Not everyone leads a huge nonprofit or starts a national health initiative—and admissions committees don’t expect that. What they do expect is that you learned how to influence people, communicate, guide peers, and solve problems—even at a small scale.

Leadership is not a title. It’s how you help people move forward.

Examples of “Small” Leadership That Actually Matters

• tutoring a struggling student
• being a peer mentor
• organizing meetings
• creating training materials
• leading a discussion group
• coordinating volunteers
• helping onboard new members
• proposing improvements
• taking initiative when something wasn’t working

Small actions = real leadership.

How to Frame Small Leadership Strategically

Tell stories about:

• identifying a need
• taking action
• influencing peers
• improving a system
• mentoring others
• advocating for people
• solving a recurring problem

That’s leadership.

Use These Phrases in Your Application

Instead of:
“I was a member of the club,”

Try:
“I led a team of volunteers to…”
“I organized weekly discussions…”
“I onboarded new students…”
“I developed peer-learning sessions…”

Show responsibility → impact → learning.

Medical Schools Want Leadership That Looks Like Medicine

Examples of medical leadership parallels:

• mentoring = teaching future residents
• organizing = coordinating care
• advocating = patient advocacy
• improving systems = QI & patient safety
• conflict resolution = clinical teamwork

Small leadership → physician leadership behavior.

How to Turn It Into a Story

Use the structure:

1. Situation
2. Problem
3. Action
4. Reflection
5. What you’d do differently now

This leads to maturity and self-awareness—huge admissions green flags.

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Leadership doesn’t need to be fancy.
It needs to be:

• relational
• thoughtful
• reflective
• patient-centered
• growth-based

Your leadership doesn’t have to be big—just real.

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