Leadership

Bringing your unique leadership experience to your college essay is what will make it special, but here at 5 keys to making it shine in the eyes of a college admissions officer:

Write About a Leadership Experience that Accomplished Something

This is all about “showing” rather than “telling” how you are strong leader. It’s extremely ineffective to tell an admissions office that “I’m a thoughtful, problem-solving leader with excellent interpersonal skills.”

Describing a leadership experience where you demonstrated all those qualities makes for a much, much stronger essay.

The best way to do that is to pick a specific leadership experience where you accomplished something and write about that specific experience.

So for example, you may be thinking of writing about how you were class president and led student initiatives.

That may be a good place to start, but it’s really to general to be an effective essay. Instead, think of a specific initiative or campaign that you led, and write about what specifically did to lead that project successfully.

Did you solve a problem? Convince a someone to change their mind? Organize a group to do something?

In short, how did you make a difference?

Whatever you did, write about it, and that will show people what a terrific leader you are!

Here’s an of a leadership essay that did just that:

Serving on my city’s Youth Commission, I championed opportunities that would directly impact my peers. During the pandemic, many events and programs were canceled leading to an unexpected budget surplus. The solution? A scholarship program aimed to help local students with their college expenses. Yet the following year, as we started bringing back programs and activities, we faced a challenge: “How do we keep the scholarship alive amidst our other projects?” I fiercely advocated for its continuation, recognizing the value it brought. But there was some pushback, with valid concerns about the cost of the scholarships. Determined, I encouraged wise spending and negotiations with vendors for other projects. “What if,” I proposed, “we merge our heritage parade with the local farmer’s market? This would slash costs and free up funds for the scholarships.” My goal was clear: stretch each dollar, make the scholarship sustainable, and reach as many deserving students as possible.

After this, and some persuasive chats over boba, the team unanimously embraced the vision. However, our timeline was tight. We still needed to publicize the scholarship, sift through applications, and choose the winners—all before our next city council meeting in a couple of weeks. Here, we hit a snag: two commissioners disagreed over allocation criteria, academic excellence vs. overcoming hardship. Remembering peers who excelled despite adversity, I pitched: “Why not both?” We compromised on four scholarships totaling $3000, recognizing both merit and perseverance while resolving our conflict, and setting the foundation for both inclusive and merit-based scholarships.

Applications poured in. Each story was a window into a life of struggle and hope, like Leila, who, while caring for her disabled grandmother, excelled academically and dreamed of becoming a nurse. After the award ceremony, a heartfelt thanks from one of the winners, Anh, was a powerful affirmation of our efforts and our purpose. Through this experience, I realized that leadership isn't just about navigating through uncertainties; it’s about ensuring every voice can be heard and valued. In the end, it was our collective voices, opinions, and hard work that guided these scholarships to deserving students.

A college essay on leadership can be about eaching — A college essay on leadership does not need to be about a formal leadership role.

Your Leadership Role Does Not Need to Be Formal

Oftentimes, students are reluctant to write an essay on leadership because they haven’t had a formal leadership position. They haven’t led a student council or been captain of a team.

But you can still your leadership even if you never held a formal position. If you coached or mentored someone or influenced someone positively, you showed leadership.

And it really can be as simple as teaching a child how to ride a bike!

Here’s another example of a college essay on leadership:

The summer before my junior year, I was in charge of seven kids. No, they were not my own. At Pedal-Heads bike camp, I was in charge of getting 5-year-olds at Pedal-Heads bike camp successfully riding two-wheelers by the end of the week. Stepping into the role of an instructor on that first day stirred a mix of emotions within me. There was the typical blend of nerves and excitement. But I was thrilled to put into practice the lesson plans I had created the night before.

Unfortunately, Theo, Elise, Leila, John, Prithvi, Toby, and Bronwyn had other ideas. After introducing ourselves, I suddenly remembered what it was to have an attention span of 45 seconds. Theo became fascinated not with his bike but with the ants marching along the pavement. Elise found the patterns in the clouds more interesting than learning to pedal. Meanwhile, John, Prithvi, and Brownwyn played a game of who can balance on one foot the longest, forgetting the drill we were doing.

At first, I felt overwhelmed. How could I keep these kids engaged long enough to teach them anything about riding a bike? I realized that my lesson plans were not working. So, I embraced the chaos and changed my approach. I included interactive games, turning learning to balance on a bike into a fun challenge rather than a lesson, and asking them what they wanted to do. We played follow the leader on bikes, red light green light, and even imagined a race through imaginary lands. Slowly, I began to understand that being an instructor wasn't only about giving directions but connecting with these kids.

The reward came from their grasp of riding a bike and their proud smiles as they reached each milestone. Being an instructor taught me that being a leader meant flexibility, connection, and the importance of meeting people where they are. I learned that leading a group was less about rigidly sticking to a plan and more about adapting to the group's needs. Ultimately, seeing these kids pedal away confidently was more rewarding than I imagined.

Your college essay on leadership should describe your interpersonal skills. — Part of your college essay on leadership should describe how you work with others.

Focus on Your Interpersonal Skills and Working with Others

One of the major reasons that colleges ask about how you lead and your leadership experience is because they want to know how you interact with others. Can you get other people onboard with a project? Have you coached or mentored someone? Are you someone who hates working on teams or are you someone who can bring people together?

By writing about how you were able to lead others, it gives admissions offices a glimpse of how you could lead project or team in college and beyond when you launch your career. Interpersonal skills are a major factor in your success throughout your life, so give admissions offices a clear idea of how well-developed yours are.

