<p>Okay guys, so as a result of a recent rise in volunteering involvement from the kids in my school, I have been both guilt-tripped and personally motivated competition-wise to do some myself. In fact, to make this a more pleasant experience for me, I've also found some really nice places I could seriously have fun at. :) Which is infinitely good.</p>
<p>The problem is, my mom doesn't really like the idea. And she has a point, actually, that without anything legitimate to show for my "sweat and blood" lol, I will have been "wasting my time". While that's not completely true either, I admit I'd like colleges to know I spent this summer doing SOMETHING productive...make my hours sendable, I guess? Or at least verifiable enough so that I can at least list them, I suppose?</p>
<p>I don't know. It's been a good idea in the beginning, but all of this hour-counting is so complicated and twisted! Arrggg! :confused:</p>
<p>Should I join a service club, then? But I've also heard that in service clubs hours only count if you do them under the (usually lame and sickeningly fake) activities IT organizes...so anything outside, fun, and actually enjoyable is out of the question if you want it to "count" lol.</p>
<p>Can someone share their experience with volunteer hours and legitimizing them and such? Thanks if you can. You can't imagine how much weight this would take off...:)</p>
<p>How about… don’t do it for “hours” but for the fun of helping the community and doing what you love? Even just writing “volunteered at blah blah 3x a week for 5 hours each day for the whole summer” on your app shows that you did it a lot (that was hypothetical I honestly don’t even know how much that would add up to haha).</p>
<p>To make it easier though if you do want to count them, why not write down in a notebook or something how many hours you’ve done each day THE DAY that you do them (your school probably even has official sheets that you can do that on)?</p>
<p>I would find out from the guidance office if they have an official volunteer form that you can have validated at the places where you volunteer your time. In my area, the various places that the kids volunteer at are all on the same page with the school districts in the area.</p>
<p>The hour counting is brainwashing. No admissions officer spends more than 0.5seconds scanning that single line in the application. It’s akin to middle school principals’ threatening to “put something on your permanent record”. Pfft.</p>
<p>Do what you want and is rewarding for you and those you help. Let the hour counters wallow in their self importance. Have a read here (it’s satire but show it to your mom – well maybe not!):</p>
<p>T26E4 is right; the kid who can say something like “set up tutoring program to get 20 HS students to help at-risk elementary-school youth in my community” gets big stars from the adcoms, even if the involvement is only a few hours per week. Much more than someone who says “volunteered 800 hours serving food to the homeless” or whatever. Serving food is noble, but the colleges that care about ECs are looking for initiative and leadership, not accumulated hours.</p>
<p>I think community service works when you tie it in to your other interests. S1 loves sports and wants to go to law school and pursue a career in sports law. So, he chose volunteer projects that meshed with his goals. He did teen court - local teens serve as jurors and hear first offender cases - gave him some idea of the courtroom process and was a very interesting expereince - he used it as the basis for one of his essays. Also volunteered for a baseball organization - which became a full-fledged internship by the second summer - became another essay as well as a good future contact for a recommendation. So, he helped his community while doing projects he enjoyed and which tied into his furture goals. A win-win if ever there was one.</p>
<p>D was accepted to an Ivy League school with no volunteer hours - instead she has had a paying job since she was 14. A job with a paycheck may be of more benefit than volunteer work in the long run.</p>
<p>I think the reason why colleges want to see whether you volunteer or not is to see through your work ability or leadership or responsibility or something like that. The volunteer thing is just a demonstration of your characteristics, if you can show them in other ways, I would say volunteer is not necessary</p>
<p>I think volunteer work is valuable for its own sake. I see nothing wrong, however, with keeping track of how much time you spend doing it. When you apply to colleges, some of them will ask how much time you put in–just tell them. While some high schools may have required service hours, and may only “count” certain kinds of hours, that’s different from what you yourself decide to report to colleges.</p>
<p>Volunteer hours make no difference in the decisions you get.</p>
<p>I didn’t put any of the hours I accumulated on my applications. In fact, there’s not even a spot to put them on applications, you’d have to cover that in your essay (which would be terrible, because too many people write about volunteering). So if you’re going to do it, do it for the experience. DO it to make memories, meet new people, help out, and enjoy your high school year in a new way. Don’t do it to get into a good school, because you’ll be wasting your time.</p>