Hey, guys! Which types of extracurriculars do you think is better?
The one you enjoy doing.
What difference does it make what we think? Do whatever your heart desires, not ours.
There is no one right answer. Though I do think everyone should do some community service. The important thing is to do whatever you do well. My kids both worked at the Senior Center one summer. The older one helped out in the computer lab and did some computer programming projects. The younger one helped serve lunch, taught an origami class and gave a couple of violin concerts. He had another community service project archiving neighborhood association papers.
Both had a few other extra curricular activities aligned with their interests. They got into very good colleges. But they didn’t do any activity in order to get into colleges. They did things either because they liked them, or their friends liked them and they wanted to hang out with their friends.
Please don’t do things just to get into college. That can actually be counterproductive anyway. Not so sure colleges really do want kids who are “well-rounded” in the sense of being involved in a lot of things. Explore your natural interests and deepen them and you will end up in the right place.
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:))))))
In my experience community service will get you more outside scholarships…
^outside scholarships of $100 to $500. Those things the Lions club gives. The original answers are correct. Do things you enjoy doing for their own sake.
@donnaleighg ^^ outside scholarships such as coca-cola that my son got 20k and hollister 2.5k renewable … plus our local scholarships that were more like 1 to 1.5k each (and non of these were need based scholarship) IMO you should do both… but if you only want to do one big thing make it a BIG community service as it has paid off in 30k in outside scholarships for my son…
That’s the exception though, @runswimyoga . The vast majority of scholarship money comes from colleges, not outside. Plus, outside scholarships will change the college’s aid package. For example, the school could use the outside scholarship to reduce the institutional grant. Better for the school, no improvement for the student.
OP – Colleges are very good at spotting resume-padding – people who fill up their applications with stuff they think will look good to colleges. They’re also very good at spotting people who have pursued an activity because it’s something they love. Do the latter.
Also just FYI, to be a part of NHS (National Honor Society) you will need to do community service - some chapters do big projects, some do individual service. Most high school students today do both extracurricular activities and community service.
Our high school required community service.
Any EC should be the one the student actually enjoys and shows some interest in. Don’t do it to pad college applications. Do an EC because you like doing it.
My son doesn’t really enjoy doing charity stuff. Never has. The only thing related to community service he does is tutor some kids after school which is set up by the school. He likes that, but only does it sporadically. Other than that he plays lacrosse, soccer, refs soccer for work, and is involved with DECA and Model UN. If a school doesn’t accept him because he didn’t log 500 hours of community service he is fine with that, and understands there are many other schools that would be happy to have him and take our money 
Do what you like doing, worry about the other junk later.
What is better is what your child likes to do. I can say that it’s a commonly held myth often repeated here on cc that you need hundreds or thousands of hours of community service to get into a top college. That simply isn’t true. However, many competitive scholarships do require it.
I see other parents all around us who have their kids get involved in all kinds of EC’s, and it’s quite obvious that they’re doing these disparate number of EC’s because they think such activities would give their kids an advantage in college admission. One parent sent her kid to Peru during one summer to help those poor people when that same kid never did anything for the poor people in our own community. What a waste of time. The result showed, too.
On the other hand, my friend doesn’t believe in involving in any EC that his son doesn’t feel from his heart, so he hardly had any EC to show forth. Even though he had 4.0 GPA (UW), 12 AP courses and 2360 SAT, he got rejected by all Ivy colleges.
To me, the best kinds of EC’s are those that the kid personally feels very strongly about. The key is to do something that’s very meaningful to the kid, NOT for the sake of a set of EC’s.
I kind of hate how many people on CC assume that if a student is doing community service it is soley to pad their resume for college. Today’s generation likes to get involved. They like to create meaningful change in the world. Our local easy-to-get-admitted-to state college each year offers days of service and every year they have more students volunteer (both high school and college students) then they can handle.
Sometimes students get involved because their friends or everyone else is doing it, no passion or altruistic reasoning what so ever involved… but then they find its fun; its fulfilling so they keep doing it. Thats ok too. Civic engagement has become a hallmark of this generation and one doesn’t need to justify reasons for participation. I think its really cool what they have accomplished as a generation. Doesn’t matter if its an EC or Community service the point is you are out there involved with something and I think thats important in life.
I know over half of my son’s community service and EC’s never got put on his college app or resume bc only so many lines on the application… he was accepted ED yet he didn’t cut back on his community service , au contrary, he added more things…
My advice is to get out there and try as many things as you want EC’s or community service, for any reason you want, usually you grow from every experience. I highly doubt a summer in Peru is a waste of time and it might inspire you to do other things…
My kids both have done community service, but not out of the goodness of their hearts, I am sorry to say. It’s because hub and I both feel they have great lives and there is no reason why they can’t give of their time to a good cause. They volunteer in the summer when they have plenty of free time. I don’t care if they like it or not, it isn’t optional. And in fact,they have learned some valuable skills from it. Many years ago they each earned a free day at Disneyland. I reckon that was payment enough. Volunteering can lead to real job opportunities too. I myself was offered a paid job at the place I have volunteered for years. Kids can also use volunteer jobs as references for employment. There are many reasons besides college apps.
No idea where OP is aiming. But the answer for top colleges is “both.”
I’m not sure where this idea comes from, that it’s only important to do what you like. We all have various ways we can use our time. And even if some kids do X because colleges like to see it, it’s still an experience. They can make a contribution.
If we don’t ask our kids to stretch, where does that leave them?
Mine did lots of service, mostly dedicated (not the occasional few hours of socializing.). It did lead to a great similar work in college, which led to post college opportunities.
There are plenty of ECs and community service opportunities out there. Surely a student can find both that are to their liking.