Do Volunteer Hours REALLY Matter?

<p>Or get a job, if any semi-neat ones are available</p>

<p>No, a half million short of a natural disaster in a few months is not possible. The young woman I know who did this in only 2 years got most of the money through NIH funds. Ther young man did it in a few months, following the tsunami ,with a few big donations. Right time and place.</p>

<p>"Why not volunteer? In my Opinoin, it makes people better people, less selfish and self involved, and you can learn things and meet interesting people. Volunteer to volunteer, jsut doing school stuff is too easy and shows little initiative."</p>

<p>Because, honestly, some people find it to be a waste of their time. I don't give a damn about taking down people's names for a MS walk-a-thon or giving old people sponge baths. And you know what? I'm not going to pretend that I enjoy it just so I have some community service to put on my college app. </p>

<p>Frankly, I think there's nothing more disgusting than people volunteering for causes that they don't really care about. Besides, I'm much more of a donating type--my school had an entrepreneur competition where students ran their own business for a few days. The profits had to go to charity, and I convinced my group to choose one that I cared about.</p>

<p>Nice attitude...it will take you far</p>

<p>Helping people is a waste of time, that attitude is what some people would find disgusting</p>

<p>but it is good you cared about something, because it seems some people just care about themselves</p>

<p>If it was your cousin with MS and someone was helping to raise money for the cure, or your grandma having someone read to her in a nursing home, I guess you would find them disgusting. that is truly sad</p>

<p>I agree with citygirlsmom. Usually colleges will know if people are actually doing community service purely for the community service because their hours, involvement, teacher recommendations, and essays will all show it somehow. 500 hours shows dedication at the high school level, in my opinion. If I was an admissions director, I would choose someone who did 500 hours over someone who finds people that help others disgusting.</p>

<p>I remember a post where you wanted a loving and caring wife and wanted to be a Senator...might be hard to do if you don't care much about people and find those that help others disgusting. Who would want to VOLUNTEER for someone running for office who found them disgusting></p>

<p>citygirlsmom, I was merely making a point that it's even more ridiculous to be a phony and volunteer for personal gain (as many high school students do) than to not volunteer at all. It should be a selfless act, not something to be put on a college application. </p>

<p>As a matter of fact, when I sincerely care about things (like the one or two times I have volunteered, or when I donate money), I DON'T make them known. That's when you really know that you're doing something selflessly--when you don't need to brag to others that you're such a good person for having done community service.</p>

<p>The more I think about, the more I believe that colleges should not consider volunteer hours as an admission factor--it breeds too much phoniness and insincerity.</p>

<p>
[quote]
The more I think about, the more I believe that colleges should not consider volunteer hours as an admission factor--it breeds too much phoniness and insincerity.

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yes. that is one line i agree with. "volunteer hours" is a bunch of bullshi7.. it has the same correlation of ~.6 like the SAT does for intelligence. </p>

<p>I like helping people. that is why i hate measuring community service in terms of "hours". Why can't we just help out maybe.. ONE HOUR a week in something USEFUL (ie: building homes, raising money for the needy) rather than the 10 hours a week at the library, or "hospital".. those are so fake.</p>

<p>back on the subject of raising money, i thought it was interesting, a previous post stated the person squeezed out 6k from 350 people. i thought that was really good! but yet, people are saying that's not impressive? let me just ask you, how much money did you raise?</p>

<p>If it's a major EC, it will help. I only tutored a couple kids and helped at the library, and I didn't put it on my application, although my GC might have, and I still got into great places.</p>

<p>its more about what you do to volunteer, rather than how much u do it..</p>

<p>Many people volunteer for many reasons...so what if someones motives are not totallly nobel- if good work gets done, like a beach gets cleaned up</p>

<p>Some people volunteer so they can meet other people, and someone is helped at the same time</p>

<p>Someone walking around a hospital saying hi and giving out books makes the people in the hospital feel better</p>

<p>i never said brag about your volunteer work- just do it because it can help others</p>

<p>If you have only helped others once or twice in your high school life, that is so sad</p>

<p>I find it arrogant that you judge those that do service work- no body does anything for purely selfless reasons anyway- but if you can make someones life a little better for a little bit of time, it is worth it. Do you still find those that help others disgusting?</p>

<p>What ECs did you put on your application?</p>

<p>IT MATTER! If you do it well and know where and when to do it. If you do just begin your community service in senior year, colleges will see right through that. If you do it since Freshman or even earlier, it would help a great deal. From my personal experiences, my gpa (top 7%) and SAT1 (83 percentile) aren't the greatest and put me at the average group. But my activities put me above average. Things like raising moneys to fix school facility ($30k) or winning volunteer of the years at several place is a big PLUS. However, dont volunteer just for the sake of colleges, choose the activities you enjoy. If you like math but hate physical work, dont volunteer at a Soup Kitchen, volunteer to teach math at a tutoring center (volunteer as in volunteer and dont get pay for doing it, so tutoring job dont count). There are those who only join clubs like Key Club and Interact Club just for the sake of joining and don't do much. Try to get distinction from your those student organization, it give your more credential. If there is minor scholarship for volunteers, GET THEM. Dont be turn off by the amount (which is alway small) but they add to your resume and reinforce your committment. Well that all I have to offer, good luck</p>

<p>Do hours count a lot for state schools?</p>

<p>ya they matter alot..not replying to glucose101 hehe... but if you have a significant amount of volunteer hours it sets you apart from other candidates, who may only have the smarts</p>

<p>I think it is important to note that major community service is not a requirement for acceptance to a top college. My son, who was accepted EA to Harvard, devoted most of his extracurricular time to four activities (research, debate, tennis, and music), where he achieved recognition on many levels, but none of which involved community service. His community service activities consisted of a summer of part-time hospital volunteer work, private volunteer tutoring, and the community service required of the members of the various honor societies that he belongs to. The point I'm making is that one should follow one's true passions, and if that leads to serving your community, that's great.</p>

<p>I personally think a job looks equally, if not more, impressive than volunteering, I volunteer because I enjoy it, but at my school 200 hrs. is required, which I believe is ridiculus..</p>