<p>I think I have like 4 since I started high school (although I'm going to be volunteering for a political campaign over the summer, that surely doesn't count as "community service"). My other ECs are pretty solid, I think, but does not having hundreds of community service hours raise a red flag for top colleges?</p>
<p>Nobody knows?</p>
<p>They are fairly important, not only to colleges but to the community itself. it doesn't hurt to go out and help the community that raised you.</p>
<p>Hours spent in community service are not important; it is only one variant of EC activity, and selective colleges are looking for kids that chose 1 or 2 ECs and excelled at them. And it is not the piling up of hours they care about, but leadership and achievement.</p>
<p>That said, volunteer work is a moral virtue and there is something to be said for helping those in need.</p>
<p>also, community service doesn't neccessarily mean that you have to have a certain number of hours. i was the co-president of american cancer society for three years, but i never kept track of how much time i spent doing it. instead, i talked/wrote about the activities we did within the club. the schools don't want you doing something just for the sake of doing it. be passionate in whatever you do, that is what they want to see.</p>
<p>So if I have pretty good ECs that I'm devoting myself to, I shouldn't worry about being rejected because I haven't done a huge amount of community service?</p>
<p>My daughter didn't report any community service on her app and got pretty good admissions. Not that she didn't have any community service, there were a few hours here and there (probably like you). But somehow she didn't figure out where to put them on the app, and she didn't submit a resume with a laundry list of activities. Plus she didn't realize that some of the things she did would count as community service.</p>