<p>I am working on building up my application for the Academy, and one of the questions I have is about how many community service hours should you have? Or is it important? Thanks -DNRW</p>
<p>it sure is important. id say anywere between 50-60 hours is safe.</p>
<p>i dont think its that important. i had zero, and you've probably already done something for school or something. the whole "community service" bs is bunk.</p>
<p>I dont know theres something about being Voluntold to do community service that just makes me all warm inside.</p>
<p>PS I had 75 for National Honor Society (Requirement at my school) and it didnt make a difference. I think unless you have like 1000 or make it a big part of your application, it doesnt hurt or help you at all.</p>
<p>"the whole "community service" bs is bunk."</p>
<p>Unless you are privy to the inner workings of the admissions committee I would disagree. Community Service will be awarded points towards the WCS when evaluating applications. Someone weaker in one category may be able to make it up in community service.</p>
<p>but get real, a 3.5 gpa with a bazillion hours will never beat out a 4.0 student</p>
<p>i think it will. would west point want someone who is all about school work with no people skills or someone who helps out in the community and knows how to work with other people and also maintains a decent academic record. remember, west point is looking for the development of the whole person not just 1 strong aspect.</p>
<p>ADA....Spend some time on some of the other college sites---even in civilian colleges there are stories from students with perfect SAT's and 4.0's that were turned down at Harvard et al., because they were NOT well rounded students.</p>
<p>And a military career is the ultimate community service job. </p>
<p>It's a benefit in the applications process. It shows that you are well-rounded and have actually spent time doing volunteer work.</p>
<p>Alright, that's good, I have about 75 hours now, and I'm a sophomore. Thanks - DNRW</p>
<p>i don't remember the application asking for a specific number of community service hours. i think west point looks more at the type of extracurricular activities (which in some cases translates to community service) you do and how many years you have committed to each of them.</p>
<p>I dont see why community service would be that important, most of the time your just sitting around blowing time. I think admissions would be more impressed if you had a good job. When I was being interviewed for a nomination, the men knew I had community service but never asked about it while at the same time they all seemed very interested in the fact that I worked at a weld shop.</p>
<p>exactly, the panel loved the fact that i had a job, and never even brought up my community service</p>
<p>I personally am quite a mediocre student in my opinion. (Slept through high school and my gagillion ap classes, quite a few Bs) I plan to try for the first time when I get to West Point...Anyhow, as far as hours go I didn't have very many at the time. Further, I don't remember it being on the application. In my nomination meetings it was never brought up either. </p>
<p>Betcha they know the community service is very much BS. Most organizations give you like 15 hours for 2 hours on a weekend. Likewise, schools require hours to graduate and what not. I wouldn't bother, unless your worried about NHS. I never went to NHS, not because I wasn't qualified, but because I wasn't interested. They society never did pretty much nothing. I joined stuff I was interested in instead.</p>
<p>What kind of extracurricular stuff did you do ragmanlaw?</p>
<p>I never did community service either. However, I was in a peer mediation club that resolved conflicts between students.</p>