<p>I just applied to a bunch of top-tier schools, and I was just wondering in general how many service hours I need to show a strong committment. I did 3 hrs/wk for two years (11,12) at a nursing home. I did 2 hrs/wk for 2 years (11,12) for a tutoring program, teaching a Spanish student English. I also worked 130 hours for Habitat for Humanity for about 1 hr/wk, all year(9,10,11,12). I won't elaborate on what I did, but I can tell you that I was very involved--I held a leadership position at the nursing home and I acted as a mentor to a high school student who recently immigrated from Mexico. </p>
<p>My question: will colleges view the hours I spent as "not enough" or insignificant compared to kids with many more hours? I would have spend much more time with the organizations, but often, my help was simply not needed. For example, my local Habitat only had construction projects and work opportunities available sporadically. Any advice?</p>
<p>I am more impressed by the longevity of your volunteer work, and the fact that you stuck with it, as opposed to how many hours per week you participated.</p>
<p>When it comes to the very top tier colleges, impact is of far more importance than is the hours that you served. For instance, having a letter of recc from the student whom you tutored, their parent, or their GC saying that you made a big difference in the student's life would show impact as would a well written essay demonstrating specifics about that.</p>
<p>If you started a community service project that had impact (an example would be getting your school or a variety of high schools involved in building a Habitat house) that would show impact.</p>
<p>Too many students just think about the service hours that they did instead of seeing if they made a difference in the life of an individual or community and if they demonstrated that difference in their application.</p>
<p>The very top colleges want to see that you did more than just put in hours, that you also showed some kind of leadership, too. For instance, if you got one of your school clubs to raise money for Habitat or to volunteer with it as a service project, that would be demonstrating leadership even if you didn't have an official office. You'd demonstrate that leadership through your recommendations (such as having your GC include the info in their recc or including an extra recc from your Habitat supervisor) or essays.</p>
<p>good commitement doesnt mean you work at something 20 hours a week for a few months...good commitement means you put in effort over time, so a few hours a week over a year, two, or even more, is great...they just don't want to see you go help the blind for a month or two, then volunteer at a soup kitchen for a month, and have all this space in between...now if you do switch off every couple of months or so, i would put this in an essay explaining why you switch so often (like to help more than one cause, you moved, the program closed, whatever)....they just want to see commitement to a few things, and if you put in a few hours in a week over months/years, you're fine =)</p>
<p>but seriously, community service is a good thing for sure! At least college admissions do a little something for the community while they suck the life blood out of all the kids going through it :P</p>