<p>I keep hearing about how important community service is for college applications, but I don't know how what I do will be presented. Do you just list what activities you have done? Do you have to keep a record of "hours"? In general, I've been focusing my community service efforts on promoting science literacy among younger children, but I haven't been working with a single organization the whole time. How do I express this general passion to colleges?</p>
<p>What you’re hearing is false. Voluntarism is not required by the vast majority of colleges. And, whatever hours you list, they take your word at it.</p>
<p>I would say list your activities by organization, but call each admissions office if you will run out of room. Express your passion through your essay.</p>
<p>“but call each admissions office if you will run out of room.” </p>
<p>Hunh? If you run out of room, you have too much to list and can’t organize anything. Your EC list can be categorized where multiple organizations can be lumped together. </p>
<p>And what do you ask the college? “Excuse me, but please remind my file reader that my 13th and 14th ECs are EXTREMELY meaningful to me and I hope you take that into consideration”</p>
<p>Frankly if the OP lists: Voluntarism: 9-12 total hours 210 – that’ll be fine enough detail for colleges.</p>
<p>In some school transcripts community service hours are listed on the transcript</p>
<p>My daughter listed her volunteer hours on the Common Ap (around 100) and with one of the colleges, she was awarded a renewable $1000 scholarship for it. That’s why it’s important.</p>
<p>If you have many hours (ex. dozens) logged at each organization, you may want to list them separately and you could run out of space. In that event, you would want to find out from the common app or each college how to list them to be sure.</p>
<p>
Another schoolyard rumor only loosely connected to the facts. First off, many colleges pay little or no attention to extracurricular activities. How do you tell? For the colleges you are interested in, look at their Common Data Set filing to see which box they checked by ECs, or look on the admissions website when they discuss how they evaluate applicants.</p>
<p>I use the word “extracurricular” and not “community service” because for colleges that care, they look for achievement and/or leadership in some area of your choosing. Music. Science. Student Government. Community Service. Etc. Like in the game of telephone, by the time this made its way to you it became “got to have community service, colleges want to see that you give back.” </p>
<p>That all said, helping out in your community is part of what makes it a good community and I encourage you to participate. But because you want to help those around you, not to in order to impress adcoms.</p>
<p>The question about impressive EC’s comes up regularly on the forum. There is a thread with several posts by Northstarmom, a Ivy alum interviewer, about what constitutes impressive ECs from the point of view of the most selective colleges. The post is at <a href=“http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html[/url]”>http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/what-my-chances/210497-those-ecs-weak-so-what-s-good.html</a></p>
<p>As you will see from that link, at the most selective colleges they are looking for depth more than just participation. Stanford, for example, says
</p>
<p>2 very interesting articles about ECs that stand out and how to get them (same author, different examples) are at [How</a> to Be Impressive](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/05/28/the-art-of-activity-innovation-how-to-be-impressive-without-an-impressive-amount-of-work/]How”>The Art of Activity Innovation: How to Be Impressive Without an Impressive Amount of Work - Cal Newport) and [Save</a> This Grind?](<a href=“http://calnewport.com/blog/2008/09/12/case-study-how-could-we-save-this-ridiculously-overloaded-grind/]Save”>Case Study: How Could We Save This Ridiculously Overloaded Grind? - Cal Newport) I don’t buy into his underlying explanation of why they are impressive, but take a look at these 2 articles and I think you’ll get some original ideas.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input. My main concern is that it may not be just a rumor. The problem is I am planning to apply to several “elite” schools, which tend to have almost unrealistic demands on the applicants. Essentially, “the very top universities --places like HPYS – that heavily weigh ECs when they are making admission decisions. That’s because such universities have an overabundance of applicants with stellar stats.”</p>
<p>I try to do my part to give back to the community, but I know I probably won’t be able to achieve one of those “outstanding” ECs in community service before I graduate from high school. Coming from a relatively privileged background, should I reconsider my aspirations given these facts?</p>
<p>But I think Northstarmom answered my question well: </p>
<p>Under “community service” in the essay, or in the activities area. It also could go under leadership or even in 2 or 3 sections, with different aspects highlighted in different areas.</p>
<p>For example under leadership: “Organized a campaign to raise $1,000 for…”
And also under “community service,” the same person could write: “Spent 6 months housing and training dogs for …”
That combined with a nice essay describing how one got interested in it or a challenge that one overcame in doing the project would be a nice way to show one’s character and passion.</p>
<p>Where you put the activities isn’t as important as how you describe what you did. The adcoms aren’t grading you on filling the right slot. They just want to know what you’ve done and what you have to offer.</p>
<p>Same here. I am an Ivy alumni interviewer as well, and ticking off five or six clubs without any depth or ability to describe what you did for them in an interview is not good. Then again, lack of interest in my alma mater is probably the single biggest mistake you can make at an alumni interview. Lack of interest in talking about yourself, that is, your life outside of school and after school is the second biggest mistake.</p>
<p>When people talk about “heavily weight ECs”, they usually mean that once a student gets through the first level of review, for grades and test scores, then they look at ECs. Most schools report looking more at teacher recommendations.</p>
<p>I have known applicants with great ECs who haven’t gotten in to my alma mater (and it’s not a HYP).</p>
<p>ECs cannot make up for an otherwise weak application, but hooks can, like being a recruited athlete or a legacy or first generation college… </p>