Objective To investigate the leadership status of medical graduate freshmen with leadership scales from different models and put forward suggestions for improvement. Methods A total of 209 medical graduate freshmen enrolled in 2020 and 2021 in Xuanwu Hospital, Capital Medical University were selected as the survey subjects. The students were evaluated by socially responsible leadership scale (SRLS), emotionally intelligent leadership scale (EILS) and student leadership practices inventory (SLPI). Multiple linear regression was used to analyze the influencing factors. Results The scores of SRLS, EILS and SLPI were (275.11±29.03), (102.18±14.5) and (129.12±18.02), respectively. The scoring rates were 80.9%, 85.2% and 86.1%, respectively.The respondents had low scores in the dimensions of self-cognition, argument with reason and change of SRLS, with a mean score of (3.54±0.44), (3.86±0.41) and (3.56±0.40) respectively.The average score of other dimensions of SRLS and all dimensions of the other two scales were all above 4. Multiple linear regression analysis showed that the score of SLPI was jointly affected by the score of SRLS and EILS (F=685.65, P<0.001, R²=0.87). Conclusions Medical graduate freshmen had a lower scoring rate of SRLS than those of the other two scales. The behavior of leadership can be affected by personal responsibility and emotional intelligence factors. The training of leadership should focus on shaping the individual, group and social values of students, and focus on training in emotional management.