<p>????!??????</p>
<p>ABSOLUTELY. It’s not so much about how you use your time; it’s about showing that you’re a good person who wants to make a difference.</p>
<p>Don’t worry, it’s doable. I played 2 varsity sports and still managed to get in about 3 hours of volunteering per week. Just pick a place and go there on a regular basis; it’s easier than trying to neurotically keep track of hours from several one-time volunteering events.</p>
<p>Absolutely not. You need to do something constructive with the time you spend outside class. It’s best if you do something where you can show leadership or some kind of personal development.</p>
<p>This something could be athletics or debate or music or robotics or working in your family’s One Hour Martinizing. Or it could be community service.</p>
<p>Community service is commendable. People who make an effort to improve their corner of the world deserve our thanks and respect.</p>
<p>But community service is not required for college admission. Even for admission to the really selective colleges.</p>
<p>I’ve had 3 kids go through the college admissions thing and this is what I have observed: community service DOES make a difference. I think this is largely due to the fact that it shows someone who looks beyond themselves and their high school community. That is really important when a college is looking for a good citizen for their student body. Over and over again, I’ve seen kids at the top of the class with stellar SAT’s, etc. be rejected or waitlisted at some of the top schools in the country. Other kids, with solid academics are admitted because they’ve immersed themselves in helping others. I DO think it’s important. Sports are good, too, but they illustrate a “well-rounded” kid. If someone plays sports in college, that’s totally a different set of criteria and community service is less important.</p>
<p>Community service has its own inherent value tahoe. But to address your specific question based upon what I know of your target school (Ariz State), community service will not be part of your evaluation. All they’ll look at are your GPA & test scores. Your sports are even meaningless to them.</p>
<p>it’s not a matter of need, it’s a matter of want</p>
<p>absolutely not. A few hours here, joining a club there, these things don’t make a difference in admissions to selective colleges. Keep in mind, too, that most colleges don’t even consider ECs in admission. As Stanford says, representative of how very selective colleges look at ECs
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