Here’s an example of a college essay about an experience leading a reluctant team:

… At one point, the class was divided into groups and assigned a group project to pitch a product targeting a certain country to a “committee.” Being very busy at the time, I very quickly met with my assigned group members, none of whom I’d met before. We hastily divided up the project in sections for each of us to complete, and each went our separate ways.

Thinking about this now, I guess I assumed that each of us would take some initiative and collaborate offline together, but that is not what happened. When we finally did sit down and meet it was apparent that what we had was a budding disaster on our hands. Other than sharing our product and target country, the slides that each of us had produced were completely uncoordinated, and some barely matched the rubric at all.

With a little over a week to complete the project, we were running out of time. During the meeting, I started reading the rubric together with the slides we had, and it was clear the assignment had to be completely redone.

When I said as much to the group, some members of the group were not happy, of course. With busy lives and having already done a lot of work on their slides, they did not want to have to start over again, but the rest of the group and I calmly explained what the problems were and we were able to convince them that we all needed to work together to be able to turn in a good assignment. We agreed to take an aggressive approach and meet frequently over the next week and a half.

It did take a lot of work. We were meeting or talking almost every day over the next week to finish the assignment, going over what each other had done, giving feedback to each other, and rehearsing the presentation we were giving. It took a lot of positive criticism and rehearsal, but in the end, our project and presentation did really well, and I was really proud of how we all pulled together to complete it successfully.

Looking back on the experience, I realize that a major mistake that the rest of my group and I made was not realizing how much collaboration group projects really take. By not taking any time to really coordinate and establish a clear vision for the project at the beginning, we had set ourselves on the path to a total disaster.

Since that project, I think about working together as a team very differently. I know how important coming together, meeting frequently, and establishing what our group goals are. Teams really need to know where they’re going and how they’re going to get there in order to be successful. It also taught me a lot about working with others within a group, skills like project management and conflict resolution…

Writing a college essay on leadership involves talking about how you've grown as a leader. — As you write your college essay on leadership, think about how you’ve grown as a leader.

Show How Your Leadership Has Matured

One of the best ways to show how strong a leader you really are is to reflect on how you’ve grown in your leadership. After all, it’s highly unlikely that you have been a fantastic leader since babyhood. Being able to reflect on a leadership experience and write about what you learned about being a leader can show character and maturity as well as your leadership.

Here’s one example of a college essay on how one student grew as a leader:

When I was named section leader of the Baritone Saxophone section of my high school marching band, I was shocked! Me! With my lack of rhythm, questionable intonation, and two left feet, somehow, I was going to be leading the baritone saxophones.

What’s more, two new members now looked to me for guidance on navigating the marching band. It was going to be Marching Band 101, with me, [NAME], a mediocre marcher, as their instructor.

When I first became section leader, I did not know what to expect. But I loved band, so I determined to teach them everything I knew. We were going to be the best baritone sax section ever!

March! March! March! I was dedicated to getting the section into tip-top shape before the school year started, running drills and exercises through the late summer sun and heat without break.

It wasn’t long before I started to realize that this method of guiding was not as effective as I might have thought. I had people in my section grumbling about all the work and the heat. In one mortifying instance, one person even sat down on the field and refused to play anymore.

At that point, I realized my drills and exercises weren’t helping like I thought they would. More importantly, as much as I loved band, I wasn’t helping my section members love band like I wanted them to.

I needed to change what I was doing. I started building breaks into our schedule, I stayed after practice to hang out, ask how people were doing, and grab snacks, and I provided them with encouragement as well as critiques. After making these changes, I started feeling a connection with my section members and we grew close. We started bonding as both friends and teammates.

I also rediscovered the essence of being in the band. My role as a leader was less about teaching specific skills and more about helping them embrace a love for marching band. What leading the section was really about was fostering community, offering support when needed, and instilling a deep appreciation for the Marching Band. And through giving guidance, encouragement, and support, I allowed them to improve and grow as a section.

Through my experience, I discovered that everyone learns differently, that patience is vital, and that I needed trust my abilities as a teacher. I realized that being an exceptional musician wasn’t as crucial as being a mentor who could guide and support new students.

Yes, it is essential to work to improve a group continuously. But, fostering love and community spirit is necessary for such work to be valuable.

As you write your college essay on leadership, don't forget to acknowledge the contribution of others! — As you write your college essay on leadership, don’t forget to acknowledge the role of others in your success!

Acknowledge Others that Contribute to Your Success

When you’re trying to get out everything about how your leadership, what you’ve accomplished, and how you relate to people in a short essay, this may seem counterintuitive, but it’s important.

As you write about your experience, it’s really, really important to acknowledge the contributions other made to the success. There is nothing quite as off-putting as reading an essay which says, “The success was because of me! I did it all! It was all me! ME! ME! ME!”

First of all, chances are, that’s not true. If you led a team, the high likelihood is that other team members played roles in the the project’s success. They made posters, washed cars, knocked doors… they almost certainly did something. If the project succeeded, other team members also must have worked hard.

And if you can’t acknowledge the contributions others make, it really doesn't speak well of what kind of leader you are. A good leader understands how hard their team works and recognizes how each member contributes to a success!

In writing your college essay on leadership, think about how you’ve made a difference for the people around you!

Last Words on College Essays on Leadership

So as you start on your own essay, think about what you’ve done, who you’ve influenced, what you’ve accomplished, and who else may have helped you. That’s how you’ll show colleges the outstanding leader you are!