<p>At the moment, I have about 20 hours of community service (along with var. baseball, 3 honor societies and symphonic band). </p>
<p>Breakdown:[ul]
[<em>] 5 Hours of tutoring for math (ongoing, going to reach 20 by application time)
[</em>] 8 Hours of introducing elem. school kids to German.
[li] 6 Hours for charitable events in Math Honor Society</p>[/li]
<p>In addition:
[<em>] Pursuing 30 Hours of Volunteer Work in the local Hospital over the Summer
[</em>] NHS-related activities
[/ul]</p>
<p>Is this a good amount of time for volunteer work. And with baseball, honor societies and symphonic band, do I have "good" EC?</p>
<p>Anything I can improve on?
And what other people have done and where they've gone?</p>
<p>Thanks for your help :)</p>
<p>ur fine......................</p>
<p>hmmm... are you a freshmen? Generally by the time you're a senior you should have something like 400 hrs(Maybe not that much, but under 100hrs is too little) of community service to show that you are "actively involved" in your community. I'm a sophomore and I've got about 300hrs at the moment.</p>
<p>400, I think I can get that pretty easily. I've always volunteered so it's not a problem for me. I like to volunteer.</p>
<p>I don't think you need to have 400 hours of vol. work. Maybe if you have little else to offer, then that would be important. Kids have gotten into fabulous schools based on gpa, SAT, and deep abiding interest in one or two ECs. Don't try and create an image of being a do-gooder if that is not your passion, and you are not getting a wonderful sense of community out of it.</p>
<p>How much should you have for volunteer work to be one of your so called "hooks". I think it would be pretty easy to do a lot of volunteer work. Especially in something that interests you.</p>
<p>More than anything else, having only 20 hours of volunteer work on one's college application would probabydraw attention to lack of a real committment in the area.</p>
<p>Joey</p>
<p>Yeah, you don't need to seem like a "do-gooder" but you don't want to seem like you are "just following the crowd." </p>
<p>I don't think volunteering will ever really be a "hook" unless you start a huge not for profit organization or something. That being said, I don't think something like 1,000 or 2,000 hours dedicated to one organization would look that shabby on a resume :). It shows steadfast dedication to a cause.</p>
<p>Well, if I was a math-whiz, took the highest level I could each year, and spent 1 hour each week tutoring an underpriveleged student for free = 35 to 40 hours in each school year, I would not call that weak. I am showing that I love math, and I care about sharing my skill.</p>
<p>volunteer hours are not bad, not that good, unless one has horrific GPA, in that case, a lot of ECs can help :)</p>
<p>spend some time but dont overdo it. just show that you're being active but dont devote all your time there. you owe alot of time to yourself as well.</p>