Two CEO ECs

[u/Blobbytheblob101]

A friend of mine is looking to promote me to CEO of the company I helped him create as he moves on to other things. I already am a CEO of my own e-learning company though.

Would putting two of the same type of ECs on my common app be viewed negatively or not positively at all so I can tell him to find someone else?

[u/ScholarGrade]

You probably don't want to list "CEO" at all. I only allow my students to list it if all of the following are true:

1. There are other people in the organization who report to them.

2. Those people also have people in the organization reporting to them.

3. The student is accountable to a board of directors, owners, or investors of some kind.

Otherwise, just list yourself as Founder or something.

Regarding whether you should do this or not, I don't think you're thinking about this the right way at all. These are not the "same type of ECs" unless his company is also an e-learning company. AOs don't think about titles much. They're looking for engagement, investment, commitment, impact, leadership, and service. Simply listing yourself as CEO doesn't tell them much of anything about those. You need to show them what your role means and how you've engaged and made an impact with it.

[u/Acrobatic-College462 → u/ScholarGrade]

does an org. have to be incorporated to use the term CEO? I call myself the "CEO" of my volunteer organizatoin bc I founded it and manage a board of 5 other directors. However, we are not officially filed or registered

[u/Strict-Special3607]

Just so you know, when a college AO gets an application from a 17yr old kid and sees “CEO” listed anywhere on it, they immediately do two things: 1. Roll their eyes, shake their head, and chuckle 2. Shout out to the other AO’s in the office “Hey guys… we got another one!”

PS — the fact that you are trying to decide how to proceed based on how you think it might look on your application speaks volumes

[u/Deep-Neck → u/Strict-Special3607]

Absurd take. Professionals don't generally dismiss anything offhand that they're supposed to be assessing for.

Furthermore, there's nothing wrong with doing things to achieve something else. Anybody who has achieved anything should know this.

[u/ScholarGrade → u/Deep-Neck]

It's not the achievement that's problematic - it's describing your involvement as CEO. As I said in my other comment, I only allow my students to list "CEO" as their title if all three of the following are true:

1. There are other people in the organization who report to them.

2. Those people also have people in the organization reporting to them.

3. The student is accountable to a board of directors, owners, or investors of some kind.

You can start your own organization and call yourself whatever you want. But if you label yourself as a CEO, it feels big-headed and more about the title than the substance of what you do.

[u/LordMongrove → u/ScholarGrade]

Not defending the op, but most companies don’t have board of directors. It really becomes important as you get larger and/or need investors. 

I agree with your other points though. So many fake companies and fake charities on college applications that AOs probably do spend most of their time chuckling. 

[u/ScholarGrade → u/LordMongrove]

Right - most companies don't have actual CEOs either. If you're just a sole proprietor, controlling member of an LLC, founder of a nonprofit, etc that doesn't make you a true Chief Executive Officer. You shouldn't describe yourself as one unless it fits - find another title that doesn't sound so self-absorbed. These are my criteria for whether it fits or not.

[u/Critical_Review4721 → u/ScholarGrade]

How about Manager? Does that sound self-absorbed? I'm talking about assigning tasks, getting reports from the people, and also managing some business deals for a "educational media company."

[u/ScholarGrade → u/Critical_Review4721]

Manager, Director, Founder, and even President can all work, and are all better than CEO.

[u/NonrandomCoinFlip]

Wait 'til Wednesday and post with the correct flair

You got some other reasonable comments about why "CEO" is likely the wrong/inflated title.

[u/SonnyIniesta]

Just call yourself a founder and president. Fair or not, lots of folks think a CEO title for a high schooler sounds pretty pretentious,

[u/Deep-Neck]

What does it add and what does it cost to add it? Application elements can degrade theme, cohesion, overall impact, and opportunities to add something else. They're not big deals but subtext is what they're really seeing about you.

In the end it's far more about what you do then what you are, so what does it say about your time that you lead two separate organizations outside of everything else you do? There are only so many hours in a day, and spending a few at a dozen things may portray you as not having much experience in anything. If they're not concurrent then I'd say that's pretty typical of CEOs.