<p>What's a good number of community service hours? I have decent school leadership positions, but I'm quite short of community service hours when compared to friends. The average of my friends' hours is somewhere in the range of 300-400, and I only have about 150. </p>
<p>Just wondering, what's a good amount for top schools? i.e. ivies, MIT, stanford, etc.</p>
<p>There’s no “minimal” number. Comm Svc is one aspect of your EC profile. A person can have zero, be strong in other areas, and be valued by top colleges. </p>
<p>the fact that you’re asking this question says may indicate that you’re like so many others who are checking off a list of items rather than innately, see that things happen, regardless of who is watching – that latter is valued by top colleges, not the former.</p>
<p>It’s the impact, not volume of hours, that matters. </p>
<p>Although both are notable causes, the kid who spends one hundred hours serving soup at the soup kitchen is not nearly as impressive as the kid who organizes a fundraiser of $10,000. There is a lot more leadership, social initiative, outreach, and planning that is required for the second activity.</p>
<p>Also, in no way is community service an admissions requirement (unless explicitly stated in the application). A Princeton rep actually told me that transparent volunteering (things you don’t care about) is easily identified, and they’d much rather you dedicate your time to something you care about. Be enthusiastic about your activities! If it involves volunteering, then so be it; if not, that’s fine too as long as you’re still involved with other activities.</p>
<p>Some humor for you:</p>
<p>[Closing</a> Of Homeless Shelter Leaves College-Application-Padding Students With Nowhere To Turn | The Onion - America’s Finest News Source](<a href=“http://www.theonion.com/articles/closing-of-homeless-shelter-leaves-collegeapplicat,2461/]Closing”>Closing Of Homeless Shelter Leaves College-Application-Padding Students With Nowhere To Turn)</p>
<p><a href=“http://www.theonion.com/articles/soupkitchen-volunteers-hate-collegeapplicationpadd,1422/[/url]”>http://www.theonion.com/articles/soupkitchen-volunteers-hate-collegeapplicationpadd,1422/</a></p>
<p>Actually, the kid who has 50 hours at a soup kitchen over two years could be showing more long-term committment than a kid who organizes one impressive fundraiser. And, the former may be serving the needy directly, leading other volunteers and helping with actual operations, based on his experience- while the latter threw a big party and his parents’ friends kicked in to make it a success.
Comm Svc is not a requirement, but it shows whether- and how- you are willing to climb out of your comfort zone (and the convenience of activities at school) to do some good.<br>
Someone should start a thread for opinions on various comm svc activities.</p>
<p>Haha, T. It sounded like the high schoolers were the homeless ones… I have like… 160 hours of community service, but it’s more focused on tutoring than just random activities.</p>
<p>Nowhere on my daughter’s applications did it ask for # of hours. It did ask hours per week and weeks total, but that was a very problematic way of reporting them. She works at a therapeutic riding stable, but they close for 2 months in the summer - because of the heat. No way to put that.</p>
<p>From what I have heard is that schools only really care if you show some passion, and that does not come from just racking up more hours. My daughter loves her work, and she got a wonderful supplementary rec from the director. </p>
<p>My son did not have that many hours when he applied to colleges, but it was tutoring in math and teaching math counts kids. Math was his passion!</p>