Does this count?

Hi all,
I’m part of my regional Red Cross as a volunteer, but I’m not in the club at my school (the officers weren’t particularly motivated, so I found it to be a waste of my time). In addition, I haven’t done much volunteering with them in the past year, being busy with school and other extracurriculars (Red Cross events are always far away from where I live, so I’ve been focusing on ones where I can more easily get a ride). Can, or should, I still put this on my application in the fall as an EC?

What grade are you in? And how involved were you previously? When you say you haven’t been involved much this year, do you mean not at all, or only involved with events close to you? If you are a soph or junior, and were actually properly involved, then you can list the year you were involved as long as you weren’t in middle school. If you volunteered at one event, I wouldn’t list that, unless it was a major all-day thing. If you plan to get more involved again, then list it. And it doesn’t matter if it was through school. ECs are not restricted to the confines of a school.

@Lindagaf I’m a junior. Freshman year I was pretty involved, sophomore year I attended one or two events, and this year I have not participated at all. I was planning on rejoining the club in senior year because there will be new officers.

Also thank you!

I don’t think you can include junior year. And if the one or two events were very minor, I wouldn’t include sophomore year. The activities you list are supposed to be meaningful activites that you spend considerable time doing. Having said that, there is nothing to stop you from claiming what you like, except yourself. In the fall, if you do get involved again, I would simply list the years in which you have participated.

@Lindagaf Makes sense, thank you.

Sure I think you can list this. It makes sense to do so if you have continued involvement, plan to become more involved (as a function of your interest and not for the sake of the applications) and if it is relevant to a field you plan to enter.