<p>Why would community service be a must?</p>
<p>Because without community service, one has significantly lower chances of getting in; Harvard is looking for applicants who give back to the community. Make a thread and you will gain all the details/facts about the importance of community service. I thought that was already a well-known fact among applicants.</p>
<p>If you have the time, try finding applicants who did not do any community service and got into HYPSM. I am sure there are a few.</p>
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<p>.< I didn't put my work experience down...aagh!</p>
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<p>Nor did I. The common app section wasn't enough to talk about it more than list.</p>
<p>I sent in a supplementary resume that was 1 page where I talked about it.</p>
<p>I included my internship in the list of ECs and elaborated on it during my interviews. They really are a great opportunity to talk about work experience, etc. You can also include more details in the Additional Info section.</p>
<p>@waitn only problem is it looks like my family is rolling in cash, and I honestly did not help support them. I just made it so I have money to spend on extra things. Mostly I needed to buy a car so that I could have some hope of getting a decent job further away.</p>
<p>Jobs are always good. The admissions office can judge at least to some extent what sort of opportunities your community offered. I'm sure that my son's three years of working freelance for the same computer software company was a plus, especially as his boss wrote him a stellar recommendation. He'd done some volunteer work too. (Helping out at the senior center computer room and doing some programming for a couple of professors at a med school.)</p>
<p>community service is not a must. It's good to have community service, but there are soo many who are mostly involved with other things like sports, theater, newspaper, etc. and don't necessarily have time for service, and colleges need to fill their classes with all types of students.</p>
<p>A job is not needed as well. I think it looks good if you do it to support your family, but it's not required. A job that corresponds to a field of interest looks good as well, but honestly, if you don't have the connections to get a job (which a lot of people won't, well at least most of the people I know actually), put your efforts into something else (unless you really really need the money).</p>
<p>I've actually heard that jobs are looked upon better than a trip to some third world nation to help build houses, mostly if the trip is something few people can afford and the money was just forked over by their parents.</p>
<p>I've never thought about it that way before, gina, but that's an interesting point.</p>
<p>Community service is not about doing something impressive/interesting in a 3rd world country; It is about showing you are active in your community and not just some selfish snob. IMO, service, like the one stated above, will not benefit you anymore than peer tutoring/ working at a soup kitchen. </p>
<p>At least when I see, "I volunteered at my local hospital; I helped orphans in a third world country", I get the impression one is padding their application. They want to see something you have a passion for, and have been consistently doing for a good amount of time.</p>
<p>Like I said, some people might get in without service, but it severely decreases your chances for admission. If you do not believe me, look at the Yale/ Stanford ED results thread. You will not find too many accepted applicants who have not done community service. </p>
<p>IMO, community service is more weighted than a job. Essentially, community service is a job without making a profit. This shows that you give back to the community.</p>
<p>I have some comments about internships as well. They definitely aid an app more than a job, especially when they are career oriented. I feel some internships are unrelated to an applicants intended major/track, and therefore, less weighted For example, how does a internship at a business correlate with a pre-med track? </p>
<p>I know someone who interned at the office of a US Rep. Basically, he would work like 2-3 times a week for 2-3 weeks. All he did was paper work. In the end, the Rep told my friend to email him whatever he wanted the Rep to tell colleges. I do not know how you guys feel, but I see this as complete application padding. First of all, he did not work for a sufficient amount of time. Then, my friend says he "might" major in Law; but the internship had nothing to do with experiencing legal/public affairs, just busy work. Finally, the fact that the Rep could not even write him a rec, on his own, shows that he did not develop a relationship with the intern. </p>
<p>To me, this is the best example of application padding. Just try to be genuine. I am sure Harvard is inherently suspicious of such interns/ recs. I would assume they do a good job seeing through the BS of some applications.</p>
<p>I think you have to look at them in context.</p>
<p>For the most part I guess Internship > CS > Job... but thats only when they are stereotyped like the job was a fry cook, the CS was at the homeless shelter or tutoring, and the internship was at the Lyme Disease NPO.</p>
<p>A job as a congressional aid would most likely be better than community service at goodwill imo?</p>
<p>"All he did was paper work. In the end, the Rep told my friend to email him whatever he wanted the Rep to tell colleges."</p>
<p>A HUGE chunk of recommendations are written by the students themselves... and since when has giving yourself titles been new. Unfortunately it won't change.</p>
<p>For instance... instead of the Prom poster and ticket designer, I could be the Multimedia & Marketing Director or the Executive Board for the Student Government? Or instead of the paper filer I could be the Executive Archivist. Lol</p>
<p>I don't know why you say goodbye, I say hello.</p>
<p>^^ wow my post is entirely out of context lol. I was responding to a post in the first page haha.</p>
<p>Yea, Mal you are right. That rec is definitely a plus, but adcoms might see it as padding. That example was more of a complaint then an argument on my part. </p>
<p>Anyways, a decent (average) amount of CS will trump any typical internship IMO. Most applicants get in w/o internships; however, most applicants w/o community service do not gain acceptance.</p>
<p>@amc: Indeed, it is out of context; but that is ok, I forgive you.</p>
<p>Waitin184 you are definitely right.</p>
<p>Therefore it's good to have four years of many different things :)</p>
<p>I don't think that you can make a simple statement of internship>cs>work. I think each case has to be accessed on its own merits. What was the internship, the CS or the job? How does it fit in the context of the application? These are all things that have to be assessed. </p>
<p>Personally, I think that son got into some of the schools he got into due to Eagle scout w/ gold palms and his job experience. He began working during his summers in a machine shop. At 14 he was working 20 hours a week, 15 30/week, 16+ 50 hours/week. He began in the bottom of the barrel positions and then progressively gained more responsibility. For eagle he led a huge project and did a significant one for life also. All of this was for his own improvement and without thought of colleges at the time.</p>
<p>D has a much different situation. Wasn't allowed into the machine shop to work and being born late summer also impacted who would hire her. First paid job was just last summer. In the process, she has spent a longer steadier doing CS ( right in our town) than brother. Her strengths though are her more time consuming ECs, academics and more school leadership.</p>
<p>Neither child was allowed to be employed during the school year.</p>
<p>It will be interesting to see the results of the most recent applications.</p>
<p>^^</p>
<p>Once again... "For the most part I guess Internship > CS > Job... but thats only when they are stereotyped like the job was a fry cook, the CS was at the homeless shelter or tutoring, and the internship was at the Lyme Disease NPO."</p>
<p>Meaning, I agree things need to be seen in context.</p>