<p>I've volunteered a lot before I entered high school. Can I count those hours for my applications? Also, do work hours count as community service hours for any reason?</p>
<p>Usually you would count community service hours as volunteer jobs. Work hours (for pay) don’t count for volunteer hours. And colleges really want to see you volunteer during the school year in high school. Additionally, most higher-up colleges, like UC-Berkeley, want to see an award or accomplishment that you’ve made volunteering or with ECs.</p>
<p>BerkeleyLocal, unfortunately there is no place on the Common App to list extracurriculars from before 9th grade. If the volunteer work you did before high school is an important part of your life or helped make you who you are, you can always write an essay about that experience - as long as you tie it in to who you are now. </p>
<p>Either way, now that you are in high school, make sure you devote some of that passion you clearly had in middle school to your extracurriculars. And yes, a paid job counts as an extracurricular activity (although not as “community service hours,” as you state).</p>
<p>Good luck to you.</p>