<p>its really interested how this thread has already turned into a forum where people are talking about how to make their hours more appealing to colleges and describing them better. I mean seriously ripemango? this goes further to prove my point that way to many high school kids are doing community service just for colleges and not because it is something they love to do. who cares about the exact number of hours you have done or how impressive it looks to the college. its about helping people. period. it should not be any more or less then that. and if it helps you get into college so be it. but that should not be the reason you are doing it. i urge you all to really think about it and decide for yourself why you do community service. and if you are honest with yourself and realize that you might be doing it just for college, i strongly suggest you really think about what is motivating you in your life and fix it. i mean seriously</p>
<p>It just disturbs me how colleges put so much emphasis on extracurriculars but have no verification method at all. I know so many people who lie on their apps and get away with it, it’s disgusting.</p>
<p>“I simply LOVE working with small children. And hah I have also organised some fundraising events: Christmas/Children Day/Easter coming and I wanted the kids to get some nice presents (they come from really low income families)
This may look silly to some adcom but I really really like them. It’s one of the most heartwarming activity that one could do as an EC.”</p>
<p>Why would you assume admissions officers would think those projects were “silly”? They sounds very heartwarming to me, and it also seems like you are doing those projects because you care and also enjoy doing them. That’s what matters.</p>
<p>Admissions officers at the few schools that factor ECs into admission tend to be people who went to those colleges, and who also did ECs, community service, etc. throughout their lives because they enjoy such activities and enjoy making a difference. They’re not likely to think that what you are doing is silly.</p>
<p>That is upsetting. Our high school and middle school are in the same building, so some of the high school students go down to tutor middle school students. Several of the NHS students do this for their volunteer hours. Once the deadline to turn in hours has passed, some stop coming to tutor. I suppose that they are not required to finish the year with the child, but it would nice, especially since it would only mean tutoring another week or two till the end of the schoolyear.</p>
<p>I guess what I’m trying to say is that it is annoying when they only do it when they can get “credit” for it.</p>
<p>What they’re doing is annoying, but at the same time it is better than joining many others by doing no community service. What’s saddest about what you describe is that it seems that the students who stop tutoring the minute they get their volunteer hours lack a great deal of compassion and empathy or else they’d care enough about their mentees to continue the relationship past what NHS requires.</p>
<p>Even more annoying is when tutors don’t even know what they’re doing, and pretend to help the kids so much to get their hours. If all you do is get frustrated at your mentees why don’t you do something else?</p>
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<p>Since when? I do community service but I’ve ever had a role important or consistent enough that I would consider marking it on applications. </p>
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<p>CAS =/= community service. Many of your hours can be got by sports or some kind of art project. Only 50 need be truly “service.”</p>
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<p>Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that having zero community service hours will hurt you significantly. You don’t have to be very involved, but you do have to have some involvement, at least for Ivies and similar caliber schools.</p>
<p>But like I said earlier, I hate resume-padders who are on my city’s CS council just for the college boost. I’ve been doing CS since seventh grade because I love doing it. It’s sad that kids do it only for college since some colleges nearly require it for HS applicants.</p>
<p>^I think a lot of kids find creative and intelligent ways of incorporating community service into their other interests–the jock who coaches Little League, the Wharton-bound businessmen who organizes a microfinance dinner–but I don’t think it’s by any means necessary.</p>
<p>I know that I’ve already voiced my frustration about this topic, but I have something else to say. This bugs me.</p>
<p>In our NHS, some of our volunteer hours have to be out of school. The in-school hours still count, but we needs the out of school more.</p>
<p>This boy signed up to put away books in the school library, which is something that I have also been doing for a while. He showed up only once or twice and then quit because he concluded that doing in-school hours was pointless. </p>
<p>I asked him about when he stopped coming, and he said point-blank, “I was only doing it for hours, and I don’t need any in-school projects, so I don’t care.” It woulnd’t have been that big of a deal except for the fact that one of the best library helpers had graduated and the school reduced its library staff. So the library actually needed his help.</p>
<p>What a wonderful attitude. I wish that there were more genuine people in my school’s NHS. People who only do community service to look good or fill a requirement get annoying.</p>