^^ @Lookingforward: My daughter was heavily involved with theater, appearing in about 12 stage productions over her four years of high school. Concurrently, she was also the flyer on her cheerleading team for fall, winter and spring teams. My son played baseball (not a recruited athlete) and played a 20 game fall season, had extensive winter workouts, a 12 game winter season in Florida during winter break, and 38-game spring season. And that doesn’t include team practices. There just wasn’t time for either of them to volunteer. They both acted as tour guides for their high school for prospective applicants – I suppose that is volunteering, but they didn’t list it on their EC list.
I’ve suspected something came across in your D’s app that she did a little more for others. Perhaps something showed she mentored younger dancers. Or some comment she wrote showed efforts. Maybe the GC? Obviously, I don’t know. But this aspect of perspective outside one’s own interests is pretty important, ime. It runs counter to just pursuing your own “passions.”
I mean no offense. I just know how some outward awareness and action does matter, where I am. Not just hours or title, but the spirit and follow through, in the right ways.
No offense taken. FWIW: The middle school they attended required 100 volunteer service hours in order to graduate. Unfortunately, those forced, mandated service hours completely turned them off to ever wanting to volunteer in high school, college or after college – and both would have been happy to tell their interviewer about their middle school experience if the lack of volunteer hours ever had come up in conversation. (Not sure that it ever did, as I never asked them about it.) Both were happy to tutor another kid if that kid asked for help, but they weren’t going to scrub toilets, work in a soup kitchen, a homeless shelter, etc just for the sake of having those service hours on their resume.
Regarding volunteering, I completely agree that “hours” mean next to nothing (especially if forced), but also believe that meaningful community service can be very helpful with admissions. To illustrate the point, when I attended a Prudential Spirit of Community awards ceremony in Washington DC honoring 100 top youth volunteers in the country, I learned that a disproportionate number of honorees had been accepted by elite colleges. At one luncheon I was seated with four college bound youth and three were headed to Ivy League colleges. Causation or correlation? I’m not sure.
I do believe, however, that community service, even at a nationally recognized level, doesn’t rise to the level of an admissions “hook”.
My son attended the Prudential awards ceremony too. What I think goes on is that these kids starts something and carry it through. It is a passion and commitment to serving others as well as making an impact on their communities that seems to be the common thread. Their volunteer efforts show an entrepreneurial spirit and that is what the ivy seems to like. All the science entrepreneurial seems to want to go to Stanford these days.
Closing thread. Nothing left to say.