<p>To me, it seems that college adcoms would be quick to see through the applicant joining community service clubs solely to "impress colleges."</p>
<p>There’s a difference between joining a community service club in junior year and participating in some of their activities, and getting thoroughly involved in a volunteer organization and working closely with them throughout high school.
Setting up christmas trees in an assisted living facility once a year and calling it community service isn’t the same as starting your own after-school tutoring group or going to a developing nation and helping to build a school.
I feel like colleges would “see through” some community service activities, but service is service. Besides, it’s your transcript and test scores that are really the deciding factors, not your volunteer hours.</p>
<p>I have seen applicants with average credentials pull off 500+ volunteer hours and get accepted to HYPSM. In this way it could be a deciding factor for people with an immense amount of volunteering. But yes, I think volunteering should show some focus and should be genuine (not to impress colleges).</p>
<p>Many schools do not factor ECs into the admissions criteria. Look at the schools Common Data Set, section C, to find out.</p>
<p>^How do I find out the information for Johns Hopkins?</p>
<p>[common</a> data set johns hopkins - Google Search](<a href=“common data set johns hopkins - Google Search”>common data set johns hopkins - Google Search)
The first entry.</p>
<p>But for the not-as-hardcore-prestigious schools (ivies), what about colleges like the UC’s? (UC Berkeley, UCLA)</p>
<p>Are they able to discern what is genuine/authentic community service or just “doing it for college”?</p>
<p>I’m pretty sure that my community service contributed to my admission results. Near the end of junior year, I organized a drive for school supplies, and then I spent much of the summer between junior and senior year traveling to Indonesia, where I delivered them to orphans. I believe colleges saw the authenticity of this endeavor fairly easily.</p>
<p>I think that Stanford was impressed by my < 50 volunteer hours. </p>
<p>You’ll be fine. Just do what interests you as long as it has some immediate / eventual benefit to society, and persuasive essays will leave them impressed at your diverse interests rather than leaving the “community service” checkbox unchecked.</p>