How much community service is considerd a lot?

<p>I am a junior and have about 200 hours. I think it's a good amount, but I know of people with 700+. What is considered a lot?</p>

<p>The relatively few colleges for which ECs are important care far more about what you accomplish with your CS (such as raising funds, starting a program, making a difference in a person's life) than how many hours you put in.</p>

<p>I don't think community service hours count very much for college... My school doesn't emphasize them at all, although some other schools require their kids to do a certain number of hours each semester.</p>

<p>in my opinion, 200+ is a lot</p>

<p>From my limited perspective, I think "a lot" varies depending on the person. Colleges do not expect a varsity team captain who works two jobs to perform as much community service in terms of hours as another person. Colleges look for commitment and passion. I could do a million service activities this year and rack up hours and hours, or I could commit my time to a smaller number in my freshman year, show consistency throughout my four years, and maybe play a role in organizing and improving the activity by my junior and senior years. </p>

<p>Depth is better than breadth. I would highly doubt that adcoms count up hours.</p>

<p>Its not quantity but quality and depth..</p>

<p>if you have more than 100,000 hours, the admissions officers might do a double-take.</p>

<p>Are you serious? You're asking a bunch of people who are posting on an internet forum about college applications how much community service they consider "a lot"?</p>

<p>What kind of answer do you expect to get?</p>

<p>And more importantly... who cares?</p>

<p>Why don't you just pick up your arrogance and leave threads like these alone? This is a completely valid question; the admissions process is a game, and it's important to see how well you stack up against your competition. It's also crucial to know if you're doing enough. If you don't care about the nuances of college apps, don't chastise people who do.
Anyways, I find the whole quality over quantity concept difficult to grasp. I'm a junior and not entirely certain about the structure of college apps, but say I volunteered 400 hours at a hospital, and I jot that down in my resume. How will they ever know how dedicated I was there, what my work entailed, etc. I could write an essay about the topic, but I have other essay ideas in my mind. So how would the admissions officer know the breadth of my E.C.s if I don't discuss them in my essay?</p>

<p>Frankly, relatively few colleges factor in ECs that much when it comes to admissions. Virtually all public universities -- including top ones -- make their selections based on the applicants' stats and state of residence.</p>

<p>Most private universities, too, are delighted to admit students as long as their stats qualify them for admission. Doesn't matter to the universities if the students have any ECs at all except that the ECs may help the students get merit aid.</p>

<p>The relatively few colleges for which ECs may be deciding factors are colleges that have an overabundance of high stat applicants, so the colleges have the luxury of picking and choosing among those applicants those who'd contribute most to maintaining the literally hundreds of student-run ECs as well as being able to maintain the colleges' high graduation rates (At places like HPYS, 90-97% of all entering freshmen graduate within 6 years). Most of the others probably transfer to colleges that are at least as good as the ones that they left.</p>

<p>The depth of one's ECs can be determined by one's achievements in them, by what one says in interviews, and by recommendations. "Achievements" means awards, recommendations, projects organized and created, etc. </p>

<p>I've interviewed lots of applicants as an alum interviewer, and it's very easy to differentiate students who racked up hours while simply taking up space and students who were truly active in their ECs and community service.</p>

<p>Alum and admissions officers at places like Ivies are people who in h.s., college and in their adult lives do community service because they enjoy doing such things. Take a look at the Philips Brooks House community service organization at Harvard to see what students at places like Harvard do out of their own interest in serving.</p>

<p>"BHA is a student-run, staff supported public service/social action organization at Harvard College providing a variety of services to the Greater Boston community. PBHA is often called "the best course at Harvard." For more than a century PBHA programs have provided vital experiences for generations of leaders in service and activism, simultaneously developing real, meaningful community partnerships. Every year over 1,600 volunteers participate in over 70 PBHA programs each year. With professional staff support and advice, PBHA is a unique manifestation of college students' idealism, energy, and initiative."</p>

<p>Examples of the things that students are running:</p>

<p>"
Adult Education and Elderly Programs: PBHA offers a wide range of adult-education programs to low-income adults, many of whom do not have access to other services in the Boston Area. Chinatown Citizenship and ESL teaches new Chinese immigrants English and helps them to learn the skills they need to pass the citizenship exam, while helping them to navigate the citizenship systen. Other adult education programs teach GED and literacy to adult learners at low or no-cost to the participants. For more information, contact Adult Education Programming Group Officer, Ginger Tanton ( a student).</p>

<p>Chinatown Citizenship
Chinatown ESL
Elderly Affairs
Partners Empowering Neighborhood (PEN)
Pets as Therapy
Project Literacy
Suffolk County Houses of Correction
Women's Resource Center</p>

