I didn't do any community service hours in 10th grade

I’m currently a senior and I will be applying to UCs. Looking back at the last 3 years, I realized I have a terrible standing with the amount of community service hours I did per school year. In freshman year, I volunteered at my local library but only briefly and eventually stopped volunteering there. Sophomore year, I did no community service at all, even though I was a Key Club member, I still didn’t do any. Junior year to now, I got my senses together and actually tried to gain a lot more service hours and I still am. Will not volunteering in sophomore year affect my admissions to a UC? I’m extremely concerned because I took volunteering serious in my junior year only.

Why URGENT? Your record is what it is. Panicking here is not going to change it. Apply with what you have, and chill out.

Sorry, but I agree. There’s nothing I can write that will change what you have on your resume-- at this point, it is what it is.

Could your essay talk about your growth, about how you’ve realized that you need to give back? That volunteering shouldn’t be about plumping up an application, but about realizing all you’ve been given and wanting to give back-- to pay it forward?