<p>ok, i have been browsing the boards for a while now and my very top choice for a school is upenn but i will have to work fairly hard to get a shot. anyways since i am still a junior and i have a bit of time to prepare, what are your suggestions for the best places to get volunteer hours? Also what kind of ec’s are they looking for?</p>
<p>thanks</p>
<p>Hi I'm a junior who wants to go to upenn and I want to know answers for these questions, too!!</p>
<p>Best place? Like, the easiest? I've got over 200 hours from teaching Sunday School and Vacation Bible School. Easy hours.</p>
<p>for me, the "easiest" thing to do is usually the most fun or most interesting...so just figure out what is fun/interesting for you and then try to find a place you can do it...penn does not want any specific ECs....im sure sports, leadership (through student gov or like NHS prez), and community service help...i think the most important thing you need is something that you are obviously PASSIONATE about....although you should have a life outside this activity, you should try to be lopsided towards this activity while being fairly well-rounded too....its a lot to ask, but hey, it can be done!
good luck youngins</p>
<p>I didn't have any volunteer time, except like 1 day helping out at a mentally challenged home, and I got into Huntsman. So I don't think its really necessary to have volunteer service.</p>
<p>I did volunteer tutoring (1-2 hrs/wk, 40 weeks per year ~ 240 hrs) and taught sunday school (1 hr/week, every week, ~ 200 hrs total). The bottom line is, however, that they rnt looking for the bleeding heart applicants who spend 10000 hrs as a volunteer. People with tons of community service gte rejected every year. I'd say the essays r much more impt than having hours upon hrs of service.</p>
<p>i was accepted ED to wharton by the way.</p>
<p>I'm not the one who made this thread but I have a question
Is 50hrs enough for the community service? or I should do more?</p>
<p>depends... What are your stats?</p>
<p>I do not have any true volunteer hours and i was accepted seas. I do spend a period every day as a freshman advisor and over the summer i was a camp counselor, but thats it.</p>
<p>working at the hospital is often pretty easy and fun.</p>
<p>I have only 10 hrs right now but I need to have 40hrs because I'm a member of NHS. I'm working as a translator... I'm guessing I would get about 1900 or up for new sat, but I'm not sure</p>
<p>EC's that:</p>
<ul>
<li>Are unique. 50000 Tennis/violin players probably get old. And, you've gotta slam this as a main point. My family operates an oyster farm and I wrote an essay about working there and sent them pictures of me in the mud with the goods.</li>
<li>If competitive, have recognition (notice many people who relied on debate as an important EC, wrote their essays about it, weren't accepted because they didn't have awards in it)</li>
<li>Excessive amounts of community service is BAD. For one, most community service doesn't take talent. You want just enough to show that you are a considerate and compassionate person. AtoineTheSwan pretty much summed that up. I'd say 3-4 hours a week is probably the maximum that you could want.
-You demonstrate long term commitment to. Unless it's mind blowing, its dangerous to put stuff down that you haven't shown dedication to for 3 or more years. </li>
</ul>
<p>President of 5000 clubs = bad
President of 1 club that changed world and involved in sport with recognition = good</p>
<p>It is all about uniqueness. As neostrife said, don't just put down everything you did.</p>
<p>Focus instead on around three traits and charactersitics that define you as a person, and then construct your application around them. Make sure the way you present your ECs enhance the characteristics you want to present.</p>
<p>oooh yeah presentation is the biggest one. like i just tried to write a creative essay about tutoring ESL kids, and tied in my own transition from the Ukraine, and how it developed this passion for languages which was essential in my quest for self-discovery. the last bit is sort of bs obviously, but what got me in is that i did the tutoring for about 3 years, im gifted at languages in any case, and other parts of my application demonstrated what ive done to help kids in particular. like i didnt have any crazy ECs or leadership positions - im like president of french club- total joke! but its all about playing up in your application what you have that they want. and for me it was that i have a lot of enthusiasm and that im foreign. so yeahh good luck guys! and dont think youll get rejected just cause you dont have a totally killer resume (altho i cant speak for RD...........)</p>
<p>i got in and did NO community service. volunteering is for sissies</p>
<p>I did a lot of service but i never 'cashed' them in for my school...because i didnt know there was such a deadline....where do i mention the fact that i actualyl DID do commmunity service, and is it worth trying to make up the hours by doing a LOT this year?? (im a junior btw..)</p>
<p>i never actually said how many hours total of community service i did in high school in my app... i just listed the organizations in my resume, and on the actual fill in the blank form, i put about how many hours a week i spent on them. dont stress about gettin a zillion hours junior year. it also will look sort of obvious</p>
<p>I'm with shorty. I printed up a statement of activities, though.</p>
<p>oh okay...yeah i thought that overloading junior year with a whole bunch of service hours would be stupid because it would make it seem as if i didnt take the initiative freshman/soph year and im doing them just to please the colleges...</p>