<p>I have some volunteer experience. I volunteer in my school and my church. I'm part of key club and national honor society which participate in community service activities and I'm looking into volunteering at the library this summer because I love being around books. The problem is that I have no work experience. And my volunteer experience does not pertain to my chosen career path. I want to be a pharmacist or at least something relating to the medical field. Should I volunteer at a local hospital (I live close enough to Holy Family Hospital in Methuen)? Or look into shadowing a pharmacist(Does Holy Family offer shadowing positions?)</p>
<p>How important is this stuff to college admissions in relation to GPA and SAT scores? I like to volunteer but does it have to relate to my career? Do I need work experience?</p>
<p>Schools I'm looking into: Northeastern, Uconn, MCPHS, St. Johns, URI, Rugters, BU, Brown</p>
<p>Neither are necessary. The important thing is to participate in ECs that you can excel above and beyond in. Just racking up volunteer hours isn’t enough. Can you organize a blood drive? Organize a Habitat build? Anything you can do that involves your initiative and creativity is good for your application.</p>
<p>I would think your GPA and standardized test scores are much, much more important, especially for most of the schools you’re looking at. No, volunteering does not have to relate to career, though they should pertain to your personal interests. No, don’t worry, work experiences are not required in any way.</p>
<p>Depends. Many people mistakenly view volunteering as some number crunching grind they have to get over with, but other people are really passionately involved that it encompasses their entire outside activities. People fall anywhere in between.</p>
<p>Most colleges care only about your stats and-- for public universities – your state of residence. As long as your stats match their standards, you can get into most colleges in the country. In fact, most students in the U.S. get into their first choice college.</p>
<p>Typically, at most, colleges use ECs, jobs, etc. for merit aid consideration. The exception is Ivy-quality colleges, which use ECs, jobs, community service and other factors to pick and choose from the overabundance of high stat applicants that they attract.</p>
<p>Volunteering, ECs, work, etc. are much more for your personal benefit than for getting into college. Doing such things teaches skills that will serve you well for a lifetime, and will help you gain knowledge about your strengths and interests.</p>
<p>So, inquiring minds want to know: did he go to Stanford?</p>
<p>I have always disliked community service carrying much weight because it is so easy to pad it, not to mention all the kids who do it to check a block. We were at an awards ceremony and one of the presenters went on and on about one young man coordinating a computer drive. It sounded fabulous–as I am sure the young man had written up his accomplishment eloquently. I do not doubt that what he did was a nice thing, but it was something that could have been done without a great deal of effort. He was from a huge school in one of the richest counties in the country. He organized a drive where people brought in their old computers and they were redistributed to those in need.</p>
<p>It might have taken hundreds of hours, but who really knows? As an adult, I have had young volunteers work for me at scout camps: some were great, some awful, but all of them got to talk about how great they were.</p>
<p>I hope that I don’t sound too cynical. I did lots of volunteer work as a kid, with nothing to gain but the satisfaction of doing something and have continued to volunteer as an adult. However, I think that giving a great deal of weight to something that can so easily be spun, is not a good idea.</p>
<p>“I have always disliked community service carrying much weight because it is so easy to pad it, not to mention all the kids who do it to check a block.”</p>
<p>Community service doesn’t carry much weight for admissions to any college.</p>
<p>The computer drive that you mentioned still took a lot of organizational work. Presumably, he had to publicize the drive and find a place that would receive the computers. He may have also had to organize receipts so people could write off their donations. Just because people are well off doesn’t mean they’d automatically respond to a request to donate their old computers. It also can be a lot of work to find organizations that will receive donations, and it takes work to get the donations to the organizations. </p>
<p>Even small community service projects can take far more work than one can imagine. </p>
<p>My younger S and his friends organized a drive to raise money for the tsunami victims. It took about 3 months for them to organize it because of the red tape that was involved.</p>
<p>ECs are not a formula:<br>
Student #1: 100hrs community service, 2 leadership positions, 5 clubs, organize one community event (don’t care, any stinking event!). Yup, looks good.</p>
<p>Student #2: Plays in the orchestra at school, involved in a community ensemble, tutors elementary school students in music, organizes fellow students in orchestra to lead a music camp for elementary school students, takes a music theory class at a community college during summer break, member of NHS.</p>
<p>The first student was clearly checking boxes. The second student clearly had a passion for music and was doing activities they cared about. Perhaps they thought ‘how can I show more leadership’, however they did so in a sincere way. Their activities show a common theme.</p>
<p>It’s just my opinion, but student #1’s activities are going to have a ‘neutral’ effect, while student #2’s will help.</p>