<p>I volunteer at my local hospital and I've been hearing that it can count as an extracurricular activity. The thing is, I also hear that it is not an extracurricular activity, but community service hours. I'm so scared because all time I've been volunteering at the hospital for a year now thinking its an extracurricular activity. Now I fear since I'm not in any clubs at school or outside I will hurt my college admission. I'm entering my junior year next year and if I join clubs next year, 1 year in a club is not very well rounded. So what I'm doing is not extra curricular, then do I just list it under community service on an application and put nothing for extra curricular and ruin my acceptance in a good college? I feel so damn stupid! If you say it is a extra curricular activity, then what should I put for community service/ volunteer hours?</p>
<p>Many applications count “community service” and “extra-curricular activities” separately. Here, I would list it under “community service.”</p>
<p>Even just joining one club is better than none. Colleges like well-rounded students, but they mostly go for the ones who are passionate in a certain area. If you join any clubs next year, join one that you are truly interested in, and take a leadership position.</p>
<p>Community service is an EC and you don’t need to join any school clubs at all to look ‘well-rounded.’ </p>
<p>Do what you love, invest yourself in it, make a tangible impact and take stock of what you have learned/are learning. If you can get a nice letter of recommendation from someone you work with who can talk about what your community service has done for the community you are serving then that’s a nice bonus.</p>
<p>I agree with M’s Mom, community service is really just a subset of extracurricular activities so you should be fine with that, especially if you keep doing it as it shows passion and hospital service hours are often heavily sought out so if you had done anything wrong there would be many to take your place, so keeping the position shows that you are a hard worker and reliable. Don’t worry about it!</p>