<p>Advocacy and Activism: PBHA advocacy and activism programs work for structural change on the political and institutional level. PBHA students from the Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM, formerly known as PSLM) initiated a Living Wage Campaign in an effort to get Harvard to offer a living wage to its workers. PBHA students have a rich history of leading and working with community organizers in the neighborhoors in which they are engaged in service.</p>

<p>Environmental Action Committee
Legal Committee
Small Claims Advisory Service
Student Labor Action Movement (SLAM)</p>

<p>Afterschool and In-School Programs: Each afterschool program provides students ages 6-14 with a safe learning environment for the afterschool hours. Tutors often help the children with their homework or guide the children to enrichment activities. Tutors have the opportunity to build excellent relationships with children in either one-on-one settings or in more formal classroom-like settings. Parent nights, weekend field trips, the PBHA Summer Urban Program, and end of the semester parties all provide opportunities for extra involvement in the lives of children. For more information, contact Afterschool Programming Group Officer, Michael Nguyen (a student). </p>

<p>Check out what the student officers' duties are. Students who simply racked up community service hours in high school while doing only what they were told, and loafing the rest of the time, wouldn't have the motivation or the skills to take on these kind of major responsibilities in college: <a href="http://www.pbha.org/people.html%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.pbha.org/people.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>The person who was president of Phillips Brooks House when I was an undergrad later became mayor of Cambridge.</p>

<p>I have voluntarily worked for my parents to support our financial need for 3000+ hours since 9th grade, is that going to matter? or colleges prefer community wise activities?</p>

<p>Working a job is considered at least equal to a strong EC. Working a job because one's family needs the money is considered an exceptionally strong EC.</p>

<p>working for your parents is not community service, but yes that is a strong point you should access in your resume</p>

<p>I'd say 50 is considered a little
200 is considered pretty good
500+ would make an officer go "hmm, that's great"
1000+ would definitely add bonus points.</p>

<p>Community service can be a GREAT EC if it's something you're really passionate about (adcoms will be able to tell from the way you write about it, the way others talk about your involvement with it, etc.), it can also be a space filler. They'll know if you're truly committed to the cause.</p>

<p>200+ is considered alot. you don't have to do any more than that to get the attention of the admissions officers - alot of people don't do ANY.</p>

<p>The bottom line is that no one needs to do community service to get into college, including the very top ones like HPYS. </p>

<p>To get into the very top colleges, one needs more than stats that show you can do the work. Unless one has excellent stats AND a parent who is a 7 figure donor, one needs some kind of exceptionally strong EC, CS (with "strong" meaning more than having a lot of hours), or athletic ability or something else major that makes you stand out (Having the requisite stats despite being homeless; being the only kid from your region of Alaska who's applying; working 20 hours a week to help support your family, etc.). </p>

<p>When it comes to places like HPYS, what's important is what you accomplished with your ECs or CS. Just wracking up titles and hours isn' t going to impress them. The admissions officers are well aware that just as some students will study for years, pay thousands for tutoring, and take the college boards repeatedly in order to get a high score, some students will mindlessly rack up CS hours in order to try to look good.</p>

<p>Admissions officers at top colleges aren't interested in those kind of students. For instance, instead of a student who has wracked up 500 CS hours by a nose to the grindstone approach that involves showing up and doing exactly what they're told, the admissions officers would prefer a student who became concerned about something in their community, and started a fundraiser or service project to address that.</p>

<p>when i said 200+, i meant in one activity, so a focus is clear
like i have 330ish volunteering at a hospital, showing a medical commitment
but what people are saying about "accomplishing" something while volunteering in an eagle scout or gold award sort of manor is even better</p>

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<p>Oh please. Not everyone who disagrees with you is "arrogant," and obsessing over some meaningless statistic like the number of hours of community service you have done is not "caring about the nuances of college apps," as you imply.</p>

<p>If you really care if you're doing "a lot" of community service by the standards of random people on College Confidential, then you need to sort your priorities out. Focus on doing your ECs well, not fulfilling some sort of arbitrary standard that isn't based on anything substantive.</p>

<p>Threads like these really demonstrate what I dislike about college admissions. Asking for a number of hours to complete is like asking how little you can do and still impress college adcoms. Would any of the people who ask these questions spend 200+ hours doing community service to become ostensibly well-rounded individuals if it did not provide a benefit in college admissions? Probably not.</p>

<p>As a high school senior, I hear a lot of talk about what looks good on a college application. These same people complain and joke about the dumb kids they tutor for community service. It makes me sick.</p>

<p>I was relieved when I read Northstarmom's post. I'm glad colleges are beginning to take into account motivation and sincerity behind the list of activities. I just hope they can spot the fakers.</p>